Frozen

A movie review is never too late to the party when it’s close to the DVD release. If you REALLY want late to the party, check out my LEGO Movie review next week (or perhaps the week after, if I have my way with Captain America).

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I’m not normally into Disney Animation’s attempts to fuze Dreamworks and Pixar in their post-Home on the Range era. Trying to ape Dreamworks’ trademark snark and predilection for parody tend to abandon the heart Disney’s works are typically known for. Wreck-it Ralph was a great example of avoiding Dreamworks-envy, and my first impressions from Frozen’s marketing was that it’d be a far cry from Ralph.

If you want to learn more about ice harvesting, my state still does it.

Frozen has since become one of Disney’s most successful movies ever. Ever ever ever. It’s the best-grossing Disney film (and 15th-best of any film) of all time outside Disney’s home market in North America, inside which it takes a humble second place (and 19th-highest of all everything). The movie has been earning box office cash hand over fist for so long, it has been in theaters for half a year, still there today even after its DVDs and Blu-Rays hit store shelves.

I must admit (IMHO), it does rate as one of the House Of Mouse’s best fairy tale-inspired movies, mostly for it’s quality and trope-averting storyline. It has an endearing but heavy opening that establishes the hitherto undone dual female protagonists.

Disney then proceeds to go on it’s longest tirade of self-deprecating lampshading this side of Enchanted. While that fun romp eventually ended up playing its Disney Princess Love tropes straight after spending the rest of the movie ignoring it’s very first joke, Frozen incorporated the lampshading as a fairly central plot point, the resolution of which, while still predictable, is an immensely satisfying payoff.

The story revolves around an unavoidable and worsening conflict between sisters Princess Anna and Queen Anna (A Queen! No permanent princess syndrome! I never thought I’d live to see the day!) who must be kept separated after a tragic accident. The not-quite titular Ice Queen in this case is a victim of unlucky albeit contrived circumstance, and in what few moments the sisters actually share you can see the love under the cold and the awkwardness.

But tragedy strikes, as fate always enjoys a good “I told you so,” and Elsa is more-or-less driven from her own kingdom after her magical secret is out. Anna remains determined to force a happy ending of it all, grabs the reins of the plot and drives it forward for most of the movie. She’s strong and sure, but still suffers the limitations of a lifetime of being sheltered and needs a bit of assistance to move forward. Fortunately, help isn’t a one-way street for her.

Speaking of oft-played Disney tropes, this movie also includes the dude and his unusually intelligent steed (Kristoff and his reindeer, Sven). Generally speaking, this Disney trope never overlaps with the talking animal mascot (a role taken in this film by a sentient snowman whose one song sets up one of the funniest lines in the movie), Kristoff does the talking for Sven and does so with hilarious honesty. The results are far, far funnier than what could have been accomplished by giving Sven his own voice or by having Kristoff break character and embellish for the sake of his own ego.

Despite the antagonist twists, the movie doesn’t really lean on villains. Those who were set up as a big bad don’t get too much embroiled in evil, nor are they evil for evil’s sake. The main struggle of the movie could have been told without them, really, but their presence gives us not only an important decoy to avoid guessing the movies final trope aversion, but also villain characters whose motivations are simple ladder-climbing self-interest instead of megalomania.

And then, there’s “Let It Go.” The song done to death in YouTube covers for the past half-year. Despite being irritatingly overexposed, it’s adoration (and Best Original Song Academy Award) was well earned. It’s far and away the best and most memorable song of the film. It moves the plot, develops character and sets the stage for some of the flashiest visuals in the movie. The song’s already running on long legs and will probably survive in the wild as a liberation anthem for years to come.

Verdict: Must-see