On her coronation day, Queen Elsa (Idina Menzel) of Arendelle fears revealing her childhood secret to the kingdom: she has the power to create and manipulate ice. When an argument between Elsa and her sister, Princess Anna (Kristen Bell), goes too far, Elsa accidentally shows her powers, nearly harming the crowd. Scared of her inability to control her powers, she runs away and unbeknownst to her, she freezes the whole kingdom in an eternal winter. Now it’s up to Anna, with the help of mountain man Kristoff (Jonathan Groff) and magical snowman Olaf (Josh Gad) to find Elsa and figure out how to stop the winter before it’s too late.
When watching “Frozen”, I was drawn to compare it to the last two Disney Princess movies Walt Disney Animation Studios had done, “The Princess And The Frog” and “Tangled”. The former came from a demand to bring back the “classic” Disney movie: people wanted a return to fairytales, princesses, and hand-drawn animation. The movie was successful, garnering Oscar nominations and making over $250 million worldwide, but both critics and audiences said it was just a nice homage to Disney’s “Golden Age”. So when deciding what movie to do next, it’s hard to see “Tangled” as anything but a direct response. Not only was Rapunzel the first CGI Disney princess, but the movie uses modern dialogue, placing an emphasis on the adventure rather than the drama. The changes to the formula paid off; Tangled made $590 million, and both critical and audience word-of-mouth were positive. I bring these two up because “Frozen” takes the appeal to Disney’s classic style and the success of adapting to the current scene and puts it together. Its ambition is its greatest strength and shortcoming.
The penalty suffered from “Frozen’s” ambition is in the pacing. It feels the movie’s trying to cram every joke and character and action scene they could think of. Now, some of these moments hit bulls-eyes, (meeting the owner of a summer equipment store still makes me chuckle,) but I don’t get to slow down and soak it all in. As a result, some reactions seem uncharacteristically glossed over and I never get enough time to bask in the film’s world.
I must give credit, for a movie that rarely stays still, it develops fun, interesting characters. Anna is your typical optimist; she’s playful, clumsy, and awkward, but never to the point where I think she’s dumb or irritating. She’s always ready to go where she’s needed, wishing to be helpful and do the right thing. Kristen Bell emphasizes Anna's good nature over her naïveté and she's a joy to watch. Anna ropes in the ice salesman Kristoff and his trusty reindeer steed Sven to help her up the mountain to find Elsa, and while I think Sven lacks the charisma the royal horse Maximus from “Tangled” has, Kristoff makes up for it by, how do I explain this? He’s the first woodsman, shuns-society loner type I’ve seen in a movie that I believe is genuinely happy existing outside of society. It’s almost a benign misanthropy; he sings a song about how he’d rather eat carrots with his reindeer buddy and be alone with him in the woods than deal with people. (He does put Sven’s smell in consideration while making this decision.) His joyful, yet sarcastic demeanor makes me laugh. He’s my favorite character.
Next to Anna, Elsa is the main character of “Frozen” and one of the more interesting I’ve seen Disney do. She’s a contrast to Anna’s less-controlled naïveté, but never so much she appears curmudgeonly. At least, never without a reason. I admire her motives; she doesn’t look for love or “something more”. She just wants to get her powers under control, and while we do see her artistry and the joy that comes from creating beautiful ice shows, there’s a darker, more destructive side. There’s a scene where something bad has happened to the sisters. Anna wants her sister’s support, but Elsa’s door is closed off. She cries in front of her room, but the next shot shows Elsa’s room in shambles with what looks like scorch marks radiating from where’s she’s crying on the floor. It’s a distressing scene that suggests how dangerous she can be when pushed to her limits. Elsa’s a character that kept me glued to the screen every time she’s on.
The last aspect I must note is the music. “Frozen” packs in as many elements as it can, and the music is no exception. It feels like an operetta. Like the rest of the movie, the songs are hit-or-miss: the best are atmospheric, allow the characters to express their individuality and inner thoughts, and above all, make me hum the melody incessantly while walking out of the theater. The misses…are filler. They pad out their scenes, but even though they annoy, they’re never loathsome. There’s a dark humor underlying the snowman’s song about how happy he’d be to experience summer for the first time, and there are a few of us who may be going to hell for laughing. My favorites include the intro song, “For The First Time In Forever”, “Let It Go”, and for simple laughs, “The Reindeer Song”.
As I wrote this review, I’ve realized I liked “Frozen” more than I originally did. If I’d had more time to breathe and appreciate what I enjoyed while in the theatre, I might’ve liked it more on arrival. Nevertheless, there are creative characters, catchy songs, and good comedy. It does work on fairy-tale logic, which takes the film down a notch, but if you come in with a childlike suspension of disbelief, you’ll find something to like. Thank you very much for reading, I’m the Man Without A Plan, signing off.
"Frozen" trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbQm5doF_Uc
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