Great visuals but doesn't quite hit the spot...

Rating: 6/10 (6 May 2014)

It's very difficult to write a review for Frozen. I did enjoy the movie and I rated it 6 stars (mainly for the visuals). Still, there are a couple of things that bothered me while watching. I think the visuals are really stunning. It feels like they put a lot of effort, time and even magic into the graphic designs of this movie. Kristen Bell is awesome as Anna and has a wonderful singing voice. I think the problem I have with this movie is on the story level.
It feels like the writers didn't quite know where to go with this movie. It has no clear direction and purpose from the start. Of course, it is difficult to have a story with two main characters so it does not really 'work' that way. Although I really LOVE Anna as a character, maybe focusing on Elsa controlling her powers would have been better. Most of the characters are well done but it takes more than good characters to make a good story and I thought this animation was an example of that.
I'm somewhat disappointed in the way they handle (or don't handle) pay-offs in this movie. Like Kristoff's obsession with ice should wind him up with Elsa, you would think... And there's the cool love song between Anna and Hans before... all of a sudden he turns out to be evil. I love a good twist in a movie but a twist should be traceable if you watch the movie again. There's absolutely no reason why Hans should have been a bad guy since Anna met him completely by accident. And she's not even the crown princess. So how do you motivate it to be premeditated foul play then? This felt a bit like lazy writing to me. "Let's make him evil all of a sudden so she can date the other guy without remorse." And why would Hans lock Elsa up if he could have killed her. He must have been planning to anyway as he always intended to become king and had no knowledge of Elsa's powers or what would happen. Why lock her up and let her escape? Why lock Anna up and tell everyone she's dead too soon. Everybody knows that's bound to lead to troubles. If one of the themes of the movie is True Love, then true love should be celebrated by cool songs, not false love. Also, there is little romantic tension between Anna and Kristoff, other than her rational consideration that he might love her because the frozen puppet tells her so (based on what actually? And what's the function of the puppet other than obvious 'comic' relief and potential for expensive children's toys?).
They want to put so many perspectives in this movie, so many stories, that they lose track of the main story. And what is the main story anyway? Is it a classic love story? Is it the story of two sisters who care about each other? Or is it about Elsa trying to manage her powers and a kingdom? I would say it's mainly about those last two and in that case, focusing on Elsa would probably have made more sense. What if she had run away and had ended up traveling with Kristoff? What if in the meanwhile, Anna, who was never meant to become queen was having trouble handling an entire kingdom with the product of a day-long relationship? That would have made an interesting story. Having some match-making trolls sing a forced relationship into being doesn't quite do the trick for me.
But hey, maybe I'm too critical. I notice a lot of people simply loved this story and that's a good thing! For me, though, there were a lot of loose ends in this story that made it difficult to really feel for the characters. If I compare this movie to Tangled, I think it doesn't match that level of storytelling by far. The story of Rapunzel was strikingly better written (even improved the original a lot), the lyrics were awesome while the songs in Frozen were rather forgettable. I noticed Alan Menken did not compose the music for Frozen only after I watched it and I thought: "Yeah, that makes sense". You have this fairy tale frozen wasteland that could have had a soundtrack like Edward Scissorhands or Narnia and yet you don't quite feel the magic. I watched Enchanted the day before, another one that remains great after many times. The music of Enchanted is witty and wonderful and the story is full of great humor and has a perfect pacing and structure. Frozen made me discover once again that great narrative build-up and Alan Menken make an unforgettable Disney movie. Without those ingredients, you get a fun Disney movie that does not even closely compare to the others when it comes to emotional impact and music. Also, I think the message this movie sends (if that is important at all) is a rather cynical one. Sure, it's great that true love is that between sisters for once (no big original surprise for me while watching). But basically it votes for love forced by shared experience and silly troll songs and states that love on first sight doesn't exist.
Still, Frozen is definitely a 'to watch' because it looks gorgeous! Although I wonder if the makers used subliminal messages or hypnosis to cause this fan hysteria. Best Disney ever? Definitely NOT for me. If you want a visually gorgeous movie with a similar message and a good coherent story with a great build-up, try Malificent!