Frozen (2013) Review

[Is not JL]

The following is all my opinion. And if you get offended, I'll apologize, but also take it as a compliment. It's the internet, guys. Feel free to take what I say seriously or not read any of it. But if you DON'T read any of it, I'm certain you'll regret it. 

 

 

If you want the simplest sentence to describe how good this movie is - I find myself sitting here, writing a review for it. Personally, I don't think I've ever been called a fanboy before. Not for games, not for anime, not for anything. But recently, Frozen has flipped that switched and knocked me head over heels to the point where I've gone up not one, but two levels, being called a fangirl. Which honestly doesn't make sense, because I'm still male.

 

But hey, moving on to the main bulk.

 

Throughout the previous year (And quite probably the few years before it) we've had many people discuss things about Disney. Star Wars being acquired by the mega-company, Marvel also having been able to dish out films of comic book hero adaptations, etc. But I'm sure that when we think back to 'Disney', the first thing that REALLY comes to mind is 'Hakuna Matata!' and all the other movies we'd seen in our childhood that we either secretly enjoy as a guilty pleasure, or gleefully sing-along with innocently.

 

Frozen is a 3D CGI-animated musical fantasy from Walt Disney Animation studios, who'd previously dished out Wreck-it Ralph, a movie that'd been called 'the' movie for gamers, as well as Tangled, which possibly has the largest budget for an animated film, ever.

 

 

And it is beautiful.

 

This movie follows the roots of Disney movie's amazingly, featuring a set of sing-along songs that will almost certainly be drilled into your head, especially a certain one sung by the amazingly powerful voice of Idina Menzel and placed within one of the most beautifully animated sequences of all time (And easily one of the best sequences in movies for 2013). Can you guess which one it is? I'll give you a hint - its a song that has tens of millions of hits on youtuve right now. Following that, the animation is truly splendid, and if you thought a icy, snowy region in animation was going to be boring, plain, and lazy, this movie will change your mind.

 

But not only that, this movie is also a well done attempt at trying something new. While 2010's Tangled was a good watch, it was also a very generic Princess movie, featuring estranged Princess, handsome male hero and some evil selfish antagonist that culminated in a heartsob-to-magical-revival, the most non-violent death for the antagonist, and then a happily ever after. This one? 

 

Spoilers begin here.

 

 

Well, having been in both an american theater, as well as ones native to my city, Hong Kong, I'll have to say people here keep to following the honor rules much better. Even laughter is kept to a minimum. But the building of the story is great, and when the handsome hero introduced with a great love duet (Love is an Open Door) feat. Santino Fontana (Whose voice blew me out of the water, and whose lyrics also acted as great foreshadowing) turned out to be a selfish *******, there was an actual, audible gasp around me.

 

But enough about the general things of the movie. Lets dig in deeper, shall we?

This movie is absolutely full of heart. Princess Anna and Queen Elsa of Arendelle (The former voiced by the amazing Kristen Bell, whom some of our members will know as the face and voice of Lucy Stillman of the Assassin's Creed series, and the latter by Idina Menzel, who - yes - sung Let it Go as Snow Queen Elsa) are introduced as young sisters with a genuine, heartwarming relationship that is strained by Elsa's extremely powerful cryokinetic powers when one playdate she accidentally strikes Anna with a bolt of ice, freezing her head. Her parents separate Elsa from any others, and isolate the two within the castle, causing both of them much pain. When their parents die, Anna and Elsa are truly left with only one another, but Elsa's fear of causing pain to her sister forces them to keep apart. The bonds of this relationship is challenged once again during Elsa's coronation as Queen, when the stress, as well as Anna's judgement causes Elsa's icy powers to be let loose upon Arendelle, freezing the summer into an harsh and icy cold winter environment. It's up to Anna to battle the elements and find her sister, armed with her yearning love.

 

 

This movie isn't about good vs. evil. It's about Love vs. Fear. Anna represents love; isolated from the world and cut off from her once close sister, it is her dream, her wish, to for the first time in forever have love. And Elsa represents fear, represents the scary factor of being unable to control yourself, to always be at risk of hurting those you love. Through this, both of them are really easily relatable, especially Anna, who may as well be the queen of awkwardness.

 

Following these two protagonists (Yes, protagonists.) are Ice-salesman Kristoff and Olaf the snowman, voiced by Jonathan Groff and Josh Gad, (who worked along with one of the songwriters, Robert Lopez, on the broadway show The Book of Mormon) respectively. Kristoff is great, being a good standpoint between Anna and Elsa. He's optimistic, cheerful, yet also alone, living with his adopted family of Trolls and his reindeer, Sven. In a way, he is the bridge between Anna and Elsa, and it is through him and Anna and Elsa learn about true love. Olaf, meanwhile, is both an amazing comic-relief character who provides both the breaks that kids may need from too much plot, as well as, at times, some of the jokes that only adults may understand (Though these aren't limited to just him.) Due in part to Josh Gad's freedom of improv, he really brightens up the movie. But not only that, as the snowman that Anna and Elsa built in their childhood, brought to life by the magical powers of the Queen, he also represents the (loss of) innocence that the sisters have.

 

And to round of the principle cast is Prince Hans of-the-southern-isles, who finally is the representation of the lack of love. As I said before, he sings the love duet with Anna that isn't really what it seems to be. While Anna believes her to be perfect with Hans, Hans himself is a scammer, and see's Anna as the open door to finally be free of his 12 brother's shadows and get a throne for himself. The lack of love between his brothers is what initiates his selfish actions, and as Anna says quite clearly, in the end, he's the one with the Frozen Heart (Before being promptly punched in the face.)

 

 

 

Characters: 9/10

 

 

Plot-wise, it isn't the most amazing thing you'll see, but I definitely did enjoy the adventures that had gone along. It does lag a little bit, and some scenes are a bit less emphasized as they are simply there for the events that let the climax happen, happen, rather than actually developing the characters. However, there are very little scenes like this - and the one scene I can actually think of featured quite the violence.

 

Yes, violence. For a Disney movie, Frozen is quite the movie that caters to older audiences. Jokes that simply bring a smile to the less innocent (Why have a ball room with no balls?) and action sequences that are animated splendidly. 

 

The events themselves are also very metaphorical. And nicely so -

Anna's attempt to reach out to Elsa ends with a cryokinetic outburst that ends with a shard of ice that enters and begins to freeze Anna's heart. And the only way to thaw a frozen heart is an Act of True love.

And as it turns out, sisterly love works!

 

The script is enjoyable, especially considering the amazing talent of voice actors that worked on this movie. 

 

Plot/Story: 8/10

 

 

Animation?

Wow.

 

 

The art in the movie is beautiful. From the shots of ships entering Arendelle, to the beautiful ice castle that Elsa builds atop the mountains to isolate her from others, and everything in between, is animated and rendered with a pristine quality that kicks previous Disney's works out of the window. While Tangled's art style was unique and enjoyable with CGI foregrounds atop oil-painting-esque backgrounds, and Wreck-it Ralph was made in a toony way that brought out the gamer within us, the grassy world and it's snow-covered change is really beautiful. Couple that with some really good character designs, as well as Elsa's powers in use (OMG), along with the fact that I love 3D and the effects here were amplified by the effect, and I'll have to say that -

 

Art and Animation: 10/10

 

 

And to end it the music. 

 

Back in 2010, many people praised 'the scene' in Tangled - when 'I See the Light' was sung, alongside the river of lanterns around Flynn Rider and Rapunzel. I guess we now have another one of these scenes in Elsa's Let it Go (Yes, I said it again), which I feel will be permanently imprinted into your head once you've seen it. So much better than What the fox says....ahhh......

 

All the songs in Frozen are sang beautifully, written by husband-wife couple Robert Lopez and Kristen-Anderson Lopez, and scored by Christophe Beck, are catchy enjoyable, but short enough too so those who get all red-faced about it won't have much to complain, apart from the fact that you may end up humming it out loud the next time you take a dump (Or, for me, a game of Cod, during which some 12 year old laughed at me for watching the movie before giving information that shows he was obviously interested).

 

And good thing that they penned the songs too, because the first one written during development, Let it go (WATCH IT), also changed up most of the plot to how it is right now - as in, not a generic princess movie.

 

The original score by Christophe Beck was also really, really good, and IMO on par with some of the best musical scores to have come out this year.

 

Music: 9/9

 

 

And that's it. I'm fairly certain that nobody has read the entire review word for word, so in the end I'll just give it a 9/10 overall, as well as the words "GO WATCH IT!"

 

Because you'll regret it if you don't.

 

 

PG, 1 hour and 25 minutes. (   My problem with the movie was that it ended.)

Directed by: Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee

In theatres: Nov 27 2013, Worldwide. Still playing in theatres, for those who wish to know.

On DVD/Blu-Ray/HD Download and all that: March 18.

 

All images are taken from scenes in the movie or promotional material.

 

 

 

 

That was fun. 

Edited January 16, 2014 by Chitoge

[Buns]

I loved Frozen best movie of 2013 in my opinion. Everything was so well done its cray.