Enthusiastic and Entertaining, But Perhaps a Bit Over-Hyped

Rating: 7/10 (11 September 2014)

A nice, prototypical Disney mix of morals and fables, updated to better resonate with modern audiences. That last bit is far easier said than done, and has spelled doom for many a well-intentioned film in the past, but Frozen does a fine job of accomplishing it without much strain. I'm not a fan of musicals in general, though - it takes something especially inventive, spirited or catchy to overcome that bias - and to my ears this had none of the above. In fact, the jingles stand in contrast to the advances enjoyed by the storytelling; in an effort to feel more fresh, timely and dazzling, the music strains too hard and winds up overly American Idol-tainted and homogenized. Definitely not my taste. The story's got some emotional punch, though, smearing the black-and-white virtues that typify films of this genre, and the voice acting is upper-tier. Exceptional visuals, too, even if those stylings fall into a weird sort of Pixar / Dreamworks hybrid. Bonus points for poking and prodding a largely-overlooked Norse society, though like Brave a few years prior, I felt like it left a lot of that potential on the table.