Frozen (2013) Review

"Some people are worth melting for."
-Olaf



After the King and Queen of Arendelle are lost at sea, their oldest daughter, Elsa (Idina Menzel), is to become Queen.  Elsa has mysterious powers that allow her to create ice and snow, but she keeps her powers hidden from everyone, even her sister, Anna (Kristen Bell).  After being crowned Queen, her powers are discovered and Elsa flees the kingdom and leaves it snowed it.  Anna has no choice but to go after her sister to thaw Arendelle.


What Works:

The voice acting is fantastic all around.  The entire cast does a fantastic job and give the characters distinct personalities.  Kristen Bell gives us a very likable protagonist and Jonathan Groff's Kristoff is an unusual and fun love interest.

Josh Gad is probably the best part of the movie as the comic-relief, Olaf.  I know the character has become over-saturated, but he's still great in this movie.  He has the best lines, some dark jokes, light-hearted moments, and a really fantastic scene where he starts melting to try and save Anna.

I love that this movie takes the classic Disney concept of "True Love" and turns it on its head.  The main villain, Hans (Santino Fontana), is set up as a Prince Charming for Anna and his heel-turn, though unexpected, is great.  In the end, the True Love that saves Anna isn't from a man, but from her saving her sister.  It renders Kristoff basically useless in the 3rd act.  It's an excellent subversion of the trope and pokes fun at some of the older Disney movies. 

Finally, the songs are really great.  All of them are catchy and memorable, but the best is, of course, "Let It Go."  Menzel gives a powerful performance and even though the song has been overplayed in the years since, it's still a tasty jam.


What Sucks:

I do think the character of Elsa is underused.  She gets basically nothing to do in the middle of the movie.  She just sits in her castle of ice.  I would have liked another scene or two showing us what she is doing up there.  Maybe working on controlling her powers in some way, I don't know, but we needed more from her.

Finally, the middle of the movie as a whole is weaker than the beginning and the end.  The most interesting part of this movie is the relationship between Anna and Elsa, and they are separated for the majority of the second act.  Keeping them apart for so long just isn't as interesting as Anna and her motley crew's snowy adventure.


Verdict:

Frozen is a very solid Disney movie and gets too much hate.  The actors do a great job, the subversion of Disney tropes works very well, and the songs are awesome.  Elsa doesn't get enough to do and the second act isn't as strong as the first or third, but I'll let my complains go because this movie has got it going on.

 8/10: Really Good 

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