A truly charming and fun animated film

Rating: 9/10 (23 December 2013)

A charming and great looking loose adaptation of Hans Christian Anderson's "The Snow Queen" this animated gem from Disney has a lot going for it; catchy songs that are strong in both music and lyrics, terrific voice acting (I like that they bucked the trend of jamming in the most famous names they could in favor of actors who sound perfect as the characters), actually surprising plot twists, some real emotion, some witty humor, some dark and scary moments that don't pull all their punches, and most of all some really beautiful images using snow and ice.
Jennifer Lee is, surprisingly, the first woman to (co) direct an animated feature for Disney, so it may be not for nothing that the film has a likable 'girl power' attitude, where the princesses take no back seat to the male characters in bravery or in action.
The story involves two sisters, the eldest of whom has magical powers that can turn things to ice or snow, control the weather, and even, if used wrong, be deadly. So after an accidental near miss with her adored younger sibling, the two are kept separate, and grow up with decidedly different personalities. The film then jumps forward to the day of the eldest's coronation as queen. This brings joy to the younger, extroverted and lonely sister, as the palace will finally be opened, and she can see the world (and maybe fall in love), but dread to her older sister who fears not being able to control her powers, and being discovered as some sort of (unwilling) sorceress. Of course things do go awry, leading to all kinds of adventure and miss-adventure. There are the inevitable cliché's here and there, and a few bits seem stolen from other animated films, but these are very minor problems in a film that I thoroughly enjoyed, even though I'm many times older than the intended audience.