Frozen

Frozen (2013)

Directed by Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee

Screenplay by Jennifer Lee, Chris Buck, and Shane Morris

Based on The Snow Queen by Hans Christian Andersen

Starring: Kristen Bell, Idina Menzel, Jonathan Groff, and Josh Gad

Walt Disney Studio’s followup to Wreck-It Ralph is their whimsical twist on the Hans Christian Andersen story The Snow Queen. The film was directed by Chris Buck (Tarzan) and Jennifer Lee (Wreck-It Ralph), both of whom also helped to write the film along with Shane Morris.

The film features the voice talents of a number of actors including Kristen Bell (Hit and Run), Idina Menzel (Rent), Jonathan Groff (The Conspirator), and Josh Gad (Jobs). In addition to these four, the film has great voice work from the rest of the cast. It’s also great that Bell and Menzel did all of their own singing. As with many of the Disney projects, this one seemed to push for talent in all of the roles.

The music in this movie is pretty good. I think it falls a bit short of the success of films like Tangled, but it’s nicely done. The actors asked to sing did a great job with the songs they were given. My favorite song was “In Summer” which was performed by the surprisingly good Josh Gad. Here’s a bit from the film.

The story for this film was good but, like the music, it seemed to fall short of the standard I expected from Disney. It was a cute story with a good premise, but unfortunately it was very predictable. The story also had a number of plot holes and unexplained moments that could have been cleared up easily. I wanted this to be another hit movie that would appeal to the kids and adults for different reasons. Unfortunately this one missed that mark. While it’s still enjoyable and cute, this is not the high standard of Disney work I hoped for.

Moving on from the story, the visuals in this movie are wonderful. The animation is top-notch and fun to watch throughout. This includes great scenery and action sequences throughout. The characters are also wonderfully drawn. I don’t know how it’s done, but the characters all seemed to fit their voices perfectly. It’s a little extra that I really appreciate about Disney movies.

This is a fun movie with some great moments. I don’t think it lives up to the Disney standard, but it’s not going to disappoint the family on a night out. I would recommend this to anyone with kids, and also to die-hard Disney movie fans. The story isn’t great, but it does enough to be enjoyable. I give this one 3.7 out of 5 stars.