A film
review by James Berardinelli, Nov. 26, 2013.
For the
briefest of moments, while watching Frozen, I felt like I was back in
the early ‘90s, experiencing one of the memorable early second wave of Disney animated films. The sensation passed quickly
- Frozen is, after all, in 3-D and uses CGI (not hand-drawn)
animation - but some vestige lingered. This movie, co-directed by screenwriter Jennifer Lee and animation maestro Chris Buck, has been assembled by
people with a genuine love of films like The
Little Mermaid and Beauty and the
Beast, and they have imbued Frozen with the spirit of
those productions. Even a key conceit - true
love’s kiss - is employed, although there’s a bit of a twist as to how it’s
incorporated.
Frozen has been in development in one
form or another at Disney for more than a decade, starting life as a more
straightforward adaptation of Hans
Christen Andersen’s The Snow Queen
before being reconstructed by Lee. At one point, former animation A-listers
Linda Woolverton and Alan Menken were involved but, although neither lent their
talents to the final version of Frozen, Christophe Beck’s score echoes Menken’s work for The Little
Mermaid and the mix of whimsy, romance, and energy Woolverton brought
to Beauty and the Beast is in evidence. Visually, the movie is a
bright, splashy, beautifully rendered tale. The 3-D offers the usual tradeoff -
a dimmer, less vibrant picture in exchange for greater texture.
Although
there is the usual Disney romance between a princess - in this case, Anna
(voice of Kristen Bell) - and a
peasant - in this case, ice-cutter Kristoff (Jonathan Groff) - the primary relationship in Frozen is
between sisters. Anna is the younger sibling of Queen Elsa (Idina Menzel), and the emotional heart
of the movie beats in the feelings these two have for each other and how they
come to acknowledge and express them. Because Elsa possesses a magical power
over ice and snow, but can’t control her abilities, she represses her love for
Anna lest she accidentally hurt her sister. When things go awry on the day of
her coronation, she flees the city for an ice palace built on a lonely mountain,
but Anna tracks her down (with the help of Kristoff).
No
Disney movie would be complete without a side dish of cute. To that end, we have the almost-but-not-quite-talking
reindeer, Sven. Slightly more annoying is Olaf (Josh Gad), whose brand of humor is on the irritating side of silly.
Still, I'm sure Disney knows what they're doing with a character like this: the
kids will love him. His overly cartoonish presence, however, clashes with the
seriousness of some of the darker, more serious elements.
Perhaps
the most interesting thing about Frozen is that there’s no
obvious villain - no Wicked Stepmother, Evil Witch, or Ursula. To the extent
that there’s a bad guy, he’s more like a second-rate Gaston. As in Beauty
and the Beast, the human antagonist is secondary; the primary conflict is
between one of the characters and an elemental force she cannot harness. This
is also a rare Disney animated movie to focus in a positive and substantive way
on the relationship between sisters.
Frozen represents a return to a
format that, although once a Disney staple, has fallen into disfavor during
recent years: the musical. The recent trend in animated films is to feature a
pop tune or two but to ignore the Broadway-inspired song and dance approach that characterized the animated films of
the early ‘90s. Frozen does more than merely pay lip service
to this kind of movie: it embraces it fully. Admittedly, the songs (music by
Christophe Beck, lyrics by Kristen
Anderson-Lopez) aren’t strong enough for viewers to leave theaters humming
them, but neither are they completely limp and unmemorable. There are eight
numbers and the voice actors do the singing. As was the case in the past, a
recognizable pop star sings a reprise of a song over the end credits (in this
case, Demi Lovato’s rendition of Let It Go).
For
older viewers, nostalgia will play a part in Frozen’s appeal. It’s
almost impossible not to like the film if you grew up consuming Disney
animation. Children will enjoy the movie for all the reasons that kids normally
like animated films: they’re breezy, fast-paced, bright, not hard to follow,
and awash in eye candy. Frozen isn’t as sophisticated as last
year’s Wreck It Ralph (also written
by Lee) but it’s an appealing throwback - not great Disney but good enough to
engage viewers young and old. [Berardinelli's rating: *** out of 4]
Labels:
animation, adventure, comedy, family, fantasy, musical
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