Photo Courtesy of Disney
Disney’s new movie “Frozen” will be released this Thanksgiving, and — despite the title — no one should give it the cold shoulder.
Inspired by the beautiful scenery of Norway, “Frozen” is about spunky Princess Anna (voice of Kristin Bell) after her sister Queen Elsa (Idina Menzel) sets her icy powers loose on the kingdom of Arendelle, making it eternally winter. A gruff mountaineer and — get ready for irony — local ice-salesman Kristoff (Jonathan Groff) accompanies Anna on her voyage to return summer to the kingdom.
This movie, an adaptation of Hans Christian Anderson’s fairytale, “The Snow Queen,” had an interesting and unique plot. I found it had a similar setting as C.S. Lewis’ “Narnia,” though, merely because there’s a castle made out of ice, an ice queen, and, you know, it happens to be perpetually winter. It’s a Disney movie, after all, so don’t expect a rational explanation for the supernatural. Just accept the fact that everything will always work out when there’s a princess and prince charming — well, as long as Disney is involved at least.
That being said, Disney continues to change up the pace with it’s princesses. A few years back the adventurous Merida in “Brave” was the first to pass up a prince charming. And, come Nov. 27, the Disney audience will meet the new heroine, Princess Anna (the second red-headed princess in a row, might I add).
Anna isn’t the typical “woodland creatures do my dishes” princess. While Snow White and Cinderella woke up glistening with perfection, Anna wakes up with bed-head and a puddle of drool. She’s gauche. She’s quirky. She’s clumsy. And she’s totally relatable.
Although I appreciate Disney making the new princesses closer to actual women rather than the demigodesses who we’ve seen in the past, I couldn’t help but notice the similarities between Anna and Disney’s “Tangled” princess, Rapunzel. They both have the wide blue eyes, the fair skin, the straight teeth, the tiny noses. Personality wise, I enjoy the new princesses more than the original ones (note Sleeping Beauty’s perfect signing and Belle’s giving spirit — it’s almost gross how flawless they are). However, I just hope Disney doesn’t get stuck in this rut. Enough with the perfect white girls already.
I’ve grown up on Disney movies, so I completely condone breaking into songs from “Mulan” and “Tangled” whenever the occasion arises. However, I wasn’t impressed with the music in “Frozen.” I hold the belief that one should have at least one song stuck in your head after watching a Disney movie, but even now I can’t recall any of the tunes from “Frozen.” I caught myself groaning in the movie every time I could feel a song coming on. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good Disney soundtrack, but does one really have to sing in every scene, especially when the line is about salad dishes? Is that necessary? I found the compositions to be pretty generic and cheesy, unlike Disney’s usually outstanding scores.
However, the quality that “Frozen” lacked in music was definitely made up for in visuals. At first the animation seemed questionably blurry, until I realized the theater forgot to pass out the 3D glasses. Then I was sold. Even if the movie had no plot (which it did), I could probably spend the full hour and a half just gazing at the snowflakes that fluttered before my eyes. The 8-year-old next to me was equally as impressed.
Overall, there’s an adorable (if not dynamic) love story, probably the best animation I’ve ever seen, and — by far the most important quality — cute, furry animals. As far as I’m concerned, Disney’s “Frozen” is pretty chill.
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As published in the Nov. 14 issue of the Pepperdine Graphic.
