Disjointed but mostly enjoyable animation which is undeserved of its praise.

Rating: 6/10 (2 October 2018)

At the core of "Frozen" are lessons on responsibility and how power requires both a calm head and tremendous care. It is also the perfect film for two young sisters to sit down and absorb together, and not just because kids will like the bouncy songs and the funny snowman, but because its central relationship is between two sisters. This is, as far as I'm aware, quite rare - lots of Disney films have of course depicted the tales of princesses, but central to this particular effort is the friendship between two children (eventually young women) who share a blood kinship. The film is designed, it would therefore seem, to impart the message that things do not always go according to plan in families (nor in love), but that they are ultimately worth sticking at.
"Frozen" begins in the setting of Arendelle, a fictitious and seemingly Scandinavian kingdom set what appears to be many centuries ago - it depicts Elsa (Kristen Bell) and Anna (Idina Menzel), who are daughters to a royal family and they live in a palace. For reasons unexplained, young Elsa possesses the very X-Men-like magical ability to turn anything into a wintry, snowy object. This leads to the rendering of playtime with her younger sister Anna a little more exciting than it might ordinarily be, with snowball fights and large slippery ice flumes around the huge interior rooms they occupy being the order of the day.
Elsa is heir to the crown, but is considered too dangerous to be around her sister for fate of nearly killing her with her abilities. As a consequence, the girls are segregated against their will until both are old enough to identify with a degree of maturity. By the time this arrives, their parents are dead and Elsa is due to inherit the throne.
The years spent apart have forged the girls into two binaries where previously they were one-and-alike, foreshadowing the divide in the family which initiates the film's main body. Anna can barely contain her excitement, for the reason that she is on the cusp of being able to interact with other people at the ceremony and potentially even find a spouse. Elsa, on the other hand, is terrified of being let loose on the world - she isn't fully in control of her emotions. She came close to killing somebody once, and she may accidentally do it again...
Something resembling this isn't too far from what unfolds, forcing a berserk Elsa off and away into the wilderness and Arendelle to resemble Narnia. The bulk of the film then comes to form Anna's trek to find rediscover her sibling and try to put things right, while a plot back home is hatched by an unscrupulous Duke who sees his chance to come into possession of the kingdom amidst what I can only describe as a constitutional crisis. En route, she meets an ice-trader named Kristoff (Jonathan Groff), who possesses the wisdom to see that Anna's falling in love with someone at first sight back at the coronation is silly, yet entrusts that reindeers make for better accomplices than people...
The film is by no means a failure, but has a hard time balancing the two sisters as duel-protagonists and suffers as a consequence - there is a healthy degree of ambition in what directors Jennifer Lee and Chris Buck attempt, but it all too often feels like a bit of a weekend cartoon in need of some reigning in. To whom "Frozen" belongs remains a constant source of ambiguity - it is at once Anna's love story and yet it is Elsa's journey of self-discovery; both characters learn to control their emotions, but are not the primary focus for long enough for most of us to really ease ourselves into their respective stories, all of which leads me to the conclusion that the film is best viewed by young siblings (preferably sisters) who will be able to take something from either strand based on who is the eldest in that family.
Certainly, the film looks good - the wintry setting has been brought to life wonderfully well and is certainly able to take its place alongside the likes of "Wreck-It Ralph" and "Finding Nemo" as an accomplishment of special effects whereby you are plunged into a world entirely different to our own. If I were to accuse the film of needing the character of Olaf (Josh Gad) to provide it with a bit of energy - even to keep it amusing - I imagine few would argue. If lacking in this magical, wise-cracking snowman, whom Anna meets along her way to confront Elsa, the film is not even necessarily funny, and takes on an entirely different complexion. Its songs, whilst on the receiving end of much praise, struck me as somewhat ordinary and too recurrent.
Perhaps it is because I am not the target audience for the film that I could not take to it to any tremendous degree, but I do not consider myself shut off from animated films nor Disney's output generally - I left "Frozen" a little cold, and far from feeling the enthusiasm I have done for their past projects.