Frozen (2013) Review

Elsa (Idina Menzel) is a princess in Arendelle with the magical ability to create ice and snow. One night while playing, she accidentally injures her younger sister, Anna (Kristen Bell). Their parents seek help from a group of rock trolls who heal Anna and change all her memories of Elsa’s magic. The king and queen separate the girls from both each other and the outside world until Elsa learns to control her powers. Sadly when the girls are teenagers their parents are killed at sea during a severe storm. Until Elsa comes of age for her coronation, things continue with the girls being isolated. Excited that the gates are finally opened again, Anna explores the town and meets Prince Hans (Santino Fontana) from the Southern Islands. The two instantly fall in love and go to Elsa asking for her blessing to marry. Elsa refuses and the sisters argue, culminating in Elsa accidentally revealing her powers to the kingdom and her sister. Elsa panics and flees the castle, while inadvertently unleashing an eternal winter. High in the mountains she refuses all her previous restrictions and, in one of the best scenes in the film, builds herself an ice palace. Anna sets off in search of Elsa to convince her to return, mend their relationship and undo the winter. While purchasing supplies she meets Kristoff (Jonathan Groff). Anna convinces him to guide her up the mountain with the help of his reindeer, Sven. The group encounters Olaf (Josh Gad), a snowman brought to life by Elsa, who leads them directly to Elsa’s hideaway. Anna persists with trying to persuade Elsa who, after becoming agitated, accidentally strikes Anna in the heart with her powers. In order to drive them away from her, Elsa creates a giant snow monster. As they escape, Kristoff sees that Anna’s red hair is becoming white. He seeks help from the same trolls as earlier who tell them that Anna’s heart has been frozen and unless it is thawed by an act of true love, she will become frozen solid forever. Believing that Hans is their only hope, Kristoff races Anna back to Arendelle. Hans himself has been out searching for Anna and reaches Elsa’s palace. Elsa is knocked unconscious and imprisoned. There, Hans pleads with her to undo the winter, but Elsa has no idea how. When Anna finally reunites with Hans and begs him to kiss her, Hans refuses and reveals his true intentions for marrying her. It’s so that he can gain control of the throne. Leaving Anna to die, he charges Elsa with treason and sentences her to death, who escapes onto the frozen river. Olaf finds Anna and reveals that Kristoff is in love with her and helps her out to the frozen river. Hans finds Elsa and informs her that Anna is dead and that it is. In despair Elsa stops the storm. Anna, seeing that Hans is about to kill Elsa, throws herself in between them just as she freezes solid. Hans is knocked unconscious by the block and Anna, since her sacrifice is an act of true love, thaws. after learning to control her powers, Elsa is able to thaw the kingdom and also helps Olaf survive summer by creating his own personal flurry.

I have put off for a long time writing this review, as I am not entirely sure how I felt about it. It’s utterly inconsistent. Yes, the animation is beautiful and Olaf is a character that works on every level but sadly the story has multiple wasted opportunities and bothersome plot holes. The filmmakers missed a real chance for drama and deepening the relationship between the sisters. If Elsa was somehow resentful of the fact that she is locked up in her room while Anna is able to go about the castle at will, we would easily understand the fight between them. As it is she never makes reference to the fact that Anna had more freedom. Why we don’t get that small bit of dialogue between them is unclear. What is clear is that Elsa has those feelings even if she isn’t aware. It could have come out very naturally and surprised both her and Anna. The worst point is that moments after saying she will never return, Elsa struggles to hear about the state of Arendelle and struggles even more with doing what she believes is right for herself. I wish there was more time between these two emotions. One horribly unexplained aspect of the film is why Kristoff has been adopted by the rock trolls. It doesn’t feel as if the backstory was left unexplained intentionally. It feels as if the filmmakers never bothered to create one.

Most of the songs are well performed (except a couple) but underwritten (except one) and suffer greatly as a result. The song “Fixer Upper” in particular bothers me. Throughout the entire film it is made clear that Elsa has no need to have to have a prince or fall in love but that message is undone rather poorly by the song’s lyrics, ”The way to fix a fixer upper is fix them up with you”. One can’t help but think after hearing that song that, if only Elsa had a boyfriend everything would be okay. That song undoes all the work put into the film’s best song, “Let It Go” the self-empowerment ballad sung by Elsa as she builds her ice palace. That’s a well-written and better performed song. Menzel’s performance of the song calls to mind other earlier films (like Judy Garland singing “Over The Rainbow” or Jodi Benson singing “Part of Your World”). One can hear in their voices that they believe every single word and so does the audience by extension. If the rest of the songs (like the cringe-inducing “Do You Want to Build a Snowman”) were as well done and if as much care had gone into them as “Let It Go”, I would not have a problem with the soundtrack. Truth is I could listen to Menzel sing that song over and over, and I have. No one else any business pretending to have one iota the ability that she has. She owns that song in every possible way.

The simple look of the film is beautiful. The snow in the film is not just white background. There is a shine and sparkle coming off it that I have never seen in any animated film before. The film features some of the best character animation and emotions that computer animated films have to offer. The characters movements are fluid, organic and natural. Not easy to do with humans. Each character is well-animated despite not all the voices being anything special.

As I mentioned earlier, Olaf is a character that works perfectly. He’s charming and funny but never annoying. Characters of comedic relief are a fine line and Olaf walks that line beautifully. Other characters don’t work quite as well. The character of Hans is particularly odd. His motivations come out of nowhere. He’s not the villain because he really believes in what he is doing. He’s the type of insta-just-add-water type of villain that we see on Saturday morning cartoons because he’s convenient. The film would have worked perfectly without his abrupt and, coincidentally, predictable turn from loving to cruel and selfish. There doesn’t need to be a villain.

Parts of this film are really brilliant and the things that are there that I like, I really like. If only everything was as well-handled as those things this would truly be an amazing film. The overall result is a great-looking film with an underwhelming story.

★★1/2