Frozen Review

Back in the day, Disney was the king of animation. For years they stood unchallenged atop their throne, but over the past twenty years challengers have risen up. Pixar and DreamWorks have made a real name for themselves, especially with the introduction of best animated feature at the Oscars. But since they have risen, Disney has fallen. For the past couple years the quality of Disney's animated films have fallen; we'd get a good one here and there like Tangled and Wreck-It-Ralph, but none that we'll remember fondly years from now. Earlier this year Disney released a teaser trailer for their new movie Frozen and it was pretty funny. So I decided to keep my eye on it. Well it's finally been released, so is this the instant Disney classic we were all hoping for? It very well might be. Frozen takes place in the mythical kingdom of Arendelle and follows the story of two princesses, Elsa and Anna. The older sister Elsa was born with the power to conjure ice and snow. This is something the public can never know about, so her parents keep her concealed within the castle in the hopes of containing her powers. After a terrible accident, the king and queen pass away which means Elsa is next in line. When she comes finally comes of age to take the crown, the castle doors are opened for the first time in years. But while at her coronation, her powers are revealed and she runs away in fear. She heads into the mountains, and accidentally covers the land in an eternal winter. Ana decides to go after her in the hopes she can put everything back to normal, but all on her own she isn't well suited. Along the way she meets Kristoff, an ice salesman whose business is in jeopardy. So the two set off save both the kingdom, and Elsa. I'll go ahead and make a prediction, Frozen will win best animated feature at the Oscars this year; this is easily the best Disney movie in years. I must say this is a beautiful movie, the animation is great throughout. It's especially cool to see Elsa wield her ice powers. The animation style is similar to Tangled, which makes sense cause it's by the same team. Disney has always been known for its great characters, and Frozen is no different. All the characters are likable and well written, and are complemented by fantastic voice acting. Olaf the snowman who is introduced about a quarter of the way through the film is one of the funniest characters you'll see in a movie all year. Almost every line out of his mouth is hilarious, and those that aren't are sincere and heartfelt. But out of everyone, Idina Menzel steals the show as Elsa. Idina is a Tony award winning actress most known for her part in the Broadway play Wicked, and goddamn can that woman sing. She performs the movie's stand out song "Let it Go" and she kills it. I would not be surprised if she won an Oscar for best original song. While she is amazing, she is totally underutilized. She sings two duets and her one solo and that's it. One thing you need to know is that this movie has a whole lot of singing; it's really like classic Disney movies where people will just break out into song. While I do feel that some songs were forced to fit a certain scene, there isn't a bad song in the movie. Composer Christopher Beck did a great job and should get an Oscar nomination for his work. Like the older Disney movie, Frozen is funny when it wants to be and sincere when it needs to be. There are some very touching and sad moments in this movie, you really feel for these characters. But it's not all tears and sadness; there are more than a few scenes where I was laughing my ass off. I will say the movie is aimed more for kids, but is certainly enjoyable for the whole family. Frozen is the best animated film of the year by far, and probably the best in the past couple years. The movie works on every level an animation should. And what it does best is bring back what we loved most about the old school Disney movies. Frozen is easily my favorite movie of the year as well as one of the best. If you loved movies like Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, The Lion King or essentially any Disney movie with singing from the 80's or 90's, Frozen is not a movie to be missed. 

Pros: Lovable characters, very funny and emotional, great animation, fantastic voice acting, award worthy soundtrack, feels like classic Disney. 

Cons: Some songs feel forced, aimed more at kids, Idina Menzel is underutilized.

4.5/5 Stars