It's incredibly fascinating that Frozen, a movie that came out during the last week of November, has continued to make its way into the top five spots in the box office. For most of the past three months. It's absurd! I mean it did come out the same week as Catching Fire did, so I can only imagine that everyone first saw that and then saw Frozen during January when they knew there wouldn't be a new release worth spending $10 on. $12 if they go the 3-D route!
I must have been the only member of my friend group who hadn't seen Frozen because I have been hearing nothing but the highest of marks about it. Calling it to be a "return to form for Disney" and
one of the best Disney movies in years." With praise like that, I knew I had to see what all the buzz was about.
Frozen is based off of Hans Christian Anderson's classic tale of The Snow Queen. In this story there is a pair of royal sisters named Anna and Elsa. Elsa was born with the powers of ice, snow and winter. Kind of like Iceman from X-Men. But when Elsa accidentally sends their kingdom into a never-ending winter, it is up to Anna and the friends she meets on the way to bring back summertime.
What I really liked about Frozen was that it reverted to the classic Disney musical formula that worked so well for Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King and The Little Mermaid. Yeah I know that Disney has recently made other animated movies with a lot of musical numbers like Tangled and The Princess and the Frog. And while that is true, Frozen felt like a proper, classic musical. The songs don't just happen when it is convenient for the plot, the characters break out into song and dance very often and it worked to its advantage. Even if only a couple songs end up being really memorable and the others felt like filler.
The animation was gorgeous. It was so cool whenever Elsa used her powers to create whatever she wanted. It was really epic seeing her shoot icicles out of her fingertips and turning things to ice just by touching them. Particularly in the Let It Go sequence. Everything about that sequence worked. The emotion, the visuals, the irresistibly catchy melody and Idina Menzel's stellar vocals made that one of the most powerful scenes I've seen in an animated movie since the last scene act of Toy Story 3.
I was also surprised by the characters! From the first trailer I saw, I had a grating feeling that the character of Olaf would drive me insane. He just looked really childish and irritating. But the writers played their cards right by making him really funny! He has a ton of quotable lines that me and my friends keep using in conversation. I also liked the romance between Ana and Kristoph. It felt genuine and sweet. Plus, this has to be the first Disney movie to blatantly ask the question: "Why would you pledge yourself to be married to a guy you just met a few hours ago?" Yeah, they actually ask that question! Finally! I have been waiting for a Disney movie to address this question for years. I love subtle humor that pokes fun at fairy tale love stories for being ridiculously unrealistic. I tip my hat to the screen writers for their clever, tongue-in-cheek humor.
What I didn't care for so much was that I found it to be pretty predictable. Even for Disney standards. I already figured out who the main villain was by the first time I was him on screen and after that I was able to predict what would happen next and it really bummed me out. But it didn't ruin the movie for me because even though I knew what was going to happen, I was so enveloped into the lives of these characters, their quest and their surroundings that I didn't mind too much!
I feel like I would have enjoyed this movie more if I saw it before The Lego Movie. To me, The Lego Movie raised the bar for every animated movie that follows it. And while Frozen was came out more than three months before Lego Movie did, I can't help but feel left wanting more. For once, a longer run-time wouldn't have been that bad of a thing!
Final Report: While over-hyped and a bit predictable story-wise, Frozen is a stunningly animated musical with great characters and a surplus of irresistibly catchy songs. I'm still having trouble getting Let It Go out of my head! It was a nice return to the classic Disney style.
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