Bell and Mendez make it

Rating: 10/10 (9 February 2014)

Kristen Bell and Idina Menzel are the core to this wonderful Disney movie. Their sisterly chemistry feels both authentic and beautiful. It broke my heart every time Elsa closed the door on Anna.
The antagonists were almost unnecessary. The theme of Elsa's self enforced isolation out of the need to protect her sister was enough of an obstacle to fill the story. I think Disney could have gone a little bit more to the "dark side" and allowed her loneliness take her deeper onto a twisted path, but maybe that would have made it less watchable for younger kids.
I think the need to portray villains as villain-y is currently on the wane. We're less enamoured of traditional pure good vs evil stories, and we've developed a taste for antagonists that are more "grey" in their motives. In Elsa, we had the beginnings of a potential "villain" that lacked all the trademarks of a villainous role - in fact, most of us likely sympathized with her more than those she put in jeopardy.
The movie was a big pleasant surprise for me.