Frozen
Director: Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee
Cast: Kristen Bell, Idina Menzel, Jonathan Groff, Josh Gad, Santino Fontana
Inspired by Hans Christian Andersen’s The Snow Queen, Disney’s newest animated film, Frozen, brings to life a fairy tale that captures all of the elements of a classic Disney love story, and adds a unique flavor of its own to create a truly extraordinary film. When their kingdom is cast into an eternal winter by her sister’s secret magic, Princess Anna (Kristen Bell) must journey into the frozen wilderness to bring her sister home and restore the balance of nature in their kingdom before all is lost forever.
Both Anna and her sister, Elsa (Idina Menzel), are strong, independent women, but oddly enough, it was their fragility, not their strength, which impressed me most, because it was in their fragility that the sisters discovered who they truly were. Elsa, the elder sister, is haunted by a power within her that she doesn’t understand. As children, she shared a strong bond with her sister, but when fate causes Anna to fall prey to Elsa’s wintry magic, the bond between the sisters is shattered, and they are forced to grow up together but alone. While Anna grows into a vibrant young woman who dreams of finding love, Elsa isolates herself from the rest of the world, the fear instilled in her as a child to suppress her powers making her appear almost frigid as an adult. While her acrimonious demeanor makes her appear stringent and untouchable, this attitude is actually a mask that hides the deeply rooted fear of her power that Elsa is feeling – manifested by her compulsive inclination to always wear her gloves. While Elsa’s power is the catalyst which separated the sisters, it is her love for Anna that ultimately heals her and restores the relationship between the sisters.
Anna is the opposite of her sister. Her vibrant spirit and desire for love are matched only by her desperate yearning to rekindle the relationship that was lost when she and her sister were children. When Elsa leaves and the kingdom falls into icy repose, Anna’s exuberance is replaced by a keen determination to not only restore her kingdom, but her relationship with Elsa as well. When she first encounters Kristoff, what begins as a desire for him to guide her to her sister transforms into something altogether deeper when Olaf the Snowman helps Anna realize the true meaning of love. What makes Anna unique from Disney princesses of the past is that she understood what love truly meant only after she had come full circle on her journey to find Elsa and realized that it was Kristoff – not Hans – who truly held her heart.
There is a strong symbolic connection between Elsa’s power and Anna. When Elsa’s power accidentally touches Anna when they are children, a tendril of Anna’s hair turns blonde. When Anna finds Elsa in her frozen sanctuary, and Elsa accidentally pierces Anna’s heart with her icy magic, her hair begins to turn white. When Anna discovers that Hans, the man she initially fell in love with, is really a pompous and manipulative aristo-brat who betrays her, her hair turns white and she begins to transform into ice. When Elsa’s love for Anna breaks the spell of her frozen slumber, Anna’s true beauty – and her life – is restored.
Frozen is a creatively written and stunningly beautiful movie that is, in my opinion, one of the only ones in recent memory that equals the artistry and creative imagination of early Disney animation while still conveying a surprisingly original story. I would highly recommend this film to anyone who loves Disney animation at its best.
© 2013 – 2016 Keriane Kellogg. All rights reserved.
Director: Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee
Cast: Kristen Bell, Idina Menzel, Jonathan Groff, Josh Gad, Santino Fontana
Inspired by Hans Christian Andersen’s The Snow Queen, Disney’s newest animated film, Frozen, brings to life a fairy tale that captures all of the elements of a classic Disney love story, and adds a unique flavor of its own to create a truly extraordinary film. When their kingdom is cast into an eternal winter by her sister’s secret magic, Princess Anna (Kristen Bell) must journey into the frozen wilderness to bring her sister home and restore the balance of nature in their kingdom before all is lost forever.
Both Anna and her sister, Elsa (Idina Menzel), are strong, independent women, but oddly enough, it was their fragility, not their strength, which impressed me most, because it was in their fragility that the sisters discovered who they truly were. Elsa, the elder sister, is haunted by a power within her that she doesn’t understand. As children, she shared a strong bond with her sister, but when fate causes Anna to fall prey to Elsa’s wintry magic, the bond between the sisters is shattered, and they are forced to grow up together but alone. While Anna grows into a vibrant young woman who dreams of finding love, Elsa isolates herself from the rest of the world, the fear instilled in her as a child to suppress her powers making her appear almost frigid as an adult. While her acrimonious demeanor makes her appear stringent and untouchable, this attitude is actually a mask that hides the deeply rooted fear of her power that Elsa is feeling – manifested by her compulsive inclination to always wear her gloves. While Elsa’s power is the catalyst which separated the sisters, it is her love for Anna that ultimately heals her and restores the relationship between the sisters.
Anna is the opposite of her sister. Her vibrant spirit and desire for love are matched only by her desperate yearning to rekindle the relationship that was lost when she and her sister were children. When Elsa leaves and the kingdom falls into icy repose, Anna’s exuberance is replaced by a keen determination to not only restore her kingdom, but her relationship with Elsa as well. When she first encounters Kristoff, what begins as a desire for him to guide her to her sister transforms into something altogether deeper when Olaf the Snowman helps Anna realize the true meaning of love. What makes Anna unique from Disney princesses of the past is that she understood what love truly meant only after she had come full circle on her journey to find Elsa and realized that it was Kristoff – not Hans – who truly held her heart.
There is a strong symbolic connection between Elsa’s power and Anna. When Elsa’s power accidentally touches Anna when they are children, a tendril of Anna’s hair turns blonde. When Anna finds Elsa in her frozen sanctuary, and Elsa accidentally pierces Anna’s heart with her icy magic, her hair begins to turn white. When Anna discovers that Hans, the man she initially fell in love with, is really a pompous and manipulative aristo-brat who betrays her, her hair turns white and she begins to transform into ice. When Elsa’s love for Anna breaks the spell of her frozen slumber, Anna’s true beauty – and her life – is restored.
Frozen is a creatively written and stunningly beautiful movie that is, in my opinion, one of the only ones in recent memory that equals the artistry and creative imagination of early Disney animation while still conveying a surprisingly original story. I would highly recommend this film to anyone who loves Disney animation at its best.
© 2013 – 2016 Keriane Kellogg. All rights reserved.