A Return to Disney's Glory Years?

Rating: 8/10 (27 January 2014)

Fearless optimist Anna (Kristen Bell) teams up with Kristoff in an epic journey, encountering Everest-like conditions, and a hilarious snowman named Olaf in a race to find Anna's sister Elsa, whose icy powers have trapped the kingdom in eternal winter.
"Frozen" is quite possibly the strongest film in Disney's catalog since the glory days of the late 80s and early 90s. While last year's "Wreck-It Ralph" was a marvel to behold and among their most enjoyable films ever, "Frozen" comes to play with a stream of great songs and some good humor (Olaf the snowman will quickly grow on you).
The source material, Hans Christian Andersen, is heavily buried in this story, which seems to owe much more to original thinking with just a dash of Kurt Vonnegut's "Cat's Cradle". And this is a good thing, because the fairy tale is quite dark and relies too much on Christian theology with demons and such. (Not that Christian theology makes a bad film -- the world of Narnia is beloved -- but it would be out of character for Disney.) One wonders if this will be the breakout role for Kristen Bell. While already known as Veronica Mars, she never quite hit the mainstream. Now, with her vocal talents on full display, she seems poised to make the next step (whatever that may be).
Is this the best animated feature of 2013? Quite possibly.