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This review is late and long overdue, but writing it brings back a pleasantly warm feeling of nostalgia, despite this films icy title. Although jointly directed by Chris Buck (Tarzan) and Jennifer Lee, writer of Wreck-It Ralph, Frozen is the first full length animated Disney film to be directed by a woman. She is also the first female to be the sole writer of an entire screenplay for an animated Disney film since Linda Woolverton for Beauty and the Beast. This is an important detail worth noting because it seems reflective in how developed its two main characters are, Anna and Elsa (Kristen Bell – Stuck in Love & Idina Menzel – Enchanted). It also shows how female characters should be handled when someone conscious of the way many women in Disney have been portrayed is allowed to contribute.
Loosely based on Danish author Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale The Snow Queen, Frozen takes Elsa, princess of Arendelle, and gives her the power to produce ice and snow from her fingertips. This power progressively gets stronger over time and after playing with Anna one night, her little sister, she accidentally hurts her with them. To help Anna, the King and Queen take her to the trolls and have them heal her, as well as remove any memories she has of Elsa’s magic.
Because Elsa and her parents fear Anna being hurt again, they become hermits and keep the family out of sight while Elsa makes an effort not to go near her sister. She begins locking herself away and over time this affects the relationship between them and causes it to suffer, meaning they become almost like strangers. As with a lot of Disney films, the delicate subject matter it deals with in the beginning is the loss of parents, which occurs when the King and Queen are lost at sea.
As they are best friends as children these scenes are touching and establish early on the sacrifice Elsa is making by distancing herself from Anna. It also gives a sense of Anna’s determination, stubbornness and love for Elsa because she is shown to continually knock on Anna’s bedroom door over the years to see if they can spend time together.
As time elapses and Elsa comes of age to become Queen, she is forced by tradition to make herself accessible for the day. Guests from all over appear and the entire affair sends Anna into a frenzy as she is allowed freedom from the castle grounds for the day. On her outing she comically meets Prince Hans of the Southern Isles (Santino Fontana – Nancy, Please), and it takes her all of five minutes to fall in love in what is one of the most entertaining songs of the entire film, Love is an Open Door, but this also brings me to my first criticism, the music.
While watching Frozen I felt that Disney had taken another step in the right direction with their animated films and were possibly on track for a return to the era of classic Disney. However, the majority of the music was unmemorable, save a few numbers, such as Let It Go, which was quite sweet. None of the songs I heard really stuck with me after it, I can barely remember the lyrics to any of them, and they generally fell short of what I want from a film such as this. Compared to songs from films such as The Lion King, The Little Mermaid (another Hans Christian Andersen tale) or The Jungle Book, all of which have music that has and will stick with both children and adults over the years, the disappointment is rather painful.
Following Love is an Open door though comes the moment when Frozen quickly takes the ever sunny and tranquil setting of Arendelle and plunges it into an eternal winter due Elsa losing one of the gloves she wears to limit the damage her touch will do to people (like Rogue in X-Men). This, and Anna pushing her sister to be more sociable, causes Elsa to unleash her powers for everyone to see, turning Arendelle into a mob which, in her current state of fear, forces Elsa to escape to the mountains where it is coldest.
Elsa’s prolonged isolation in the castle means that when she runs to the mountains and builds a stunning ice palace (which makes me wish I had seen it in 3D) she ends up flourishing and feeling safe with no fear of hurting anyone. Yet, as we have already seen from Anna’s character, she is far too persistent in her love of Elsa to allow her to run into the mountains and be alone now that she knows the truth. Entrusting the protection of Arendelle to the would-be perfect Hans, Anna sets off up the treacherous mountain where she eventually encounters three characters, Kristoff, the struggling ice salesman (Jonathon Groff – C.O.G.), Sven, his adorable reindeer, and Olaf, the snowman who loves summer (Josh Gad – Jobs).
Each of these characters are delightful to watch and enjoyable in their accompaniment of Anna in her quest. Kristoff and Sven, who seem oddly familiar, are the standard Disney human and animal duo, which is to say fun and endearing. But it was Olaf who easily became my favourite of the entire film. Essentially nothing more than a side character, his continued optimism, child-like mannerisms and speech, brilliant dialogue, some of which was improvised by Josh Gad, which reminded me of Robin Williams and his Genie character in Aladdin, made him superb to watch. And I know that if he had melted in the end I would have left the cinema extremely upset.
Together the four of them make it to Elsa’s ice palace where Anna attempts to persuade her to come back and fix Arendelle. Reluctant and flustered, Elsa once again hurts Anna by accident, this time striking her with ice to the heart. She then produces a giant ice monster to get rid of them all, unaware of what she has actually done to Anna this time.
From here I am going to refrain from saying any more because the twist in the story towards the end was one I did not expect, as I assumed the film was going in a different direction. But the final message of the film about the love of family, and sisters especially, worked very well and felt fresh, something which I hope Disney continues to keep delivering. On the whole, Frozen handles delicate themes, portrays strong characters, particularly female ones, and has the correct balance of love, laughter and music in it to ensure that adults and children alike will leave feeling the way I do writing this. I paid £6.00 (Student Discount) for a ticket to see Frozen at Cineworld, Fountain Park, Edinburgh.
Rating: Worth a Ticket
Loosely based on Danish author Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale The Snow Queen, Frozen takes Elsa, princess of Arendelle, and gives her the power to produce ice and snow from her fingertips. This power progressively gets stronger over time and after playing with Anna one night, her little sister, she accidentally hurts her with them. To help Anna, the King and Queen take her to the trolls and have them heal her, as well as remove any memories she has of Elsa’s magic.
Because Elsa and her parents fear Anna being hurt again, they become hermits and keep the family out of sight while Elsa makes an effort not to go near her sister. She begins locking herself away and over time this affects the relationship between them and causes it to suffer, meaning they become almost like strangers. As with a lot of Disney films, the delicate subject matter it deals with in the beginning is the loss of parents, which occurs when the King and Queen are lost at sea.
As they are best friends as children these scenes are touching and establish early on the sacrifice Elsa is making by distancing herself from Anna. It also gives a sense of Anna’s determination, stubbornness and love for Elsa because she is shown to continually knock on Anna’s bedroom door over the years to see if they can spend time together.
As time elapses and Elsa comes of age to become Queen, she is forced by tradition to make herself accessible for the day. Guests from all over appear and the entire affair sends Anna into a frenzy as she is allowed freedom from the castle grounds for the day. On her outing she comically meets Prince Hans of the Southern Isles (Santino Fontana – Nancy, Please), and it takes her all of five minutes to fall in love in what is one of the most entertaining songs of the entire film, Love is an Open Door, but this also brings me to my first criticism, the music.
While watching Frozen I felt that Disney had taken another step in the right direction with their animated films and were possibly on track for a return to the era of classic Disney. However, the majority of the music was unmemorable, save a few numbers, such as Let It Go, which was quite sweet. None of the songs I heard really stuck with me after it, I can barely remember the lyrics to any of them, and they generally fell short of what I want from a film such as this. Compared to songs from films such as The Lion King, The Little Mermaid (another Hans Christian Andersen tale) or The Jungle Book, all of which have music that has and will stick with both children and adults over the years, the disappointment is rather painful.
Following Love is an Open door though comes the moment when Frozen quickly takes the ever sunny and tranquil setting of Arendelle and plunges it into an eternal winter due Elsa losing one of the gloves she wears to limit the damage her touch will do to people (like Rogue in X-Men). This, and Anna pushing her sister to be more sociable, causes Elsa to unleash her powers for everyone to see, turning Arendelle into a mob which, in her current state of fear, forces Elsa to escape to the mountains where it is coldest.
Elsa’s prolonged isolation in the castle means that when she runs to the mountains and builds a stunning ice palace (which makes me wish I had seen it in 3D) she ends up flourishing and feeling safe with no fear of hurting anyone. Yet, as we have already seen from Anna’s character, she is far too persistent in her love of Elsa to allow her to run into the mountains and be alone now that she knows the truth. Entrusting the protection of Arendelle to the would-be perfect Hans, Anna sets off up the treacherous mountain where she eventually encounters three characters, Kristoff, the struggling ice salesman (Jonathon Groff – C.O.G.), Sven, his adorable reindeer, and Olaf, the snowman who loves summer (Josh Gad – Jobs).
Each of these characters are delightful to watch and enjoyable in their accompaniment of Anna in her quest. Kristoff and Sven, who seem oddly familiar, are the standard Disney human and animal duo, which is to say fun and endearing. But it was Olaf who easily became my favourite of the entire film. Essentially nothing more than a side character, his continued optimism, child-like mannerisms and speech, brilliant dialogue, some of which was improvised by Josh Gad, which reminded me of Robin Williams and his Genie character in Aladdin, made him superb to watch. And I know that if he had melted in the end I would have left the cinema extremely upset.
Together the four of them make it to Elsa’s ice palace where Anna attempts to persuade her to come back and fix Arendelle. Reluctant and flustered, Elsa once again hurts Anna by accident, this time striking her with ice to the heart. She then produces a giant ice monster to get rid of them all, unaware of what she has actually done to Anna this time.
From here I am going to refrain from saying any more because the twist in the story towards the end was one I did not expect, as I assumed the film was going in a different direction. But the final message of the film about the love of family, and sisters especially, worked very well and felt fresh, something which I hope Disney continues to keep delivering. On the whole, Frozen handles delicate themes, portrays strong characters, particularly female ones, and has the correct balance of love, laughter and music in it to ensure that adults and children alike will leave feeling the way I do writing this. I paid £6.00 (Student Discount) for a ticket to see Frozen at Cineworld, Fountain Park, Edinburgh.
Rating: Worth a Ticket
