Starring Kristen Bell, Josh Gad
Directed by Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee
Disneys highly respectable record of delightfully deep animated flicks continues with confidence in Frozen, even if it draws from one too many classic elements at times.
In this icy Nordic tale, young queen Elsa (Idina Menzel) unwittingly plunges her kingdom into eternal winter after mysterious magic powers she was born with force her to live in self-appointed exile. Her fearless sister Anna (Kristen Bell) soon teams up with a handsome mountain man, his trusty reindeer and a goofy snowman named Olaf (Josh Gad) to find Elsa and put an end to her frosty spell.
The film wastes no time in busting out the songs, and there are plenty, but most have a showy, Broadway verve that dont always fit the story or setting; its hard not to wonder if the music would have been more effective in the hands of Alan Menken and Tim Rice.
As usual, the animation and 3D rendering is beautiful with plenty of lush visuals to dazzle young and old alike. The movies story, inspired loosely by Hans Christian Andersens The Snow Queen, rolls along at a brisk pace and offers plenty of strong themes with several strong female characters. Anna is the perpetual optimist while Elsa is intriguing as her characters struggle with power hints at the potential seeds of eventual villainy. The scripts humour is rather pedestrian
In the end, Frozen spins an enjoyable yarn but lacks the charm to make it memorable.
