Frozen

Given the rather mediocre slate of animated films we've had this year, Frozen instantly jumps to the head of the pack, and easily claims the title as the best of the crop.  That doesn't exactly mean Frozen is a great animated film, however.  I would say it starts out rather great, then kind of loses its focus somewhere around the middle, while still remaining enjoyable throughout.  Still, it's consistently entertaining, beautiful to look at, and features a Broadway-ready musical score by husband and wife composers Robert Lopez (best known for co-writing Avenue Q and The Book of Mormon), and Kristen-Anderson Lopez.

Much like Tangled from a few years ago, this is an attempt by the Disney studio to combine state of the art CG animation, with the classic Broadway musical-style storytelling that they were famous for back in the 90s.  And just like that earlier film, the attempt is successful.  Despite the modern day look, this really does feel like an older Disney production, complete with an overall message that the power of love can perform miracles.  And while there is a handsome Prince and a love interest for the female lead in this story, this time, the love seems to come from between two sisters who are heirs to a far away kingdom.  Elder sister Elsa (voiced by Broadway veteran Idina Menzel) is a somewhat distant young woman who was born with the unusual ability to control and manipulate the elements of snow and ice.  How and why this came to pass, the movie keeps to itself.  Her younger sister, Anna (Kristen Bell, giving a wonderful and spirited performance here), is plucky, likable, and a little bit lonely, since she doesn't understand why Elsa constantly prefers to keep to herself, locked away in her private chambers. 

Of course, how could Anna understand?  She had her memories of the moment the sisters were torn apart magically erased from her mind.  As we learn in the opening sequence, Elsa and Anna were the closest of sisters when they were children, and Elsa would frequently use her magical powers to entertain and delight the young Anna.  But one fateful night, Elsa's powers went out of control, and wound up severely wounding Anna.  From that moment on their parents, the King and Queen, decided that Elsa should be locked away so that she could be privately taught how to control and keep her powers hidden from the world, out of fear that people would reject her or just not understand.  Further, the King and Queen had Anna's memories of the accident erased by a local magic user, so she does not know why Elsa avoids her.  This is the way it has been for the two sisters for most of their life.  Now, Elsa has come of age, and must take her place at the throne as the ruler of the kingdom.  A coronation ceremony is held, and it is there that Anna meets the handsome Prince Hans (Santino Fontana), and the two immediately fall in love.

As for Elsa, she tries to keep her powers hidden during the ceremony, but things eventually go awry, and she is forced to flee the kingdom, but not before her out of control elemental powers bring forth an eternal winter upon the people of the land.  She locks herself away within a palace made of ice that she creates for herself on top of a nearby mountain.  Anna decides to venture out into the frozen wasteland to find her sister.  Along the way, she is joined by an ice-cutter named Kristoff (Jonathan Groff), who brings along his own comedic animal sidekick, a reindeer named Sven.  But Sven doesn't talk, so Anna is eventually joined by a second comic relief character - a talking snowman named Olaf (Josh Gad), who was brought to life by Elsa's magic.  Together, the heroes try to track Elsa down and stop the winter, before some of the kingdom's soldiers who witnessed Elsa's powers and view her as a monster find her first and attempt to destroy her.

The best moments in Frozen are the ones concerning the somewhat tragic relationship between the two sisters.  The movie actually takes its time in setting up the story, and letting us get close to Elsa and Anna, so by the time Elsa's powers go out of control and curse the land, we truly feel for both of them.  This opening half also seems to have the most musical numbers devoted to it, which further heightens the love these two young women hold for each other, and how they are forced to be apart.  This is when the movie is the closest to greatness, and I was really getting involved.  Once the actual plot kicks in, the narrative oddly meanders just a little.  The comic relief characters take center stage, as does the relationship between Kristoff and Anna.  Don't get me wrong, they're fun characters and I liked them, but I was far more interested in the stuff that came before.  The plot also lacks a truly memorable villain.  Sure, we do eventually get one, but the character's change of heart seems rather forced, and they pretty much remain on the sidelines for the majority of the film. 

Even if the movie never quite lives up to the promise of the first 30 minutes or so, it remains entertaining throughout.  The animation is obviously beautiful to look at, and deserves to be viewed in 2D.  Sure, the 3D version adds some better textures to the scenes, but you lose a lot of the color.  The songs are also quite good, with Elsa's ballad 'Let It Go", which she sings when she decides to leave her old life behind, easily being the one that will get stuck in your head when the movie's over.  The film also does a very good job of balancing out stuff for different people in the audience.  Older viewers will obviously find a lot to like in the scenes surrounding the two sisters, while the kids at my screening were cracking up over the antics of Olaf the snowman.  He sort of got on my nerves after a while, but the character wasn't written for me, and I'm sure Olaf toys will be flying off the shelves during the holidays.  The fact that the movie really does have something for everyone is probably the highest praise I can give it.

So, Frozen is not a classic Disney production.  It's still a very good one, and I'm always up for that.  And since it's the only new family film playing up until the Christmas weekend, it's almost certain to have a big box office haul.  I recommend it without hesitation, and will probably watch it again when it hits home, so I can revisit my favorite moments.

See the movie times in your area or buy the DVD at Amazon.com!

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