Frozen

Disney films were a big part of my childhood; I had pretty much every Classic Disney film on video when I was little and now have them on DVD.  I used to drive my parents mad watching them all over and over again and I can probably recite every word from each film.  After 22 years of Disney watching, I still love them so I took my little sister (who's taller than me) to see Frozen, the latest Disney Classic to be produced.

Frozen is the latest Disney Classic with musical numbers and spectacular animation loosely based on Hans Christian Anderson's fairy tale The Snow Queen.  Frozen stars Kristen Bell (Veronica Mars), Idina Menzel (Enchanted), Jonathon Groff (Glee), Josh Gad (Love & Other Drugs), and Santino Fontana (Submissions Only); all of the main cast members have backgrounds in stage musicals, especially Menzel who is a Broadway veteran.

Rating: 10

Recommended To: Disney lovers

Favourite Characters: Kristoff - the voice of reason

Favourite Part: Olaf: There's your act of true love - riding across the fjords like a valiant, pungent, reindeer king

Good Points: The way the story began; themes; Olaf and Sven; musical numbers

Bad Points: What happened to Kristoff's family?

As I said before, Frozen is loosely based on The Snow Queen, or at least Elsa (Menzel) is.  Elsa was born with the ability to produce and control ice which she has to hide from everyone, including her sister Anna (Bell), after an accident when she and Anna were children; their parents close the gates to the palace, hiding Elsa and Anna away from the people of Arendelle, and the gates stay closed, even after their parents are killed on a voyage across oceans, until Elsa's coronation.  Everyone comes to the palace, including Hans (Fontana), a prince from another kingdom who Anna falls for, and witness Elsa's coronation.  During the coronation party, Anna and Hans upset Elsa accidentally, causing her to reveal her powers to everyone which she has always feared; Elsa runs away before she is persecuted for being unusual and causes Arendelle to fall into an eternal winter which Anna takes upon herself to solve.  Along the way to find her sister and save Arendelle, Anna meets Kristoff (Groff), who sells ice for a living, and his reindeer Sven then Olaf (Gad), a snowman that Elsa has created.

Before I go on, I have to congratulate Disney on being able to make me go through a spectrum of emotions in just under two hours from ecstatic to depressed and even breaking my heart yet again but this time right at the beginning.

I loved how the story began, showing Elsa, Anna, and Kristoff as children and connecting them immediately and capturing the hearts of the audience with their sheer cuteness as it made them endearing.  I loved how the connection was formed as Anna is treated by the trolls following an accident concerning Elsa's powers; both Elsa and Kristoff witness this and become bonded by this event yet they don't know it because Elsa and Anna didn't see Kristoff and the latter was young so may have forgotten over the years.  However, the audience know that a bond was there so there is an anticipation of them meeting up again when they are older and there can be a desire for two of them to become a couple.

The theme of sisterly love, or lack thereof during the main part of the film, was a great one for me because I understood the love that occurs between siblings, especially sisters because when myself and my little sister were younger, we were inseparable because there was only a couple of years between us but then when I started going to school and getting new friends, I didn't want to know my sister because it was deemed uncool to play with her because she was small and annoying but I still loved her and wanted to see her because I cared for her.  Now I'm older, I can say my sister is once again one of my best friends because we share similar tastes in music, films, and various other things and we understand one another's sense of humour, to a point, and while over the years we may have seemed distant from one another, like Elsa and Anna, we truly loved one another and would do anything for one another which I feel is the main message of the film.

I also loved how another theme in this film was the fear of the true self; Elsa was terrified of her own ability and therefore was scared of her true self as it could harm those she loves but she has to learn that doing so isolates not only herself, but her sister from the outside world which in turn means she is naïve to the true nature of the world and everyone in it.  At the predictable happy Disney end, when Elsa embraces her ability and accepts her true self and both her and Anna are happy in their new life teaches the audience that they need to be themselves to be happy which is an important lesson, particularly for a child.

What I have always loved about Disney films are the cute sidekicks for the heroes and even the villains occasionally (Iago from Aladdin) because they provide the comedic humour needed for a kids' film and this time it is Olaf, the snowman, and Sven, Kristoff's reindeer, who accompany Anna and Kristoff to find Elsa.  While Sven doesn't talk, his actions are funny, from playing with the droplets in the trees to trying to eat Olaf's carrot nose, which amuses younger children.  Then there is Olaf, the snowman that brings a sense of wonder to the cold surrounding them which children can identify with because snow equals playing outside and having fun with while adults find it annoying because they can't go out in their cars; however, Olaf's words make him humorous for the adults in the audience as he inadvertently insults Kristoff who seems to tolerate him to a point.  No Disney movie is not complete with a Olaf or a Sven and I'm glad Disney have stuck to this formula.

Let it go!  Let it go!  The musical numbers in this film were extremely catchy from Elsa's solo to Olaf's little song about summer and have been going around my head since I left the cinema and am considering buying this soundtrack.  While one of the songs in this film was random from my point of view, none were disappointing as they all had some relevance to the story, such as Anna's pleading for her sister to play with her to Elsa deciding to start embracing her true nature.  My absolute favourite was In Summer sung by Olaf because it was amusing listening to a snowman long for summer as he has never experienced it; I just wanted to tell him the truth because I didn't want him to come to harm because he was just so cute.

While Anna is determined to go after her sister and do whatever is necessary, no matter if it's dangerous, Kristoff, the ice salesman she meets, acts as the voice of reason throughout the film, knowing that Olaf needs to be told he will melt and Elsa is probably not going to listen to Anna since she ran away and I think that's why he's my favourite character.  He seems the sanest in this mixed up world where the snowmen talk and throw you out of ice castles and summer has become winter overnight, messing up his job and for that I love him as we all need someone like that in our lives, to ground us and ensure we are safe.

The only part that confused and ultimately let me down in this film was that they didn't mention anything about Kristoff's family and then he seemed to have been adopted by a group of trolls so I was just sat there wondering "WHAT HAPPENED?!!  Are they dead?!!  Did they throw him out?!!"  As I've said before, maybe I'm too curious but I like to know these things because I find it interesting and a bit too random if the audience is supposed to accept that Kristoff was raised by trolls.

Olaf: There's your act of true love - riding across the fjords like a valiant, pungent, reindeer king

This line was my favourite because it just made me laugh and stuck in my head for ages after the film so I kept giggling, confusing those around me because it really painted a picture in my head about Kristoff from Olaf's point of view; he smells but is brave and has a deep connection to his reindeer, Sven and for that, I love this film.

I highly recommend this film during this season as it has a wintry feel to it despite it being set in summer; the characters are well thought out as well as the story.  The musical numbers are well placed and catchy, sticking in your head for hours.  This has probably become my favourite Disney film, beating out Tangled, Robin Hood and Mulan.

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