Frozen

2/2/2014

Directors: Chris Buck & Jennifer Lee

Writers: Jennifer Lee (screenplay), Hans Christian Andersen (story “The Snow Queen”), Chris Buck (story), Jennifer Lee (story) and Shane Morris (story).

Starring: Idina Menzel (Elsa), Kristen Bell (Anna), Jonathan Groff (Kristoff), Josh Gad (Olaf) and Santino Fontana (Hans).

Heir to the throne, Princess Elsa (Menzel) is born with a mysterious and powerful gift; she can create and control ice. While her power is magical and beautiful, her inability to control it creates a danger to those around her. With the help of her parents Elsa hides herself away from the world, and her beloved sister Anna (Bell). On the day of her coronation, emotions run high and Elsa is unable to conceal her gift. The population of her kingdom react with fear and disgust, so Elsa runs away to the North Mountain, determined to isolate herself from anyone she could hurt. However, Elsa does not realise that she has frozen the kingdom she left behind. Anna sets out to find her sister and bring back the summer. Anna is joined by a reluctant Kristoff (Groff), his reindeer Sven and a cheerful snowman called Olaf (Gad). Together, the unlikely team meet many challenges on their quest to find Elsa.

The screenplay by Jennifer Lee is clever and heart warming. While keeping to some of the Disney movie clichés, some concepts are refreshingly modern. One example is Elsa disproving of her younger sister Anna’s intentions to marry a man who she has just met. The movie focuses on two strong, independent women solving their own problems. While not flawless, the characters and their development did make the feminist in me quite happy.

The story is very loosely based of the Hand Christian Andersen story The Snow Queen, and the naming of Prince Hans is assumed to be a tribute to the author. While the story of Frozen does borrow some concepts from the The Snow Queen, the plot is very different and thankfully a lot less morbid than the original Anderson story.

Idina Menzel (Elsa) and Kristen Bell (Anna) steal the show with their outstanding vocal performances. While not typically known for her singing, Bell (known for her leading role in Veronica Mars) admits in interviews that music has always been a passion of hers, and is something that she studied in college. Bell’s singing takes centre stage in songs such as ‘Love is an Open Door’ and ‘For the First Time in Forever’ which are both very beautifully performed.

Menzel is more well known for her singing, especially through her character of Shelby Corcoran (Rachel’s mother) in the TV series Glee. Menzel has a very powerful and beautiful voice, and her rendition of ‘Let it Go’ has made it into the top forty in many music charts around the world. My only minor criticism is that at certain points Menzel’s voice sounds a little too mature for the character of Elsa, who we understand is a Queen who has only just come of age. Menzel’s singing is very bold, powerful, complex and beautiful, however sometimes it can be a little difficult to connect her voice to her character, who can be in her early twenties at the oldest.

The animation was of course outstanding. The styling is typical Disney animation and the effects created to display Queen Elsa’s powers are magical and beautiful. A few minor mistakes have already been noted by fans online, however on the whole, the animation is convincing and effective. The colour scheme is exactly what you would expect of a movie based on a snow queen, and the whites, blues and aqua’s are styled to create a beautiful winter wonderland.

Composed by Christophe Beck (known for his work on the movies The Muppets and Burlesque) the soundtrack of Frozen is phenomenal. The film is packed with catchy songs, recurring musical motifs, and beautiful scores. As previously mentioned, some of the songs have achieved chart success around the world, and speaking from experience, a good deal of them will be stuck in your head for weeks after you have seen the film.

Highlight: Being impossible to choose just one, the music and the storyline were the two biggest highlights in my opinion. The messages about love, life and individuality are modern and definitely morals worth passing on to a younger generation. The comedy and beautiful music throughout the film make it a definite must-see for all ages.

Score: 8.5/10

Written by The Chiv