You can't marry a man you just met.

Rating: 8/10 (27 January 2015)

The first thing you notice about Frozen is how beautiful the animated world is. We are barely familiar with Arendelle before being plunged into an eternal magical winter. The contrasting colours is very noticeable, especially in one scene where Anna, Kristoff and Sven appear in the warm, sunny daydream of Olaf. Their darker and more reserved outfits are clearly out of place. At the end of the film, when the uplifting choir ballad "Vuelie" plays once again as the browns, greens and soft blues return to a thawed Arendelle, the colour scheme works with the score to bring a change in tone, and a happy ending. Colour is often overlooked but it is a very important element of Frozen.
The animation is visually breathtaking. Attention to detail is spectacular; from the creases in the outfits, to the ripples and reflections in the water as ships dock. The snow is a delight to watch as characters tumble around, fall, throw snowballs and glide amongst the trees. It's very realistic. And of course, the Norwegian influence is evident. The overhead tilt to Aurorea Borealis at the beginning, the fjords, the rustic Medieval castle design. You'll feel as if you already have one foot in Arendelle.
Frozen follows the steps of Tangled in subverting the traditional princess role. Like Rapunzel leaving her tower and taking matters into her own hands, Anna does the same in attempting to reconcile with her sister. The straight-laced, formal and polite princess is gone; Rapunzel whacking Flynn on the head with a frying pan was the start of it, and Kristin Bell manages to take it further in the character of Anna. It's a very lifelike voice performance, especially compared to the more regal and composed Elsa; she hesitates and stutters, she has momentary lapses of concentration, and she likes to stuff her face with chocolate and ice cream. There are more reversal of tropes in Frozen which give it a unique perspective. The sudden engagement of Hans and Anna is treated as ridiculous, at the end Kristoff and Anna merely start dating and don't hurriedly fall in love and get married, and most important of all, true love means not romantic love, but the love between two sisters. It's a very satisfying and unexpected route to take in an age where irrelevant of distracting romance is seemingly shoehorned into many films. Even better it's not a twist for twists sake.
There is little excess in Frozen's script. The true love twist where Elsa sacrifices herself for Anna is built up from the beginning of the movie. The upbeat yet heartbreaking montage of "Do You Want To Build A Snowman" utilises appropriately aged versions and voices of Anna and Elsa to provide a tragic back-story. You can see the struggle of Elsa as she tries to control her powers and prevent harm to her sister. There's the symbolism of the carefree and playful Olaf, a reminder of their past and the protective nature of Elsa.
Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez's soundtrack is magical. While Tangled starts with a pop ballad, the opening of Frozen feels much more like a musical. The synchronized movements and beats of the ice merchants feels like a dance sequence, the chanting reminiscent of the army's chants in Mulan's "I'll Make a Man Out of You". The excitement of Anna is musically represented in the the lively and spirited strings opening of "For The First Time in Forever", which manages to blend flawlessly with parts of Elsa's "Let It Go". The mix of the contrasting themes gradually crescendos before opening the gates and again during a later confrontation in the ice castle and is a stirring and emotive way of building tension between the sisters. Idina Menzel's rendition of "Let It Go" is perhaps the best performance of the film, which in 3 minutes captures the plight of Anna's struggle with her identity and powers before she finally releases all the pent up frustration, anger and fear. Josh Gad's "In Summer" is both charming and hilarious, as is Jonathan Groff's "Reindeers Are Better Than People". The only misstep is the rock troll's "Fixer Upper" which not only tries to force a romantic angle that is only just starting to form, but also takes place right after a potentially fatal ice strike to the heart, making it tonally inconsistent.
There are flaws which prevent Frozen from reaching its full potential. The premise for the sister's separation is quite weak. It's hard to imagine Elsa staying in the one room for years on end. What's even more baffling is the parenting technique of two barely fleshed out characters who force Elsa to conceal her true self and never attempt to practice or control her powers. The mother doesn't even have a single line of dialogue! Had the parents been built up as more three-dimensional characters maybe this decision wouldn't seem so foolish. Instead they are quickly killed off and forgotten. The rock trolls exist as nothing more than poor and repetitive character design, serving no purpose other than for one wise old man to give sagely advice. Not exactly ground-breaking. At times the quirky humorous route that Olaf takes becomes sheer indulgence and unnecessary: "I don't have a skull." Lastly, the setting of the mountains contains no visual logic and is uneven and confusing. One moment they are along a cliff edge, then they are jumping between two cliffs, then they are thrown off one; an especially lazy moment is when Olaf stumbles upon a staircase that "leads exactly where you want to go".
Overall, Frozen is visually stunning, immersive and captivating. Both soundtrack and score are pleasing and the voice acting is excellent. It's not perfect, but it's a step in the right direction and at times reminiscent of the Disney Renaissance.