Movie Review: Frozen

Disney's Frozen movie review

Frozen
is a Disney movie, which usually means it will be delightfully charming, but I didn't know before seeing the film that it's also their musical film this year. Kristen Bell, Idina Menzel, Jonathan Groff, and others are among those whose voices we get to hear, and the songs in this movie are both catchy and well done.

Anna (Bell) and her sister Elsa (Menzel) live in the Palace with their mother and father, the King and Queen. Elsa has a secret that can't go past palace walls: she has the ability to create snow and ice with the flick of her fingers. She and Anna play indoors on mounds of snow, until one day she accidentally strikes her in the head; her parents take them to see the trolls, who fix Anna but remove some of her memories, and the royal couple decides that Elsa will not tell Anna about these powers. Elsa spends the next ten years or so avoiding Anna, until Elsa's coronation day, where her secret is unfortunately found out by all; Elsa flees the palace, and Anna must find her and bring her back to their village, so that she can fix the eternal winter she has left behind.

I usually find Disney movies to be clever, in that they're made for children but also cater to adults, and Frozen was no exception. From the Duke of Weselton being introduced as the "Duke of Weaseltown," to other quips throughout, the movie definitely has humorous moments. This movie is one of the best Disney films I can remember seeing in the past few years (Pixar movies excluded), as I wasn't much enamored with Brave last year, despite its numerous awards; I may be biased, of course, since I'm a '90s child (era of The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, etc.), yet I really enjoyed Frozen.

Yes, see this movie and see it in 3D: the 3D was done very well and the kids in the audience seemed to enjoy it too. Olaf the Snowman (voiced by Josh Gad) steals the show, although we get great musical numbers from Kristen Bell and Idina Menzel too. Jonathan Groff is also great as the voice of Kristoff, the lumberjack-type who tries to help Anna find Elsa in the forest. There's a major twist about 2/3 of the way through the movie that I didn't see coming, and the messages in the movie are decidedly "pro-woman" and a new Disney: no princes are needed to save the day. I'd recommend this film for anyone that's in the mood for a cute animated movie, no matter what your age, and I hope Disney continues this "winning" streak with their animated films into 2014.

Frozen is in theaters today, November 27th, and is rated PG with a runtime of 108 minutes. 4.5 stars out of 5.

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