The time of Disney Studios putting out animated films that are almost instantly classics is over. It’s a sad, but true fact. Good Disney animation films still exist, but not on the same level as they once did. That being said, Disney has been on one heck of a roll in recent years with their animations, starting with “Tangled,” continuing with last year’s “Wreck It Ralph,” and now “Frozen” has continued their trend in being one of the best in the animation business.
Directed by relative newcomer Jennifer Lee and “Tarzan” director Chris Buck, “Frozen” introduces our main characters, Anna and Elsa (voiced by Livvy Stubenrauch and Eva Bella, respectively, in early scenes, and Kristen Bell and Idina Menzel, respectively, who play their older selves) as two young, royal girls attempting to have fun and enjoy each other’s presence. The one very large wrinkle in their happiness is that Elsa has a terrible secret: she can freeze her surroundings, à la ‘Ice-Man’ from “X-Men,” but with much less control. When Elsa accidentally puts Anna into a coma with her powers, Elsa has Anna’s memories erased where the powers are concerned and places herself in complete isolation from everyone, even Anna, the only exceptions being her parents, who constantly attempt to teach her control of her powers with limited success. When Elsa one day runs away from the castle during her coronation due to others discovering her secret and plunges her city into an eternal winter, Anna must chase after her to restore summer and order in the kingdom.
The most surprising thing about “Frozen” is just how great it actually is. One might gather from the trailers that it’s a generic attempt from Disney to bank on the princess image they’ve made popular over the years, but gladly, it’s more than that. “Frozen” has actual heart and life to it that jumps off the screen to embrace you. The film has a feeling of being familiar yet completely distinct in a wonderful combination few others than Disney are capable of pulling off.
The film is warm (no pun intended) and inviting, thanks in part to the wonderful songs that bring the Disney-of-old quality to the film. Musical numbers accompanied with animated characters to sing them is a construct we expect from Disney, and it’s in music that they truly succeed. Each song, from “Do you want to build a snowman?” to “In summer,” is wrought with so much heart and emotion that they feel perfectly serene.
It’s impossible to describe anything about “Frozen” without mentioning that it has a great, big beating heart at the center of it. This is in part thanks to how enjoyable and compelling, yet simple the characters are. Bell’s Anna and Menzel’s Elsa play wonderfully as two young women trying desperately to find understanding in the world that they find themselves, along with trying to reconcile each other’s disassociation with one another due to Elsa’s self-imposed isolation. They both make decisions that feel irrational yet completely natural for two women thrown into the world for the first time in years.
Anna also has a wonderful chemistry with her traveling companion Kristoff (Jonathon Graff), a chemistry clearly shooting from a romance angle from the first time they’re introduced to each other. Most notably, though, the film is successful at making Olaf, the talking snowman created by Elsa and voiced by “Book of Mormon’s” Josh Gad shockingly not annoying. In the hands of someone else (cough, George Lucas, cough), Olaf might very well be a grating and eye-roll inducing character. Olaf in this is a lovable, albeit goofy, snowman that, while still delivering much of the comedic relief, is one where genuine emotion can be found. His high point comes early on in his introduction when he sings “In summer,” as he explains how great summer will be, not realizing that he’s a snowman, and none of the other characters have the heart to let him know that he’ll just melt.
The voice actors are all really solid, the two standouts being Bell, who brings a boundless sense of excitement, optimism, and joy to the character, and Gad, who is great at making Olaf feel like an actual person as opposed to the magical snowman he is. Also noteworthy, “Firefly’s” Alan Tudyk plays a Duke from Weseltown, and he’s so outlandish and bizarre that the performance must be loved.
Where the film really falters, however, is its insistence to have a villain. Elsa, while setting forth the film’s conflicts, is nowhere near a villain. Everyone knows it. The film knows it, the audience knows it, and that makes the film want to look for a villain elsewhere – and without spoiling the twist, it doesn’t work nearly as well as it should.
All in all, “Frozen” is another fantastic Disney film that capitalizes on the audience’s inherent love for old-school Disney, and is very much a return to that form. Much of the film works really well; and whether it’s the songs, the characters, or the world they live in, this heart-filled film will be looked back on with love and admiration.
– by Drew Koenig
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Also has a fantastic soundtrack.