Bonus Review! Frozen

How Cool Is It?  Ice Cold!

As you know, yesterday I posted a review for Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2 after watching it on video.  Last night, however, I had a great time and ended up going to see a really late show of Frozen.  With it still fresh in my memory, I wanted to get a review of it up fur yinz.  Until a couple of days ago, I didn't even realize this movie was still playing.  There is so much irony going to see a movie called Frozen on the day when the real world was finally NOT frozen.

Filmed in Pittsburgh a week ago.

Spoiler Free!

Frozen actually took me back a little bit.  It was a unique story, but it brought back old feelings and memories of the the Disney animated musicals we all grew up with.  I don't know if it's fair to say at this point it'll have the same longevity as classics like Aladdin or Beauty and the Beast, but it is certainly a good attempt.  We'll find out as time goes by if it garners the same attraction as the others.  If I were to put a bet on it, tho, I'd say this is one kids and adults will have no problem watching over and over.

The characters were cool, interesting, and funny.  The princesses were voiced, including the singing, by Tony Award winner Idena Menzel and one of my personal favorite she-geeks Kristen Bell.  I don't think I ever had any idea that Bell could sing and she did a tremendous job.  Until I looked it up after, I really thought someone else was singing for her.  That was not the case, however.

This is now her second stint as a Disney Princess, too.

There are points where the story seemed really intense, but this is contrasted with quite a bit of comic relief.  Between Sven the Reindeer and Olaf the Snowman, in addition to the many quarks of each main character, there are lots of laughs to go around.  The story is a really good one too and the music is really awesome.  I can guarantee that there are at least two points where just when you think you have predicted what's going to happen, it takes a sharp turn.  

Time for some Spoilers so, as always, continue if you dare or skip down for the Overview!

--Caution:  Spoilers Ahead--

Frozen begins when the two princess, Elsa and Anna, are kids.  Anna wants to build a snowman and wakes Elsa up to go play.  They go to the ballroom and we learn that Elsa has the power to create snow and ice as well as manipulate it.  They build their snowman and are playing around when there is an accident as Elsa accidentally hits Anna is the head with ice.  Their parents, already aware of Elsa's powers, take the girls to see the Trolls who are able to heal her by helping her forget that her sister has powers but allowing her to remember the fun they had at the same time.

After returning home, Elsa and her parents come up with a plan to hide her powers from Anna and the world to keep Anna safe.  Elsa stays in her room and shuts out Anna for years, even through the death of their parents as well as the funeral.  Anna tries occasionally over the years to lure Elsa out, but it is no use and eventually she stops trying.

Being the older of the two, Elsa is crowned Queen when she comes of age.  For the first time in a long time, the windows, doors, and main gate are opened which pleases Anna.  Anna is really naive as she has had very little contact with the outside world.  She meets a prince named Hans and after a short musical number she has agreed to marry him.  The relationship was going so fast, I expected to see the wedding even a divorce before sunrise the next day.

Just after they were finally reunited from their isolation, Anna asks Elsa for her blessing and Elsa refuses.  This causes a fight and for Elsa to lose control of her powers.  Everyone saw and Elsa runs away into the mountains. In the process, she ends up freezing the entire town including all the ships in the harbor. Anna decides to go after her, leaving her new fiance to run things at home.  

I've been here 2 hours and I'm already in charge and engaged...

This brings up an interesting point.  Looking back, I'm not sure why they had to make sure that Anna didn't know Elsa had powers.  When she learns of them on coronation day, nothing happened.  There were no ill effects.  I just realized this because it was a pretty major plot point that kept the two sisters isolated and caused the blow out after the engagement news.  

Anna goes after Elsa and meets Kristoff, an ice merchant, and his reindeer Sven.  Anna convinces Kristoff to help her get to the mountain where Elsa is hiding.  Elsa built a large ice castle where she intends to live to stay away from everyone.  She finally embraces her powers and wants to push the limit to see what she can really do.  One of the first things is an impromptu makeover, letting her hair down and apparently making a dress out of ice.

On the way to Elsa's, Anna and Kristoff come across a living snowman.  Once they meet him, the funniest parts of the movie are on the way.  His name is Olaf and he can't wait for summer.  He doesn't realize that all the things that he wants to do would melt him.  He accompanies the group to the ice castle where he is anxious to meet Elsa who created him.

Totally normal.

Once they reach Elsa, the reunion goes badly.  Again, to keep Anna safe, she wants them to go.  In another loss of control, Anna is hit with another blast of ice but this time in the heart.  Elsa has them thrown out by a giant Snowman and they have to escape after Olaf makes it mad with a snowball.

Hans takes a group to the ice castle after Anna doesn't return.  A pretty cool fight takes place and ultimately Hans is able to capture Elsa and take her back to the city.  

Anna is in a bad way after taking the ice to the heart.  Kristoff takes her to the same Trolls, who are also his family after raising him from when he was a boy.  The trolls try to set the two up to get married, but Anna collapses.  They realize that the hit to the heart was freezing her.  She will continue to freeze until she is a statue of ice and only an "act of true love" will be able to save her.

The obvious course was to hurry and get her to Hans so they can kiss and reverse the spell.  When the two are reunited, we learn that Hans is not the good guy he lead us to believe. He is 13th in line to rule in his own kingdom figured it would be easier to marry into royalty elsewhere to take over. He doesn't kiss her and instead locks Anna in the room to turn into a statue.  Olaf finds her and gets her out.  They realize that Kristoff is her true love and they need to try and get her back to him.  

Who can resist a man on a reindeer?

Elsa also escapes and is trying to flee over the solid water.  Through a storm Elsa creates, Hans hunts Elsa, while Kristoff searches for Anna.  In an excellent scene, the 4 of them are close by.  Anna sees Kristoff but also sees Hans about to kill Elsa.  She runs away from Kristoff towards Elsa and turns into a statue right as Hans's sword hits her.  The sword shatters and Hans is knocked off his feet.  This is actually an act of true love, however.  Anna sacrificing herself to save Elsa frees her from being a frozen statue and she returns to normal.

This revelation also shows Elsa how to unfreeze the town.  Love is the key.  She is able to use that to take back all of the snow and return summer to all the land.

General Overview:

So after all that I came away thinking the story was very interesting.  It was twisting and turning.  Like Cloudy 2, I would think this movie is good for all ages.  Overall, it was a cutesy kids movie, but the great cast, excellent music, and astounding visuals were something to see.  I only saw it in Digital Projection but from the looks of things, it would also be very good in 3D so if you can find it and want to see it go check it out while you still can.

Minor Spoiler: It is a little sad that Elsa didn't end up with anyone in the end.  Maybe there is a guy out there that would be perfect for her and share in some of her same interests...

We can make beautiful ice-babies.