[MINI REVIEW] Disney’s ‘Frozen’ – Spoiler Free!

Little less than two weeks ago, I got the chance to see Walt Disney Animation Studios’ Frozen at an exclusive early press screening. Frozen was the movie I’ve waited for all year so when I got the invitation I freaked out and, of course, I went to see it.  In this mini review, you’ll find out from someone who is a hardcore Frozen fan if it is really as good as we all think it is. This review is spoiler free so you can also read it even if you haven’t seen the film yet. Our full review is coming November 27^th.

Frozen is based on Hans Christian Anderson’s The Snow Queen. Even though Frozen is based on The Snow Queen, it’s completely different from the original story. Yes, it features a queen with powers to control snow and ice, and yes, it features a girl who goes on a journey to stop the eternal winter, but in the original story this journeyer wasn’t the princess and the sister of the queen.

I wasn’t familiar with the original story of The Snow Queen and I also never read it, but I loved the plot and story of Frozen. The movie started out very good with the first 20-30 minutes being the best  scenes in the whole movie. Though I loved the begin, I didn’t really like the ending. It was okay, and in some way expected and I believe it could’ve been better. Overall, the ending was just too simple for this amazing movie, but it was also very Disney-ish.

Frozen is like most classic Disney films in that it’s a musical. It contains musical songs written by Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez, a couple that also worked on Disney’s Winnie the Pooh (2011) and Broadway’s The Book of Mormon. The score is composed by Christophe Beck, who also composed the amazing score of the 2012 Disney short Paperman.

I think the music in this film is amazing! The songs have a very modern Broadway style and I liked that. When the film ended, a man sitting next to me said, “Frozen was meant to be a Broadway musical.” And he was totally right, the songs in the first act of Frozen are phenomenal and worthy of becoming new Disney classics (“Do You Want to Build a Snowman?”, “For The First Time In Forever”, Love is an Open Door” and “Let It Go”). Not only were the songs where amazing, but also the accompanying scenes where amazing and very theatrical. At time, I had the feeling that I was watching a musical instead of a movie (and I liked that feeling). The film also contained a few songs that I didn’t like (In Summer). It felt unnecessary as it stopped the plot. It wasn’t a bad song, but was ok. Just not my favorite Disney song and also not my favorite sidekick song; it doesn’t fit in with Friend Like Me and Be Our Guest.

I can’t tell too much about the score because I didn’t really focus on that. What I can remember was really good, even though it didn’t have a very Norwegian feel to it, it still had something special. I have to listen to the score a second time to make conclusions, so more about the score is coming in the review of the soundtrack.

Frozen features a big cast of characters, but also a great voice cast. The princesses are very relatable and so realistic. Throughout the movie I really felt Elsa’s fear and Anna’s awkwardness was also very well animated and voiced. The little moments where Anna says things that aren’t appropriate or when makes a joke at the wrong moment, really reminded me of myself and I think a lot more people will likewise relate to Anna. Characters like Anna and Elsa are very well-developed, partly because you are introduced to them at a very young age and, in that part, you’ll see why they do certain things in later parts of the movie. Kristen Bell and Idina Menzel where perfectly casted as Anna and Elsa!

Same with Kristoff and Sven: in the begin of Frozen you see them as younger versions of the adult characters and even though their story isn’t as big as the story of young Anna and Elsa, it does make a very good start of Frozen. The only character I would’ve loved to see as a child is Hans. He’s a quirky, interesting character like Anna and I would have liked to get more or a backstory on him.

I loved Frozen! I went in with high expectations and I loved it even more when I left the Disney office. Even though the end wasn’t great, the characters, music, animation and the world were fun and beautifully detailed. I loved it much better than Tangled because I felt it had a lot more adventure and heart and also because the music was better. As a Frozen fan I want to give it 5 stars, but because the end and some songs were a little weak I’m going to give it 4.5 stars. Still 4.5 stars isn’t bad! Go and see this movie on its release date! You won’t regret because it really is one of the greatest animated Disney events in a very long time.

✮✮✮✮ 1/2

Our full review is coming November 27th and our review of the new Disney short Get a Horse comes out tomorrow.

Frozen will release in theatres November 27th.