Disney's Fozen was the first Film I saw in the theater in 2014, and I was absolutely surprised by how good it was.
I never know what to expect when going into a Disney movie. They had a string of movies in the 90's where they could do absolutely no wrong... The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King... but then it all started going downhill with movies like Pocahontas and Hercules... although I did enjoy those, just not as much as the other three. Then came the Pixar era, but honestly, I like songs in my Disney movies so I judge the Pixar movies on a completely different scale.
A few years ago, Tangled came out, so I went to it because I had nothing better to do... and I loved it! It was a return to form for Disney animation, yet at the same time, it wasn't. This was the Disney Animated Movie formula that I loved from the past... but they updated it to 3D animation. A welcome, but sad change as it marked the end of the hand-drawn Disney animate movie era... at least for theater releases.
Enter Frozen. Their second foray into 3D animated musicals, was another movie that I was going to skip. Honestly, the trailers for it made it look stupid and all about that dumb snowman... but that snowman is actually a very small part of the movie and the character actually works. He doesn't take anything away from the movie. The movie is actually about a pair of sisters. Elsa, the older sister and voiced by Idina Menzel of Broadway fame (and also plays the mother of Rachel on Glee,) was born with the ability to use ice magic. Her and her sister, Anna, voiced by Kristen Bell of Veronica Mars fame, used to be very close until one day while playing together, Else loses control of her ability and accidentally hurts Anna. Their parents, the king and queen, make Elsa stay away from everyone and have the memory of Elsa's powers removed from Anna mind. Their parents pass shortly after and years go by with Elsa having nothing to do with Anna for fear of hurting her again. On the day that Elsa is supposed to take the throne, she loses control of her powers in front of the whole kingdom and accidentally sets off of an ice age of sorts for the country while she flees to the mountains. It's left up to Anna to travel into the mountains, find her sister and try to get her to thaw out the land.
This movie surprised me on many fronts. First off, Kristin flippin' Bell can sing! I never pictured her as someone that could actually carry a Disney musical, but she does a great job... but I have to be honest. She absolutely PALES in comparison to Idina Menzel. If I ever get the chance to see her in a real Broadway show, I'm taking it! Her performance of "Let it Go" still plays through my head! Second, this is the first Disney animated movie that doesn't teach little girls that you have to have some handsome prince save you. There is an element of finding true love in Frozen, but the real heart of the story is the love between two sisters. The last surprise was how good the story actually was. I never once looked at the time and I was completely immersed in the movie, save for one scene. Not bad for a movie that is targeted to children.
The only scene that I thought didn't really work in Frozen was the song that the rock trolls have in the middle of the movie. The characters themselves worked in small doses and they aren't a large part of the movie, but their number took me out of the whole thing.
I definitely recommend that you catch this "cold" whenever you can, theater or home video. ... and please excuse my lame pun.
Final Grade - 8/10
Until next time... are you not entertained?
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