Parents rejoice, the folks at Disney have delivered one of their best Musical-Animation films since “The Lion King” or “Little Mermaid”, a magical PG film that will keep the whole family engaged. “Frozen” combines a nice story of Love Power. Loosely based on Hans Christian Anderson’s “Snow Queen”, it’s a classic Disney Princess tale with plenty of plot twists and slapstick. The 3D production is gorgeous to look at as well, and coming from the frozen tundra myself, I prefer my winter landscape to look idyllic. “Frozen” is the story of two Princesses, the heiress Elsa (Edina Menzel), and Anna (a delightful Kristen Bell), who become estranged after Elsa’s power to freeze anything uncontrollably becomes a dangerous curse to her and her family. It comes to a head at Elsa’s coronation when Anna impulsively falls for a handsome Duke. Elsa’s objection spirals into a deep freeze for the entire land of Arendelle, causing her to flee to prevent any further damage. Anna decides to go after her and along the way enlists the aid of the guileless lad Kristoff and his reindeer, Sven. Anna and Kristoff’s chemistry leads us to wonder what will happen with the seemingly perfect Duke. They meet a very funny, clueless snowman, Olaf, hysterically voiced by Josh Gad (The Book of Mormon), who gives the film much of it’s visual humor. The rest of the plot keeps you guessing as to the outcome for both Elsa and Anna, and co-director Jennifer Lee (with Chris Buck) has written a clever script that keeps you engaged. This is the most Broadway friendly animation since “Beauty and the Beast”, with some very serviceable songs from the song writing couple Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez. I can easily see this hitting the stage down the road. The 3D Mickey Mouse Cartoon, “Get a Horse” is a brilliant opening treat from Disney. The “Steamboat Willie” Mickey Mouse of the 20’s breaks the forth wall and gives us one of the best uses of 3D that I’ve seen. Don’t come late to “Frozen”.
Rating: PG
My GPA: 4.0
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