REPOST: ‘Frozen’: A virtually flawless film

Frozen was released just in time for Thanksgiving to remind us how family and love are the things we should be thankful for the most. Hypable.com gives us the details.

Image source: hypable.com

All of the films in the princess subgenre of fairy tales have led to the masterpiece that is Disney’s Frozen.

Frozen is the tale of two sisters. Elsa (Idina Menzel) has the power of the titular character from Hans Christian Andersen’s The Snow Queen, the fairy tale the film is loosely based upon. Unlike the Snow Queen, Elsa has no control over her powers. While she does have the ability to do incredible things like create a snow storm upon command, she also can’t stop herself from sending ice flying in any direction. Anna (Kristen Bell), Elsa’s younger sister, is completely normal in every way. The two sisters have a perfect sister relationship and they are each other’s best friend. One day, Elsa loses control and almost kills Anna. In an attempt to never hurt anyone again, Elsa locks herself in her room, away from everyone.

When Elsa finally does come out, it’s only for one day: her coronation as Queen. Anna is excited. Not only does she get to see her sister for the first time in forever, but the castle is opened to the public, and she gets to interact with strangers, something that is clearly necessary for her very extroverted personality. While running around amongst the people she runs into Prince Hans (Santino Fontana) and their interaction is as awkward as it is perfect. As with any fairytale true love, they get engaged that very day. When asked for her blessing, Elsa denies them. This forces Anna to push her, to demand to know why Elsa won’t allow anyone around her. Elsa loses control when the pressure is applied, and when the people know of her uncontrollable power, she flees, leaving the kingdom in an eternal winter. Anna decides to go after her sister and leaves Prince Hans as temporary ruler. On her journey to find her sister, Anna meets up with Kristoff (Jonathan Groff), an ice salesman, and Olaf (Josh Gad), a snowman brought to life by Elsa.

Frozen works on essentially every level, but perhaps the times it’s at its best is when playing off of the very familiar tropes of the princess subgenre of fairy tales. In traditional tales, everything is black and white, but in Frozen almost everything is grey. The town is cursed by a powerful female, but Elsa isn’t an evil queen who did it with malicious intent. No, she’s just a young woman who can’t control her powers, and that makes for a far more interesting character. There are several more examples of turning traditional meanings on their head throughout the film. Figuring them out is one of the most enjoyable aspects of the film, so I won’t spoil you.

The quality of musicals always come down to the effectiveness of the soundtrack. Often, especially with stories as strong as this one that don’t require singing, they can be seen as a gamble. Luckily, Frozen not only succeeds with its soundtrack, but the songs are so grand that they give so much to the film. They are amazing, Broadway caliber songs. The film smartly cast actors with experience on Broadway in the lead roles. While Kristen Bell and Josh Gad aren’t known as well for their Broadway work as co-stars Idina Menzel and Jonathan Groff, they quickly prove that they have the chops. Menzel’s “Let it Go” will likely make a play for best original song at the Oscars, and Gad’s “In Summer,” a song about a snowman who wants summer to come more than anything, is downright hilarious.

The songs never get tiring. The pace between song and script is spot on, as is the pace of the script in general. The film doesn’t drags anywhere, but that’s only one quality the script from co-director Jennifer Lee (the first female director of a Disney animated feature film) boasts. As noted previously, the script plays on tropes marvelously, but it’s also incredibly funny as well as emotional. It goes from punching you right in the gut one minute to making that same gut explode with laughter the next. It’s brilliant.

Image source: hypable.com

The animation work is absolutely beautiful, and it’s interesting to see the lasting effect the purchase of Pixar is having on Disney. Pixar has generally been seen as the innovators, but in the past two years, it’d be tough to claim that a Pixar film is better than a Disney animation film. The work today is really impressive, and this is no exception. There’s enough going on in the background to warrant multiple viewings.

Image source: hypable.com

Frozen is definitely a film made for kids, and with that comes very strong messages. These messages work far better than most kids movies. Sometimes the messages sent can be iffy at best (see: Brave), but they do exactly what they need to do. What and who is good and bad is somewhat murky throughout the film, but by the end it’s very clear. Young girls and boys will have characters to look up to as there are both strong female and male characters.

This is by all means a great Disney animated film. It’s one of their best in recent years, that’s for sure. It’s also probably one of their best ever, and it wouldn’t be crazy to say it’s up there with the big ones like The Lion King. It’s that good.

It’s becoming too common in today’s day and age to use adjectives like “amazing,” “incredible,” and “awesome,” but this really is all of those things. I don’t know what a perfect movie is, but Frozen is damn close.

Samantha Pouls is interested in filmmaking and writing. She loves blockbuster films such as the Harry Potter series, The Hunger Games, and the Twilight saga, and aims to achieve success at the level of these franchises when she produces her own projects in the future. For more articles about movies and film making, read this blog.