Friday, March 14, 2014
Frozen (2013)
Cast: Kristen Bell, Idina Menzel,
Jonathan Groff, Josh Gad, Santino Fontana
Director: Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee
Synopsis: Elsa (Idina Menzel), the new queen
of Arrendale, has concealed her magical powers to create ice and snow her
entire life, hiding them even from her little sister, Anna (Kristen Bell). When
Elsa accidentally reveals her powers, sending Arrendale into an eternal winter,
Anna sets out on a journey to find her sister and restore summer to the
Kingdom. Leaving her fiancé, Hans, in charge, Anna sets off to find her sister,
and meets a mountain man, Kristoff (Jonathan Groff) and his reindeer, Sven, who
help Anna along the way.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5/5 Reels
Review:
Frozen is a breath of fresh air to the
collection of Disney stories in the past decade. It combines just the right
amount of song, twists, and suspense, leaving the audience satisfied and with a
few lingering tunes. Overall, the story was exceptionally written, directed,
and designed. It holds just the right balance of cliché and twists, making it
the perfect movie for a family or ninety’s kid who grew up on Disney’s animated
classics.
Throughout
the movie, character development is well thought out, creating an attachment
between the audience and each character. From the second scene, Elsa and Anna’s
relationship as sisters is captured, drawing the audience into Anna’s curious
nature and Elsa’s magical powers. The dangers of Elsa’s powers are also
immediately seen when the two girls are young, foreshadowing what’s to come.
The first
song of the movie, “Do You Want to Build a Snowman” serves as a strong anthem,
along with “Let it Go,” for the movie, attaching the audience even more to
Anna’s character and establishing a fondness of Elsa, though she remains
concealed. Soon after, the audience learns that the King and Queen die from a
tragic shipwreck, which seems to happen rather suddenly, in the middle of the
first song.
The movie
transitions to three years in the future on the day Arrendale is to coronate
their new queen, Elsa. It is at the coronation that the audience recognizes
Christoff and his reindeer, Sven, from the very first scene of the movie
showing mountain men producing ice blocks. This scene seems random at the
beginning, but is tied together once the audience is re-introduced to Christoff
and Sven, who help Anna along in her journey to find Elsa.
Unlike
most Disney movies, Elsa sets out on her journey alone, with just her horse.
She is a likeable princess and isn’t afraid to get her hands dirty. During her
journey, the audience becomes conflicted between Hans, Anna’s fiancé, whom she
has only known for a day, and Christoff. Hans is a perfect prince who takes
care of the Kingdom while Anna is gone and Christoff is a simple mountain man
who ends up falling in love with Anna. One of the most loveable characters of
the movie is Olaf, a childhood-imagined snowman that Elsa has created. He is
caring, witty, and brings much comic relief to the characters and audience
alike.
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As the
plot thickens and Anna realizes that her sister won’t be of any help to
Arrendale, her troubles hasten as she realizes her sister has accidentally
frozen her heart and she needs immediate help. Christoff takes Anna to a group
of funny and musical trolls who have raised him, who reveal that Anna’s frozen heart
and the icy kingdom will only be restored by an act of true love, which is
immediately interpreted as a true love’s kiss.
As the
story continues, the audience realizes that Hans is only after the throne and
plans to kill Elsa and leaves Anna to die. Christoff realizes his true love for
Anna and tries to make it back to the Kingdom on time. The Kingdom is finally
restored when Anna comes between Hans attempt to kill Elsa, an act of true
love. Elsa realizes love has been the answer all along and the Kingdom lives
happily ever after. The plot and resolution is perfectly thought out, though
the answer being love serves as a bit cheesy and predictable. However, there
were enough twists and turns, which took much of the predictability away.
Overall, Frozen is an exceptional work of
animation, deserving to be a classic, because of the right amount of song,
suspense, twists and turns, and incredible character development. It leaves a feeling
of nostalgia and reminder of Disney classics like The Lion King, Cinderella,
or even Mulan. It is a movie for all
ages and one to be watched over and over again!
By:
Jessica Jesudasen
I loved the review! It was such an amazing movie. I think you really hit the nail on the head with the comment about this movie deserving to being a Disney classic. Since you explain a lot of the plot-line for the movie, you might want to add the words "SPOILER" at the beginning, just incase someone who hasn't seen the movie is reading it. Other than that, awesome job!
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