Frozen – Film Review

Cast:  Idina Menzel, Kristen Bell, Josh Gad, Jonathan Groff, Santino Fontana, Alan Tudyk

Directors:  Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee

Synopsis: When Elsa, the Queen of Arendelle, flees in panic after the people discover her magical icy powers, her fearless sister Anna ventures after her in a bid to prevent the Kingdom from being trapped in an eternal winter…

Review: No one really does fairytale stories quite like Walt Disney Animation Studios, they certainly are the Queens (and Kings) of this particular genre of animated movies. Every time they sprinkle some of that Disney magic, especially when it’s a story focusing on a Disney Princess, or in this case a pair of Disney princesses, it’s usually a surefire winning formula and one that will resonate with audiences the world over, and maybe melt their hearts along the way.

This icy tale from the Mouse House is inspired by inspired by Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale “The Snow Queen.” Focusing on sisters Anna and Elsa, the latter of whom has magical icy powers. When they were growing up, a childhood accident forces the girls’ parents to erase Anna’s memory of her sister’s powers, causing the two of them to spend much of their lives growing up apart. As Elsa is about to be crowned Queen, an incident at her coronation triggers Elsa’s powers and turns their home of Arendelle into an unforeseen winter, causing Elsa to flee in panic. Needing Elsa to ensure Arendelle doesn’t get trapped in this eternal winter, it falls to Anna to go after her sister to save their homeland.

So often with these princess stories, there is usually a man involved. Therefore to see that cliche be flipped on its head, is extremely refreshing to see. Though it certainly wasn’t the first time that Disney has created a strong female protagonist, Elsa is nevertheless a very strong willed woman. She is firmly in charge of her own destiny, with her magical powers to help her along the way. Anna might not be as strong willed as her sister, but she is a good hearted soul determined to do whatever she can to help Elsa, and both ladies are voiced tremendously well by Idina Menzel and Kristen Bell respectively.

In terms of the supporting cast, Josh Gad gives a very memorable performance as the extremely sentient snowman Olaf. A character that could have been very hit or miss, he’s thankfully the former, as he gives the film the bulk of its laughter. The film has plenty of positive and celebratory themes, most notably about its empowerment of women, which are definitely worth celebrating. However, even when the film has really hit its stride, it cannot help but venture into some formulaic plot points. Nevertheless, as one would would expect from the Mouse House, the animation is of a very high standard. The sheer level of detail on certain items of clothing, most notably Elsa’s icy dress are extremely well detailed, not to mention Elsa’s very impressive icy powers.

Even if you had somehow never seen this film, chances are good that you would have heard the monster hit that was”Let it Go.” With its undeniably catchy tune and powerful lyrics, sung superbly by Menzel, it’s little wonder that the song scooped the Oscar for Best Original Song. Though “Let it Go” is the most popular song from the film’s soundtrack, it is just one of the many catchy songs sprinkled throughout this film that one would expect from a Disney fairytale. People the world over were struck by Frozen Fever, as it swept all before it on its way to becoming one of the highest grossing animated films of all time and it ensured that the Mouse House added another ice-solid entry to its fairytale collection.

Splendid animation but even with a strong collection of strong characters, a solid but formulaic plot prevents Frozen from melting your heart completely.