Frozen
I may be the Mistress of Cult and Guilty Pleasure movies. But in that pigeonhole I have given myself, I realised that beneath that is a further guilty pleasure. So in it, I feel like liking a mainstream movie, or indeed an Oscar Nominated Box Office Smash from a company I used to work for, makes me feel guiltier than say, liking The Room. But since I have had this soundtrack on repeat for months now, I just feel a bit more compelled to talk about it. Especially because they are releasing a bunch of sing-alongs and we all know how I love sing-alongs.
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Yes, boys and girls, I am here to talk to you about Frozen. For those out of the loop, is the most recent film to come out of Walt Disney Animation Studios. Based in Norway and on old folklore, it centres around two sisters, Elsa and Anna. After their parents die in a freak accident, Elsa become Queen. However, all this time, she has been hiding a secret; she has magical powers that can create ice and snow, a power her parents have locked up. When this is revealed, Elsa goes on the run, pursued by many and sets off an eternal winter everywhere. It’s up to Anna to find her sister with the help of ice cutter Kristoff, a snowman Olaf and Prince Hans. Directed and written by Jennifer Lee, with Chris Buck, Frozen is a blizzard of wild entertainment.
Frozen, on the entertainment scale, is by far one of the most fun and enjoyable movies to be watched in recent years. The storyline, focusing on the sister elements, has a lot of dig into. It’s adventurous and that epic journey is created by amazing attention to snowy detail by the special effects team. They really suck you into the story, a wonderful cold world of enchantment.
The vocal talent is outstanding. From the cute but fearless Anna from Kristen Bell to the tormented Elsa by Idina Menzel, both leading ladies are full of this great humanity and love. Side characters like Josh Gad as Olaf are delightful and there are still surprising but good villains popping up to drive the drama along. And special mention goes to the music team. Husband and wife extraordinaire Robert and Kristen Anderson-Lopez, the team behind Avenue Queue, get the song so spot on that they not only exhume this incredible emotion but are insanely catchy and gleeful at the same time.
More importantly, Frozen is surprisingly progressive with its portrayal of mental illness. Jennifer Lee has stated that with Elsa, they wanted to show anxiety and they do it so well. Metaphorically translating it as a girl with superhuman gifts, they show the uneducated parents trying to contain it when really they should be treating it. While that isn’t a stab at the mother and father, after all they are protective, loving and caring to Elsa, it is a stab at the lack of information as to how to treat a different child. But nevertheless, the paranoia and depression that Elsa “let’s go”, is utterly well done and poignant too.
There is still a lot of progression for Disney to make. For example, there could be a more varied racial cast, and the transition into homosexuality would be great (though having Jonathon Groff voice Kristoff is a step in that direction.) I bring this up because Frozen has had icy comments made against it due to its white washing. While I agree, Disney may have vamped it up and stereotyped in the past; Frozen isn’t the film to wag your finger at (it is the studios who run it.) In fact, for the most part it is amazing. Musically sound, incredible fun, likeable characters and a representation of what mental illness is like for people; Frozen is a fantastic movie.
And it will thaw your heart.
TTFN
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