Beautiful

Rating: 9/10 (2 January 2014)

I've heard a few critics call this film the best Disney movie since the Disney Renaissance films (i.e. Beauty and the Beast, Little Mermaid), and to me, they're pretty much right. This film, like all other Disney Animated Classics, has beautiful animation, and, like Tangled, manages to give us CGI that is obviously CGI, but yet has the feel of the 2D animation that Disney is best known for. The 3D for this film is really cool too and compliments the stunning visuals and animation. The characters are wonderful. They're respective voice actors offer entertaining performances which are well written. When I saw the character Olaf in the advertising, I predicted that he would be shoved in my face, but no! Compared to most of the comic relief characters from Disney movies, Olaf was downplayed just enough to stay out of the way of the story, but still stay around long enough to get some good laughs (yes, he was funny). Most of the songs are beautifully written and composed ("Fixer Upper" and "In Summer" were OK). The story is also wonderfully orchestrated. I will not give anything away, but I will say that it plays with your expectations a lot. I would've given this film 10 stars, but I chose to take away one because of those two songs and also because it is never explained how Elsa got her powers. But if you can get around that, this movie is a huge must-watch. It entertains audiences of all ages and is what I think sets a new standard for Disney in these times.