OVP: Frozen (2013)

Film: Frozen (2013)

Stars: Kristen Bell, Idina Menzel, Jonathan Groff, Santino Fontana, Josh Gad

Director:  Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee

Oscar History: 2 nominations/2 wins (Best Original Song-"Let it Go,"* Best Animated Feature*)

Snap Judgment Ranking: 4/5 stars

I am enjoying a wonderful evening in the shadow of a strong Black Friday performance (Target has a lot more of my money and my little cousin is going to be playing a Lego Marvel adventure this Christmas…also, I write all of these well in advance of them going live, hence why this is coming on a Tuesday).  As is my raison d’etre, I also caught a movie on Thanksgiving, and since I’m wildly behind (I think I have ten movies on my list of films to finish recapping right now, so why not go with the one I saw yesterday?), let’s dive into Frozen, the latest musical adventure from Disney.

I feel like it’s required whenever the Magic Kingdom releases a film to mention The Little Mermaid and Disney’s decline in the films after Tarzan for the past decade, but really, don’t we already know that tune?  I mean it’s time to admit that the end of that second Disney renaissance happened fourteen years ago, and while we all are nostalgic for those days, Disney hasn’t been slouching particularly in the past few years.  We’ve had two recent entries that while not quite Disney at its finest, can at the very least top Hercules.  This film, more than either The Princess and the Frog or Tangled, comes the closest to hitting the heights of that period, and one could almost believe that it was part of the era, even if it doesn’t quite have the balance to be in the same sentence as Beauty and the Beast.

(Spoilers Ahead) The film’s plot is well-known to anyone who has ever read a fairy tale, so I don’t really feel the need to devote multiple paragraphs to retelling it.  Suffice it to say, in a kingdom far, far away, there lived two princesses, the eldest (Elsa, the wonderful Idina Menzel) of which had power over the wintry elements, and of course couldn’t control them.  When she is set to become queen, her younger sister Anna (Bell) pushes her after deciding to marry a handsome prince (Fontana) rather impetuously (in a scene that recalls a recent Disney hit, Enchanted), which causes her sister to cast a spell on the entire kingdom bringing about eternal winter.

Unlike some other Disney films, this doesn’t quite fall into two buckets of clichés, the principle thing being that the initial villain (we assume it will be Elsa) isn’t a villain at all, though she continues as one of the most interesting characters of the film.  The second issue is that the film doesn’t center around a love story, at least not in a conventional way.  The film, of course, has a love story with Kristoff the quirky ice salesman and Anna (Kristoff is played by Jonathan Groff, and while casting Groff as a perfect, quirky, terrificly handsome paramour is a bit on the nose, it decidedly works and why doesn’t Hollywood find more roles for this guy?).  But really, the film is about the love and complicated relationship between two sisters.  After years of their princesses being defined by their relationship with a man, it’s nice to see yet another movie from the Kingdom of Mickey following in Brave’s Bechdel passing footsteps.  Even the great “love’s true kiss” moment is supplanted by an act of sisterly adoration rather than Groff’s Kristoff declaring his love for Anna at the last second.

The movie isn’t perfect, but it has so much success at what it does well that it’s mean-spirited to point out the flaws.  This is a review, however, and it’s worth noting that like many of the latter day Disney films, the movie doesn’t have enough time to make the characters as well-drawn (figuratively) as Aladdin or Belle or Pocahontas.  Anna is spunky, Elsa is introverted, and Fontana’s handsome prince who goes sour is so quickly the bad guy that you just know an editor got into a major fight with a Disney executive over that sharp character turn.  However, with the exception of Kristoff, none of them expand their roles much beyond the stereotypes onscreen.

That being said, the musical numbers in this movie are the best they’ve been in eons for animation.  The director smartly cast a host of Broadway stars (in addition to Menzel, Fontana, and Groff, we also have Tony nominee Josh Gad in a key role as the comic relief snowman) to fill up a movie brimming with great songs.  While the numbers are not quite equal in quality (Groff’s reindeer ballad is cute but it’s not worthy of a guy with his pipes), but when they’re on, they’re soaring.  In particular, Idina Menzel’s mid-film power ballad “Let It Go” is a homerun, on par with the best Disney used to offer when it won every music Oscar.  In fact, I’ll go so far as to say while I’m guessing this movie is destined for both Animated Film and Original Song from AMPAS, it’s more likely to win the latter than the former.  It also seems unfair to make Kristen Bell, who does fine musically, to go before and after this number, as God himself would have trouble against the flawless Idina in a sing-off.

We’ll leave it right there, but I’m guessing that many of you (hopefully) caught this gemlike movie this past weekend and have something to say about it, so share in the comments.  Where does this rank against Tangled and Princess and the Frog?  Can it take on The Wind Rises and Monsters University to bring home the Oscar?  And are you as petrified as I that they’ll have Demi Lovato rather than Idina perform at the Dolby in March?  Share your thoughts!