Walt Disney Animation Studio’s newest movie kind of — loosely, not really — takes its story from Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Snow Queen.” The story finally thawed in a 70-year development hell, turning the daunting Danish fairy tale into a family appropriate animation spectacle.
AN "ANIMATION SPECTACLE"
Anna loves playing with her older sister Elsa, especially since Elsa can magically create ice and snow, even inside the palace halls. But Elsa’s play nearly freezes her sister. Afraid of killing anyone, Elsa hides the powers until she can control them. Shut in her room, Elsa ignores the shut out Anna who keeps singing, “Do you wanna build a snowman?”
Years pass and it’s Elsa’s coronation day. And for the first time in forever the gates are opened and out come the salad plates. Anna jumps and muses about dancing, chocolate and finding her true love. She meets Hans, a prince from neighboring country. He’s handsome and literally too good to be true. Within one song, the two begin a slushy romance which ends with a proposal.
The sisters fight over the engagement, leading to a hot-tempered blast of cool magic in front of all the guests. Elsa runs away from witchcraft accusations and to the mountains. In song and by animation wizardry, Elsa materializes an ice castle and places the kingdom in a Narnia-esque eternal winter. Hoping to save the kingdom — and her sister’s relationship — Anna journeys into the woods. She meets the anti-social, but loveable, ice salesman, Kristoff, and his dog-like reindeer, Sven, who help track down the lost sister.
MUSICALLY-TALENTED CAST
This movie piles on the screen and stage talent. “Veronica Mars” and “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” star Kristen Bell plays Anna. Idina Menzel, the original Elphaba in “Wicked,” voices Elsa. “Glee” actor Jonathan Groff and Broadway regular Santino Fontana play Anna’s love interests, Kristoff and Hans. And “The Book of Mormon” star Josh Gad rounds out the cast as Olaf, the optimistic snowman with a dream to tan come summer. It’s been years since Disney’s had a memorable and original character like Olaf.
Robert Lopez, “The Book of Mormon” and “Avenue Q” Tony winner, pairs up with his wife, Kristen Anderson-Lopez, to pen the songs. They are Disney veterans with 2011’s “Winnie the Pooh” and the “Finding Nemo” stage adaptation as proof. “Frozen”’s songs have a Broadway flair that conjures the magic and tunes in the tone for a snow-capped character piece.
Chris Buck, director of “Tarzan” and “Surf’s Up,” co-directs with the movie’s writer Jennifer Lee, who wrote last year’s Disney success “Wreck-It Ralph.” Starting with 2010’s “Tangled,” Disney Animation Studios has made a habit of creating increasingly complex characters, resulting in “Frozen,” with two strong female leads caught up in isolation and family issues. It’s a Disney princess story for the 21st century.
Unfortunately, “Frozen”’s gales aren’t strong enough to be the blizzard Disney hoped would blow us away. There are two different halves to the movie: a family drama and musical with forced comedy followed by an adventure tale lacking songs but with plenty of laughs and touching moments. Throughout there is distracting dialogue, underdeveloped antagonists and showstopper melodies that stop the show but stop short of being hummed out the theater.
It’s not perfect. But it’s wonderful. As the movie settles, it’s not Disney’s most inventive movie, but it’s still an enchanted flurry of complexity, song, color and heart. Disney confirms its animation legacy. And as animated films — like the other animated holiday offering “Free Birds” — become increasingly dumbed-down, expert animation that’s rendered out with an enjoyable story becomes as fresh as the year’s first snow.
