If you haven’t seen Disney’s new smash-hit Frozen yet, you should keep that secret to yourself. I’m not one for hopping on bandwagons, but seriously, if you haven’t seen this movie, you need to hitch a ride with someone (I VOLUNTEER). Listen, I’ve seen this movie three times. I’m even listening to the soundtrack as I’m writing this literary masterpiece. The three times was worth it. Between the storyline, characters, actors, music, and animation, this has got to be Disney’s best film since The Lion King. Let me take you on a journey through the movie’s best features.
First, the storyline is a showstopper. Frozen is about two princess sisters who grew up in the kingdom of Arendelle, located somewhere in Norway. As children, they “used to be best buddies, and now [they’re] not” because of an innocent accident that unintentionally involved the older sister’s icy curse and forced them to be separated until young adulthood. It’s not until they are much older that the older sister’s secret about her icy power is revealed to the public. Her powers go out of control, and she accidentally sends Arendelle into an intense winter. Pressured by the thought that her soon-to-be new kingdom now thinks she is dangerous, she runs away right before her coronation. Her younger sister, too loyal to the family to care about danger, leaves the comfort of their castle and braves the winter to save her sister. Along the way, she makes new friends, the majority of which are not human, that help her find her sister to potentially put an end to the new queen’s frosty curse on Arendelle. Of course, it wouldn’t be a Disney movie without a love at first sight relationship… or would it?
Second, the characters are amazingly creative. Anna, the younger of the two, is a spunky and lively redhead who yearns for true love. She is determined, loyal, funny, klutzy, smart, and makes the biggest, most selfless sacrifice that has made me cry three times. Her older sister, Elsa, was born with white hair and an icy curse. Because of her curse, Elsa likes to be left alone, but she is beyond devoted to her kingdom and her family. Prince Hans “oftheSouthernIsles” clumsily sweeps Anna off her feet when they first meet. Anna is immediately smitten with the suave prince and falls head over heels in love with him, which means it’s true love, right? The next human, Kristoff, sells ice for a living. Kristoff is outdoorsy, intelligent, loving, caring, and awesome. His best friend is a reindeer, Sven, whose first passion in life is carrots. Finally, we meet Olaf the snowman. He likes warm hugs. Olaf has some of the best lines in animated Disney history, such as “Do you think she knows how to knock?,” “Pay attention, Sven,” and “Some people are worth melting for.” His can only be matched with Hercules’s “Somebody call IXII!!,” Timon’s “The monkey’s his uncle?” line from The Lion King, and “A llama? He’s supposed to be dead!!” from underrated The Emperor’s New Groove. Olaf’s hilarious one-liners help to balance out the uncontrollable sobbing you probably won’t be able to stop at other parts of the movie.
Third, Frozen brought it when it came to the actors. Kristen Bell co-stars as Anna alongside Broadway superstar Idina Menzel as Elsa. “Okay, can I just, say something crazy?” Personally, I enjoyed Bell’s performance almost more than Menzel’s. Who knew Bell could sing like that? Not me, I’ll tell you that much. All I hear is people talk about is how good Menzel is. Duh, she is the definition of flawless. I’m not saying I didn’t think Menzel didn’t do an outstanding job, because apparently when I say “I thought Kristen Bell was better than Idina Menzel” some of my friends thought I said “Idina Menzel sucks and I think she was the worst Elphaba in the entire universe because she has the worst singing voice in the history of ever.” You got me. I’m just saying I was more than pleasantly surprised by Bell’s performance in this role. Moving on now. After finishing up his Cinderella run on Broadway, Santino Fontana agreed to voice Prince Hans. Did I mention that Fontana also played a prince in Cinderella? Lucky for us, he actually just so happened to be THE prince, so he’s kind of a professional at this prince business. Disney brings us only the best of the best. Broadway’s Spring Awakening star Jonathan Groff voices Kristoff. Groff dazzles yet another audience with his beautiful singing voice and animated personality. Also, I’m sure it was no accident that “Kristoff” and “Groff” totally rhyme, am I right? Frozen snagged Book of Morman comedian Josh Gad to voice warm-hug-loving Olaf. Gad easily keeps the audience laughing, which is something he is quite used to.
Last, the music and animation in this movie are so good, I cried when Menzel sang “Let It Go,” not only because that song is powerful, but also because the ice castle she is building is the most astonishing thing I’ve seen in animation in a long time. I gladly took someone’s advice to go see Frozen twice, because you have to watch this movie again to only focus on the animation because there is so much going on. But anyway, I seriously cannot stop singing these songs. The movie opens with a song called “Vuelie.” A quick Google search told me this is a Scandinavian storytelling song, which is the best definition I could find. Anyhow, this song is obviously in a different language so it sounds AWESOME to us English-speaking Americans. Another great song is the adorable, bouncy, and tragic “Do You Want to Build a Snowman?” where we fist hear Bell sing. This song is extremely well-written and will definitely make you tear up near the end. My new shower song, “For the First Time in Forever” is next. Bell and Menzel team up in this song to bring us a master work of art. Anna and Hans converse in “Love is an Open Door” to give us our new favorite love song. This song isn’t some boring, mushy, slow dance love song, which just makes it thirty-four times better. A final song worth noting is Elsa’s “Let It Go,” belted by Menzel herself. “Let It Go” has taken off like crazy. I’ve even heard some people comparing it to “Defying Gravity,” also sung by Menzel in Wicked. Both songs take guts to sing and Menzel’s got guts.
So basically, you should go see this movie because it will rock your world. Now if you don’t mind, I’m going to continue listening to the soundtrack because I can’t stop.
Peave, love, Frozen
Photo Credit: http://disney.wikia.com/wiki/Frozen