Disney back to the roots

Rating: 8/10 (6 January 2014)

A very liberal take on the Hans Christian Andersen "Snow Queen", has Walt Disney animation forcefully returning back to its roots, whilst learning heaps from their fruitful cooperation with Pixar. With top-notch animation directors Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee instill heart into proceedings, but reimplanting the musical magic of the pre-1960s classic cartoons. Princess Else (Idina Menzel) was born with a tremendous gift, able to create beautiful icy structures out of nothing. However her power is so immense, creating a risk to her loved ones. Despite the loving care of her parents she becomes afraid of her rampaging powers, especially after she accidentally injures her sister Anna (Kristen Bell). Else locks herself away, becoming a recluse detached from her beloved Anna, who slowly grows up full of joy of life and explosive happiness, untouched even by the death of her parents.
When Else turns 18 she is to become queen of the kingdom, but fear causes her to cast a spell of eternal winter to encapsulate the land. As Else runs away into the high-rise mountains, Anna goes after her in an attempt to save the kingdom. She is soon joined by the ice seller Kristoff (Jonathan Groff) and his trusted reindeer dog Sven, as well as by the magical snowman Olaf (Josh Gad) in a touching adventure fraught with trials and tribulations...
"Frozen" possesses a musical zest, which hasn't featured in Pixar movies, but once was a hallmark of Disney animations. These traditions are effortlessly immersed into the beautifully told epic journey of friendship and timeless love. The amount of singing and dancing, especially in the opening half of the movie, comes somewhat as a surprise, but even more unexpectedly it never seems out-of-place as if coming from a bygone era of filmmaking. Seamlessly capturing the inner child, "Frozen" adds some spectacular imagery in ice, making it a magical journey for both kids and adults. Rife with some witty humour as well as the odd bout of slapstick, this is almost the perfect mix. Even the ending is sung in the perfect note, despite my misgivings of a trite well-worn route. That said Disney's newest feature is hardly adventurous, rather treading a easily anticipated dramatic path, which settles to deliver the expected in a fabulously enticing manner with beautiful surrounding, exquisite costumes or endearing characters (with the heat-loving snowman and the dog-deer Sven a special treat).
Of special note is the lack of a defined villain, as the story is built around the concepts of human frailty, lack of internal confidence and mistakes that lead to terrible consequences. The antagonist is a tragic character of old, not by definition or nature, but by fate.
Some quibbles should be made about script logic, especially the character and contradictory actions of Hans (Santino Fontana) raising an eyebrow or two.