Could have been perfect had it not stumbled over its desire to be too smart and to thwart Disney clichés.

Rating: 7/10 (23 July 2014)

Disney movies have a special place in my heart, yet my interest for animated and computer-generated movies had waned in the last few years, until Frozen was kind of forced upon me. Hardly ever have I met so much to like and so much to detest within a single picture. I consider the bulk of the movie maybe the best thing ever made by Walt Disney Animation Studios. I consider the ending ambitious and deeply flawed. For me this dichotomy is so disturbing I had to organize my thoughts by writing my first IMDb-review in over ten years. It will be limited strictly to the story.
Linking the manifestations of Elsa's powers to her emotions was a stroke of genius by the screenwriters. This is the one factor that raises Frozen's storyline into the Pantheon of storytelling IMHO. Elsa means well, but can't control her dark side and what it does to others - which mirrors the human psyche in general and is not something usually seen in the black-and-white world of Disney. I heard she was originally intended to be the main villain, but that plan was ditched after the screenwriters heard 'Let it go' and decided after this upbeat song Elsa could never be the antagonist. I couldn't disagree any stronger. No villain is greater (for storytelling purposes) than the believable one. I *really* would have loved to see the movie following its originally planned path. Yet I understand that Disney is the last studio to incorporate villains you can sympathize with into their work. The Elsa portrayed in Frozen remains one of the most interesting characters I ever saw on the big screen. Everything I like about it revolves around her (One little aside: Kind of strange that all the character development Elsa goes through during 'Let it go' about embracing who she is is reversed later on when she learns that even in isolation her powers still effect everyone else).
My dislikes stem from the three central relationships being developed throughout Frozen.

Between Anna in all her naive optimism and Elsa in her restrained melancholy and grief. This one works so great, especially in the songs they have together. All the time you sense the only chance Elsa has to ever control her powers is through Anna's love for her.

Anna and Hans and their love-at-first-sight. Let's forget for a moment how this one turns out and just see it as it seems at first: a Disney stereotype love affair - nothing we haven't seen before, but it works. Anna is adorable anyways and Hans does the right things to be the good guy we like to see involved with Anna.

Anna and Kristoff and their budding love. I guess there is more screen time spent on this one than on the other two combined. It feels awkward at first because we know where it is headed while Hans is still in the picture. My Disney spidey senses first went off at this point. Still in the end this one works too as you can feel after Hans turns out to be the villain.

Three relationships, and all three of them crafted well or even outstanding. But here is the problem: They were headed on a crash course with each other from the start. Somewhere along the movie everyone senses this on some level. Only one of them could be essential to the catharsis. But how to get the others out of the way without wasting their screen time and the emotional involvement of the viewers?.
I agree with the decision to make Hans the villain and open our eyes to how easily we can be deceived if we just purposefully look for love at first sight. I could have liked that unique twist on Disney clichés like Prince Charming and true love between hero and heroine overcoming all obstacles, if it hadn't been so clumsily done. Hans' plan is contrived from start to finish. I feel insulted by the way I was made to believe he was a good guy. You could say he successfully fooled me too, but that is not a hard thing to do when the screenwriters throw him every bone there is on his way. I won't even begin to list all the things he does that have a very small chance of helping his cause yet miraculously do so. Ideally I want to smack my forehead in hindsight because I didn't see a twist coming. No luck with that when the whole thing isn't plausible from the start. So it's not the idea but its implementation that turned out a big stinker here. I cringe just by thinking about his villainous speech.
Which leaves the resolution between sibling love and lovers' love. The movie's climax can't be resolved by both of them at the same time. Even if it were possible storytelling wise, it would diminish the impact of each one of them on the audience. When Anna is about to freeze to ice on the Fjord it is not only her choice between two mutually exclusive but both equally desirable actions but also the whole movie's. I may be somewhat old-fashioned in that regard, but I very strongly feel that a good story should not even get to that point: To develop two great emotional story lines only to make itself cast one of them aside. You think the storyline between Kristoff and Anna was not cast aside? Then compare the emotional impact of their first kiss with the one between Belle and Beast...
In the end my emotional involvement in two of the three relationship-buildups the movie had was wasted in what seemed a whim to put in surprising twists and subverting Disney stereotypes.
I will still love this movie, because I prefer to see the things I like while disregarding those I don't. So for me Frozen will always be just about Anna and Elsa.