Frozen Review

There are few film presences better known in the world than Disney.  For most of us Disney’s films are our first exposure to the movies and many of the conventions that make a Disney film become ingrained in us from the hardcore cinephile to the casual movie goer.  However, they also are aware of the criticism Disney has faced over the years, in particular not having the most progressive idea of women.  Even in many of their great films, the women were often damsels in distress who needed to be rescued by men.  Their Pixar division also received complaints for not having a female lead until Brave.   Certainly these issues are at the forefront of Disney’s latest feature Frozen, a loose musical retelling of the Snow Queen fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen.  Frozen confronts many of the clichés that have made Disney films a cultural force, while being a worthy addition to their canon.

In this version, future Snow Queen Elsa (voiced as an adult by Idina Menzel) isolates herself from her younger sister Anna (voiced as an adult by Kristen Bell) after a childhood accident involving Elsa’s powers.  This isolation lasts until Elsa’s coronation, where her powers emerge and get out of control, plunging their kingdom in a perpetual winter.  She heads into the woods in exile while Anna heads out to find her, encountering some help via outdoorsman Kristoff (voiced by Jonathan Groff), his reindeer and a snowman Elsa creates named Olaf (voiced by Josh Gad).

The film deserves a lot of praise for how they treat the female characters.  This is the first feature film from Disney to have a woman (Jennifer Lee, who also scripted) credited as a director.  Anna and Elsa aren’t defined by love interests, but rather the complicated relationship between themselves, which is so much more interesting.  Elsa and her parents fear her power and hide herself away from the rest of the world because they think that they won’t understand, and Anna finds the reclusive nature of being the Snow Queen’s sister lonely and is desperate for attention and to be a part of her sister’s life or anyone else’s for that matter.  It’s another in the very welcome post-Twilight trend of seeing more strong female characters to younger audiences who need to see them.  We’re going to need a whole lot to undo the damage Bella did.

Like the well-developed characters, you can definitely see Disney Animation CCO John Lasseter bringing the Pixar touch to elevate the regular Disney movies.  Along with last year’s Wreck-It Ralph, the quality of these films is comparable to their Pixar counterparts and in some cases, surpasses them.  The visuals look superb, and the 3D actually adds something to the film.  It is basically a computer animated answer to a lot of the Disney renaissance films from the late 80s/early 90s.

They also make the smart decision of casting actors with musical theater experience, but as a musical, the film wavers a little.  The songs are loaded more in the first two acts, and there’s a good chunk toward the end where they don’t sing at all.  Certainly it’s okay to forgo singing in favor of the action going on screen, but it feels like the songs were on the lower list of priorities, resulting in some songs that are simply okay.  There are exceptions: Olaf’s “In Summer” is a nice silly break and of course Elsa’s “Let It Go” is the big powerful song Idina Menzel will no doubt be belting at next year’s Oscar ceremony.

On the surface, Frozen appears like many typical Disney films based on fairy tales, especially the musical ones.  The filmmakers are certainly aware of those clichés and they question and have fun with them in a way that isn’t contemptuous of the material.  Instead, it revitalizes this type of storytelling for the next generation of film fans and reenergized the seasoned viewers who want to see something new.  That type of storytelling is what has kept Disney relevant all these years, and will certainly aid in keeping it that way for years to come.

As much as I enjoyed the film, the short that played before was the best part.  Get a Horse! begins like an old Mickey Mouse short (down to using archived recordings for some of the dialogue), but quickly expands into some Sherlock Jr.-esque breaking of the fourth wall and playing with the conventions of filmmaking, fully utilizing the 3D for seven dazzling minutes.  Like the people behind the technical side of Gravity, the producers of this short should get their Oscar speeches ready.

Frozen Grade: B+

Get a Horse! Grade: A

Miscellaneous notes:

-Man, the trailers for this, while I appreciate them not giving much away, gave off an Ice Age vibe I was going to avoid had all the good reviews not convinced me to give it a chance.

-There must have been more with Kristoff’s backstory that got cut, right?  They got the first song of the film but aside from him and Sven we never see the other Ice farmers again.

-Also thought the initial set up of the story, especially how the trolls connected to it, could’ve used a little more development.

-Between his work here and in Wreck-It Ralph, is it too early to call Alan Tudyk the John Ratzenberger of Disney Studios films?

(HERE BE SPOILERS)

-I liked how they called out Anna for getting engaged to Prince Hans the day they met.  Having characters fall in love that quickly is usually a problem with these kinds of movies, although it is motivated by Anna’s desire for human connection and Hans’ duplicity.

-Yeah, I fell for Hans being a good guy and seeing it twice I feel like it’s a twist they earned.  It also played off making the obvious villain the Duke of Weaselton just a shady character and not someone outright evil.

-I love that it was the true love between sisters that saved Anna.  It was true to the story and a refreshing twist on it always being some guy’s love that breaks these curses.  Don’t get me wrong, Kristoff is a nice guy and he and Anna are a good couple, but the story is about Anna and Elsa first.