I feel like an outsider visiting a cult with this movie. It seems everyone in the world saw this in the theater and bought the movie immediately. 14 year old girls everywhere are singing horrible renditions of "Let it Go". You can barely walk into a local gas station without seeing a Princess Anna dress, or Sven stuffed animal. So, here's my take on it...
Frozen (2014) PG (Fantasy/Adventure)
Starring Kristen Bell, Josh Gad, Idina Menzel
Overview - Elsa (Menzel) has a strangely particular power. She can control ice and snow, and everything related to ice and snow. Her parents insist she keep it a secret. One day her little sister, Anna (Bell), pushes her too far and Princess Elsa releases her hidden power. Forced into the mountains by an angry mob, Elsa must learn to control her power, or be an outcast forever.
Review - So here is another musical installment from the brilliant minds who brought you masterpieces like "Beauty and the Beast", "The Little Mermaid", and "Enchanted". This is the first musical since "Tangled" in 2010. They wrangled up the power vocals of Idina Menzel, of "Glee" fame, and Kristen Bell. I was happily surprised to find out that Kristen Bell could sing. I loved her in "Heroes" and "Couple's Retreat". I think she is an incredibly underused talent. I really hope Hollywood starts putting her in more movies in the very near future.
Let's cover the cast real quick, and then we'll get onto the meat and potatoes of this janker. Our beloved, soon-to-be-Queen, Elsa is voiced by Idina Menzel. She blew us all away with her vocal performances on the undue hit TV show "Glee". She also showed up in the animated/real-life Disney movie, "Enchanted". She's an amazing vocalist, but I wish she would the creators would have written her more dynamic vocals in this film. The main song she sings, "Let it Go", is cranked to 10 the entire song. There's no dynamic to the song whatsoever. If Eddie Van Halen hit the stage and never stopped doing speed runs on his guitar, as amazing as his talent is, it would get dull after a while. That's how I feel about Menzel's big song.
Additional voices in this movie don't merit too much attention. Our unsung hero, Kristoff, is voiced by Jonathan Groff. The only thing I know him from is the aforementioned "Glee". He plays a heart-breaking jerk named Jesse. I didn't like him on the show, because he's a cocky little poop face. It's hard for me to shake my dislike of the bloke, but no one can argue he has a great voice. So I am willing to look past that for his contribution to our newest Princess installment. The only other notable voice I caught was that of one of my favorite actors. His name is Alan Tudyk. He played the pilot in the underrated TV show "Firefly". As well as the comical sidekick of John Turturro in "Transformers: Dark of the Moon". He's a fantastic talent, and I am absolutely bummed as junk that he's not in more. I have a similar beef with Giovanni Ribisi, but he's not in this film, so I don't know why you brought him up. You're just trying to derail me. This blog is not about you!!
Let's talk about the content. I will keep the spoilers to a minimum. So here we have a young princess who has lost control of her powers. So her parents decide the best way to help her is to lock her in her bedroom and not do something practical like....oh, I don't know.....maybe teach her how to USE her powers. She also does things like build a castle, create a living snowman, and create sheer fabric clothing. She controls ice! How did she suddenly develop the power to create clothing lines? Then we have the immanent death of her parents (it's given away in the preview). They completely breeze over it like it's a foot note. It's like the writers were so focused on the relationship between the sisters that they completely forgot about mom and dad. They probably yelled "We're good. Thanks everyone." and the intern in the back of the room shot his hand up and said, "Uh....what about the parents?"
In truth, I was initially excited to see this film, but ultimately disappointed by this installment that follows Disney's long track record of beautiful movies. The singing was fun, but not amazing. The voice cast was alright, but I still hold to the fact that "Tangled" was the best vocal cast I've ever seen. The story was good, but too easy. The villain is easily beaten, winter does not really last that long, and they skip through the tragic pain that the girls go through. The only saving grace of the movie is Olaf the snowman. Josh Gad was a great get for this role. His quirky voice and hidden singing ability were a great match and acted as a virtual defibrillator for it.
Overall I'd give this a 3 out of 5. My daughter loves it, so I bought it. Otherwise I would have been content borrowing it from friends and family on occasion. If you enjoy Disney musicals you will be satisfied, but not "wowed".
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