"Frozen" Review

As Disney's highest grossing film to date and with a seven-minute short sequel in the works, it seems the hype train for Frozen is still continuing after nearly a year.

Inspired by Hans Christian Andersen’s famous fairy tale The Snow Queen, Frozen depicts the tale of a courageous, idealistic princess setting off with a rugged iceman, his pet reindeer and a naive snowman to find her estranged sister Elsa, whose icy powers have trapped the kingdom of Arendelle in an eternal icy winter.

Frozen, definitely, will be a timeless classic for children. Packed with messages about love and friendship, it sends a positive message for today’s young children, and with its beautiful animation and catchy tunes, it’s well able to hold the attention of restless children.

Despite its commendable messages, Frozen leaves a lot to be desired story-wise. It’s very predictable, paying homage to many classic Disney stories and fairy-tales, which are easily recognizable. While this is clever, adults and older children may be dissatisfied with its plot and its few plot holes.

However, despite its plot, Frozen is excellent in nearly ever other regard. Its music fits its atmosphere perfectly, and its songs greatly express the character’s emotions. The animation is masterfully crafted, with one or two things I disliked (Anna and Elsa are practically identical in every regard, except hair and eye colour).

In the beginning of the movie, there was a lot of singing while dialogue took a back seat, with my music-loving friend complaining about the amount of singing by the time we got to Frozen's staple song "Let It Go". After "Let It Go", this type of flow loses its consistency, with there being only two or three songs afterwards. The amount of singing in the beginning and lack of in the latter half of the movie was irritating to me, but does not greatly subtract from the movie's value and probably went unnoticed by a great many of its viewers.

The characters themselves are very likable, especially Anna, who is the movie’s main protagonist. There is a lot of contrast between the characters, which makes the picturemore interesting as they bring out the best-and worst-in each other.

Anna is the character we follow mainly throughout the movie. Anna is kind, sweet, thoughtful, funny, brave, idealistic and optimistic, but at times her idealism and naivety can be irritating, but these faults make her character likable and interesting. She is very well-rounded, with both good points and bad points, and she makes a great heroine. The romantic subplot she shares with Kristoff does not take over her story arc or character, as the story mainly focuses on the relationship between Elsa and Anna.

Her and Elsa’s relationship is the main focus of Frozen, and is one of the strongest relationships ever crafted by Disney. The “true love” twist at the end was one of Frozen’s best points: instead of true love between two lovers, Frozen portrayed a love between two family members, and it was very sweet and entertaining to watch.

Kristoff is a likable romantic male lead and compliments Anna well. He is more street-smart and world-wise than Anna, and these traits bring Kristoff and Anna together. They make a sweet couple and were pleasant to watch on-screen. Their relationship didn't take up either character's arcs, another point in the movie's favour.

Olaf is the naive and comical snowman and serves as comic relief and companion to Kristoff and Anna on their journey to find Elsa. Much of Frozen's humour hinges on his character, and Olaf delivers some kid-friendly, adorable and amusing funny moments. While more of a minor character than his human counterparts, Olaf is a very memorable character and a definite favourite among kids.

Elsa is arguably, alongside her sister, Frozen’s best character. Which sister is better is determined by the viewer, but Elsa is an admirable character. She sacrificed much of her personal happiness and social life to keep Anna safe, and these acts require a certain courage and moral strength. She is more introverted than her sister, and much wiser, but both sisters bring out each other’s positive attributes. Sensible and mature, she is the lone wolf of the movie, and also a very relate-able character.

The songs in Frozen are deemed some of Disney’s best, but this is determined by the viewer. I felt that "Let It Go" was very Eurovision-y and highly overrated and does not deserve the amount of recognition it received.

"Love Is an Open Door", "In Summer" and "For The First Time In Forever" are vastly underrated in my opinion, with "For The First Time in Forever" faring slightly better than the other two among other viewers. All feature catchy tunes, powerful vocal performances and excellently portray the emotions of the characters. While I don't feel Frozen's songs are Disney's best musical score, Frozen does feature well-written, kid-friendly songs that both adults and children will and can enjoy.

The animation is one of Frozen’s strong suits. It’s expertly done, with some of the animator’s best work seen in Olaf’s song "In Summer".

Another thing I liked was that there was no romantic subplot for Elsa. Both sisters aregreat female role models for young girls, and the lack of romance for Elsa brings her independence and strength to the forefront of her character. As Frozen was co-directed by a woman, you can definitely see a lot of her influences here. Elsa and Anna are strong characters without romance. The romantic subplot for Anna fitted asher character desired love, romance and companionship while Elsa didn’t. I feel that the directors and writers made a good choice in not including a romantic interest for Elsa. It wouldn’t have truly fit her character, and as the film mainly focused on Anna,there would be little time in trying to properly develop a romantic interest for Elsa.

All in all, Frozen scores an 8.5/10, and I look forward to its short sequel and more adventures in the world of Arendelle.