Animated children’s movies have always been a tricky thing to pull off. It must appeal to the kids, the target audience, but also needs to be interesting enough for the parents to appreciate it and spread the word. Oftentimes, movies will end up juggling a story simple enough for the kids and a handful of scenes that are slid carefully under the PG rating. Although Disney’s Frozen did display some of these stereotypes, it had a charm of its own that makes it a film worth rewatching.
First off: the characters. Our newest princess, Anna, is a socially clumsy chatterbox who trips over her feet as often as her words. Elsa, her sister, is elegant and aloof, but is constantly in fear that her ice magic will hurt someone. Hans is a prince who Anna is convinced is her true love, while Kristoff is an ice-seller with a reindeer of the same name. Finally, probably the most enjoyable character of them all, Olaf, the snowman who likes warm hugs and longs to see what summer is like. The cast is a varied bunch, but we get a lot of character development out of it, which is refreshing to see. The mandatory angst comes mainly from Elsa, as she bemoans the fact that she needs to hide her true self in order to protect everybody, and Olaf is pure comedic gold (although Kristoff is pretty decent as well). The clueless snowman is constantly put through one gag after the other, but he still manages to be loveable and adorable, even putting out some fantastic one-liners that get the whole movie theater laughing.
The plot is…well, it’s definitely not love-centric, which is a relief for a princess movie. Instead, while it’s primary selling point is on the relationship between Elsa and Anna as sisters, it ends up being a deconstruction of the idea of ‘true love’. Anna meets Hans at her first ball, and after barely a day with him decides to get married. (Spoiler alert: they don’t.)
The characters and plot aside, it’s the songs that will really stick with you. From Olaf’s Broadway-style “In Summer” to Elsa’s big solo “Let it Go”, the movie has a range of songs that get stuck in your head and send shivers up your spine. There’s cutsey, there’s powerful, and everything in between.
The animation is certainly noteworthy too: continuing the trend of computer animation, the movie showcases some pretty amazing ice sequences, which are quite realistic in terms of lighting and reflection.
Rating by the author: 5/5 flames.
