Frozen

Very few movies can claim they held the world in a vice grip the same way that Disney’s 2013 animated feature, Frozen, did. There have been plenty of films that dominated pop culture and have helped shape how entertainment has evolved, but Frozen was such a juggernaut that it has arguably never been topped since, fully revitalizing Disney during a time when they were slowly finding their footing again. Standing as one of the highest grossing films of all time with an eventual gross of $1.2 billion (making it the highest grossing animated film of all time at the point of its release), earning  the title of Best Animated Feature at the year’s Academy Award, becoming a pop culture sensation through its loveable characters, insanely catchy songs, and reinvention of the traditional Disney formula, and while eventually getting a backlash due to its widespread popularity, it didn’t prevent it from spawning a franchise, with follow-up shorts, specials, and an equally successful sequel. The one that started it all may have to now battle between being viewed as overplayed or undervalued, but no one can deny that it shook the world as we know it.

In the kingdom of Arendelle, two sisters named Anna and Elsa (voiced by Kristen Bell and Idina Menzel) were once the best of friends as children but have grown apart after Elsa’s ice powers damaged Anna, forcing the family into solitude and Elsa into fearful seclusion. After coming off age and following the tragic death of their parents, Elsa is crowned Queen, but her powers are outed to the kingdom, forcing her to flee into the mountains and freeze the kingdom into a permanent winter. Wanting to fix her mistakes, Anna leaves her newly betrothed Prince Hans (voiced by Santino Fontana) to travel to the mountain and asks Elsa to reverse this winter spell, getting the help of an iceman named Kristoff (voiced by Jonathan Groff), as well as a sentient snowman named Olaf (voiced by Josh Gad) in the process. This sisterly bond will be put to the test to see if they can be able to thaw not only this eternal freeze, but also the walls that have come between them.

Frozen may not be on the same level as the films from the Disney renaissance, but the comparisons are not undeserved either, with this film managing to produce a fun and engaging experience that knows what to retain for a classic fairy tale adventure and what to spruce up for a modern-day feature.

While the film is technically inspired by the Hans Christian Andersen story, The Snow Queen, the story is almost entirely different, with only select components being retained whilst altering and restructuring everything else. Viewed as a too dark and too complicated to transfer into a movie, the development process originated back in Disney’s early years, with Walt himself being fascinated by Hans Christian Andersen’s work (which he already displayed through his version of The Little Mermaid) and he attempted several times to bring a film version to life, yet none ever materialized. This changed in 2008 when John Lasseter (who was the chief creative officer at Disney and Pixar animation at the time) help spearhead the project by bringing former Disney director, Chris Buck, back to direct the film. Excitement was heightened after the success of Tangled (another reworked and modernized 3D animated fairy tale that took the world by storm), but the direction of the film was switched from something more like to the original book (even making Elsa the villain) to something more traditionally Disney, musically comedic rather than action-focused, and put a stronger focus on emotional turmoil’s rather than physical conflicts, which spurned when they made Elsa and the newly created protagonist Anna sisters, completely reshaping how the story would unfold. While a drastically different direction, it feels very well executed and a lot of the sweet and meaningful elements seem to be the result of screenwriter and eventual co-director, Jennifer Lee, who extensively worked on the development of the story alongside fellow story writers, Buck and Shane Morris, to create something recognizable to the Disney brand.

The film operates like a standard fairy tale with the regular ingredients that come with a Disney film like song sequences, animal sidekicks, comedic relief, etc, but was also credited for how it switched up the Disney formula, actively poking holes in the logic of love-at-first sight, talking animals, and even what ‘true love’ means. It’s both simple enough to be a charming kid’s film but has just enough of a maturity to its writing to be more than what it presents at face value. Sometimes, it can feature some odd decision making in the script so the story can unfold (mainly in how it handles the opening and parts of the ending), but the layout of the story is good, the characters and how they interact off each other is done well, the ending and its message is easily the strongest component of the script, and while not flawless, it was able to provide an old-fashion story in a fresh coat of paint, mirroring what other classic Disney films have done in the past and proving why it was comparable to those within the Disney Renaissance.

Disney characters often become iconic due to their charming personalities, memorable designs and engaging voice acting, and even after they hit a rough patch, their strongest work even to this day continues that trend. Both Princess and the Frog and Tangled had good memorable characters, and Frozen is no different, featuring a small cast that still manages to be enjoyable, feature good designs and are acted in a very light but entertaining manner. Clearly the highlights are Anna and Elsa, with both being the emotional centre of the story, and how the story handles their relationship (in particular the resolution), leads to some of the best moments of the film. Allowing for a Disney film that can have both a princess and a queen is a nice touch, focusing on a sisterly bond hasn’t been done in the company since Lilo & Stitch, so it’s nice to see that explored again, their designs fit well alongside the other princesses while still being memorable, both Kristen Bell and Idina Menzel are phenomenal in bringing a lot of character whilst also providing some incredible strong song sequences, and the manner in which they parallel each other in their personalities is another vital part of why this story works. The dissection of the pros and cons of introverted and extroverted personalities portrayed through these characters is pretty well done and important to showcase to young people in the more modern era, where being overly trustful can be equally as dangerous as not trusting anyone. It incorporates that more modern, sophisticated form of storytelling that, while not extremely elevated, does add a new dose to an old trend, it’s appreciated. Elsa does feel like she struggles a little bit, as her change from wicked villainess to confused sympathetic figure who has the capacity for evil, leaves her feeling a little underwritten during parts of the story, but it doesn’t ruin the stronger moments with her and she is turned into an ultimately compelling heroine in the sequel, so it works out.

The supporting characters are definitely more standard and don’t play a lot into the story, but they get the job done. There are some that are underwhelming like a side villain voiced by Alan Tudyk who serves little purpose outside of needing an antagonist foil, and a group of rock trolls who aren’t funny, useful and contribute the worst song in the film, so any time spent with them is irritating, but the rest are much more tolerable. Hans as a character is good in premise and about 70% of him works throughout the film, but that extra 30% feels a little aimless and even annoyingly basic (especially during the final act). Kristoff is treated like a very standard male support character, but he isn’t unlikeable in any way, Jonathan Groff is a talented actor, and the gag surrounding how his pet reindeer, Sven, ‘’talks’’ is pretty good. Olaf could very easily be an annoying comic relief (which is what he would later become in the sequel), but because he only shows up halfway into the movie, he isn’t the sole comic relief as every character has some element of humor about them, is tied to the leads in a sentimental manner, and Josh Gad smartly plays him in a surprisingly whispery tone rather than shouty, it makes him more endearing, and it does help that some of his bits are pretty good.

The animation follows the look of something like Tangled and adopts a 3D style through the use of CG with some 2D elements implemented, and while it does look nice enough for the time and even now, it suffers a similar problem with Tangled in feeling poorly suited. Tangled was a film that didn’t really benefit from a 3D presentation and arguably would’ve done better in 2D as nothing about the layout, environment or even camerawork really utilized the extra dimensions, making it feel like using a new tool without purpose. Frozen sidesteps this problem a little as the cinematography by Scott Beattie and Mohit Kallianpur gets some nice dynamic shots that swoop around the environments in a flowing manner (especially in the song numbers) and makes better use of the space, but still not to the degree that requires it. Another factor may be that 3D animation works wonderfully when it comes to creating a memorable environment and being able to highlight said location in a nice manner, and Arendelle just isn’t that interesting a location, made even harder by the constant onslaught of snow covering everything up. It is animated well, the colors that come from the winter like the lighting hues of lime green, orange and hot pink are very nice, and the film has its fair share of stunning imagery that will be ingrained in pop culture (especially an image of an ice statue near the end of the film), but in regards to whether or not the film required a 3D style, it’s kind of in the middle. The music for this film lives in infamy even more than the movie itself, with the soundtrack written by husband-and-wife team, Robert and Kristen-Anderson Lopez being one of the most repeated and applauded tracks of Disney history (so much so that Let It Go got overplayed to the point of obnoxiousness). They are all very catchy, very well written, and bring a Broadway element to the entire picture which really helps it give off a different attitude and energy than princess films of the past.

Frozen will forever be a priceless movie to Disney for how it dragged them out of a dark pit and propelled them back into stardom again, so much so that it isn’t any surprise that they want to continue exploring the world and characters as much as possible. This first film did a good job standing on its own and, even though it didn’t feel like it required a follow-up, there was no chance it wouldn’t be taken advantage of. It’s hard to place it on the same level of something like The Little Mermaid or Beauty and the Beast, as those are classic films that have retained all of their strongest qualities over the test of time whilst this, while still very good, does feel more simplistic with each passing day. The trajectory of the story is woven a little awkwardly at times, the supporting roles aren’t remarkable, the visuals are nice but not spectacular, and in spite of its strong updates, the writing doesn’t have the magical spice that worked so well previously, but it doesn’t take away from the film’s solid characters, unforgettable music and effective updates to the Disney formula. The frozen fever managed to take over the world, and even after all this time, it still isn’t ready to let go.