The charm attributed to Disney’s
latest feature animation is something that has passed me by. Exhibiting little
originality in story, art or character, Frozen
is nonetheless a double Oscar nominated film. Loosely based on Hans Christian
Anderson’s The Snow Queen, this is a
classic tale of Disney princesses overcoming adversity, finding happiness
through hard work, perseverance and love. Following a typical first act
tragedy, Princesses Anna (Kristen Bell) and Elsa (Idina Menzel) are left alone
in their Scandinavian castle. Though formerly very close, Elsa’s ability to
create ice and snow from her fingertips is considered a danger to others and
she hides away for years until she’s old enough to ascend the throne. Soon
disaster strikes and the Kingdom is plunged into icy darkness while Elsa
absconds to the mountains to lead a hermit like life. This leaves her younger
sister Anna to bring her back and save the Kingdom from ruin.
I have to admit that I found very
little to like in Frozen. I was bored
by the predictable storyline and disliked the musical theatre style songs. The
one ray of sunshine though in this otherwise cold film was the character of
Olaf the snowman. One of the best Disney characters in years, everything Olaf
says and does is funny or sweet and he brightened up what was otherwise a dull
102 minutes.
