Enjoyable, but not Disney's best

Rating: 8/10 (3 July 2014)

Being a fan of Disney movies all my life, I was admittedly eager to see "Frozen". After all Disney had been on a roll lately with animated movies, producing new hits like "The Princess and the Frog", "Tangled", and "Wreck It Ralph". Sadly, I missed "Frozen" in theaters, but was able to watch it on DVD. For the most part, I enjoyed the movie, however I think it does lack that extra something that made the classics of the 90's so great.
The story is loosely based on Hans Christen Andersen's (forgive me if I spelled that wrong) novel "The Snow Queen", this movie centers around a young queen named Elsa, whose uncontrollable icy powers have covered her entire kingdom in snow. Now, her sister Anna must try to reverse the spell with the help of a mountain man named Kristoff and a snowman named Olaf. The main characters are likable for the most part, though Anna's stubbornness can get annoying from time-to-time. But Elsa is sympathetic and all around likable, and Kristoff's sarcasm is amusing, as is his goofy reindeer Sven. Of course though, the snowman Olaf steals the show. He's very quirky and hilarious. He had my whole family laughing, and we're all adults! Safe to say, because of the characters and humor alone, there's plenty to enjoy in this movie.
However, there are those aforementioned elements that hinder "Frozen". The first of which are the songs. Now, I know a Disney film is supposed to have songs, but this one had too many, especially in the first half. Practically every time a character opened their mouth, a song came out. I think I even remember asking out loud "am I watching a musical or an opera?" Also, other than the ever-popular "Let It Go", the songs in this movie weren't really that good. I mean, I guess they were serviceable, but the lyrics really felt improvised and crammed in at times and they just didn't have that catchy spring in them that the songs in earlier Disney films did.
My second problem with this film is actually more of a personal gripe, but I feel like it's worth addressing nonetheless: this film lacks a strong villain. I know this movie HAS a villain (it has two, actually), but neither really makes that big of an impact on the film or leaves a strong presence. There's not really a "final battle" either, one baddie just kind of fades from the movie as he becomes less important to the story while the other more primary villain basically goes down with one hit (well, really one hit and one magical "shockwave". Watch the movie, you'll see what I mean). I really wish they'd either left the Snow Queen (a.k.a. Elsa) as the villain or made one of the others steal her powers, because a bad guy with magical powers just works for Disney films: they provide great action scenes and guarantee a breathtaking climax. As is, when compared to the likes of Jafar, Maleficent, or some of Disney's other rogue's gallery, "Frozen"'s bad guys are pretty limp.
Still, despite some of its shortcomings, I did enjoy "Frozen". It had charm, it had humor, the characters were likable, and while I thought it could have been better, I did enjoy the story. So if you're a Disney fan like me, or you're just looking for something to cheer you up, watch "Frozen". It may not be perfect, but taken for what it is, this is still a great movie worth recommending!