Kristen Bell
Idina Menzel
Jonathan Groff
Josh Gad
Santino Fontana

Jennifer Lee

102 mins.
Animation, Adventure, Comedy
November 27, 2013

Rated PG for some action and mild rude humor. (MPAA)

“Frozen” provides a blend of computer animation and classic animated storytelling to great effect. There are plenty of familiar themes on display: hiding who you really are and the repercussions of that regardless of the reasoning behind it, learning to embrace what makes you unique, and discovering what true love (in all of its forms) really is. All of this is done with a bit of humor, most of which is supplied by Josh Gad who voices Olaf the Snowman – a snowman who likes warm hugs and the summer, because he doesn’t know what will happen to him if it actually comes. Gad and the animators do a great job of bringing Olaf to life; he’s the highlight of this film.

The pacing of this film is brisk, right from the start. The beginning provides just enough information without getting too bogged-down. That beginning and the rest of the film have the feel of a Christmas story. There’s ice and cold and a sense of play and wonder, which are exemplified in an early scene between sisters Elsa and Anna as they play with Elsa’s ice powers. Idina Menzel, who starred in “Rent” both on Broadway and in film, and Kristen Bell, a Broadway veteran who starred in TV’s “Veronica Mars” and stars in Showtime’s “House of Lies,” provide the voices of each sister, respectively.

The cast was uniformly well-chosen. It was smart to cast musical theater veterans, since they know how to transition from speaking to singing and back again; and, they know how to act the song.

Similarly, the music is strong, serviceable, and built upon classic musical theater writing technique. The screenplay is serviceable, as well. As a result, “Frozen” fits right in with Disney’s classics of the late 1980s and the 1990s: “The Little Mermaid” (1989), “Beauty and the Beast” (1991), “Aladdin” (1992), and “The Lion King” (1994) to name the best of that bunch. If the animation weren’t completely computerized, then this film would be a dead-ringer for that time period. You wouldn’t be able to tell the difference.

However, “Frozen” lacks a scene-stealing villain. Really, it has two villains, one of them is barely developed and the other hides his treachery until the end. So, while this film can be easily included with the Disney classics that I mentioned, it doesn’t reach the heights of “Aladdin,” “Beauty and the Beast,” or “The Lion King.” It’s close, though, and it’s probably just as good as, if not better than, “The Little Mermaid.”

“Frozen” should thoroughly charm children and please their parents, as well. As we all know, it has done as much already.

Verdict: Very Good

About: (Source: facebook.com/DisneyFrozen)

In “Frozen,” Anna (voice of Kristen Bell), a fearless optimist, teams up with extreme mountain man Kristoff and his sidekick reindeer Sven in an epic journey, encountering mystical trolls, a funny snowman named Olaf, Everest-like extremes and magic at every turn in a race to find Anna’s sister Elsa (voice of Idina Menzel), the Snow Queen, and save their kingdom from eternal winter.