Disney's Frozen [DVD]

Disney has done it again! They've produced another masterpiece, this one big and beautiful enough to rival even Tangled and (dare I say it) Beauty and the Beast in its elegance and female independence!Now, I have to admit it, I never went to see this when it came out at the cinema. It was too busy and to be honest, I wasn't too keen on the adverts - no matter how cute Sven and Olaf were.But my friend said it was 'epic' so I bought the DVD, pressed play and watched... And fell in love with the 52nd animated feature... As well as the special features!The story:Now, Frozen is all about two sisters, the Queen and Princess of Arendelle, who are separated by a magical secret. Queen Elsa has the power to control snow, and after an argument with her sister Princess Anna, this is revealed and an eternal winter is released. Anna, feeling guilty and sad over her sisters sudden disappearance and the creation of eternal winter, goes off on a rescue mission to save her town - meeting some new friends along the way.Based upon 'the snow queen' by Hans Christian Anderson, the writers of Disney have done a really good job with this.The characters:Queen Elsa is a troubled and powerful young woman, filled with fear and uncertainty about her abilities. I think Disney have done a brilliant job of portraying her emotions through songs and her powers - I mean, the ice changes colour depending on her mood, how awesome is that? Plus, her sheer determination and sense of duty/protection is admirable, simply from a moral perspective.Anna is probably the most naive character of the entire story, but she's so endearing! Agreeing to marry someone after one day? Though I have to say that the moment she meets the Prince is hysterically funny; all that balancing and awkwardness- and then the horse just lets go of the boat and the prince ends up soaked! Ace. And the prince deserves it - he's a douchebag. Anyway, for Anna, this film is a journey of self-discovery and comedy of errors - she finds out what she wants and what people are really like. And her songs are adorable - Do you want to build a snowman? - has to be my favourite.Okay, l also have to talk about the guys. I'll start with the moron of a Prince. I mean, sure he's handsome and he wears a suit, but really? If his own horse would let him drown, what does that say about a man? On the flip side of things, I love his character from a writers point if view. He's just so sneaky and clever; this is a guy with twelve brothers who is never going to be king, so instead of complaining, he goes and seduces an heir instead! It's brilliant in a way - vicious and underhandedly cruel, but brilliant nonetheless.From bad to beautiful, Kristoff is simply adorable. I'm going to give another huge compliment here to the writers and say that the way characters are introduced and interact with one another is simply superb. Kristoff is a down to earth, fresh kind of guy who values honesty and integrity. He's also protective and relatively intelligent; when he has an argument with Anna over her engagement, his consternation over it is adorable. The fact that he talks to her about getting to know people is admirable and something everyone should consider. He's the type of guy that girls should want to date, not a flashy dude with hardly any substance.The last thing I'm going to chat about is the sidekicks, Sven and Olaf - because who can watch a Disney film without talking about the epicness of the magic and animal kingdoms.Sven the reindeer has to be my favourite; he's like a massive dog in reindeer clothing, and his attitude to life - love and play - is the best ever. He's loyal, smart, and just like other brilliant sidekicks he provides the comedic relief in form of slippery blunders and funny snorts. He's also a bit of a matchmaker, which is quite amusing too.Olaf is the animated snowman with a desire for all things summer. Now, when I first heard him singing, I fell about in fits of hysterical laughter because, really, who the hell would think about dressing a snowman in a summer hat and sticking him on a beach to sing? It is writing genius. Coming into the film at a tense moment, he provides the light-heartedness that we enjoy in Disney while keeping the relationship between the two sisters alive - Olaf was the snowman of Anna's childhood.I'm gonna quickly mention the trolls too. Little tumbling rocks of bundling fun, these family orientated magical creatures were perfect for this film. They kept the story going and egged on the romantic element as well - not to mention making everyone laugh with their song lyrics.Overall, I was overjoyed with Frozen. It is a story of love and triumph over adversity, a tale of sisterhood and family. But what is perhaps even more inspirational about this film is that it shows us even the worst fears can be overcome with hope, trust, and a little bit of love.Well done Disney!

Frozen had pretty much passed me by until I started to look for Christmas presents for my cousin’s two little girls aged four and six. I ordered a Blu-ray version, just to see what all the fuss was about, and having now seen the film I must say I am impressed.The plot is refreshingly different to the usual princess story lines: it follows the adventures of Princess Anna, sister to Queen Elsa of Arendelle. She undertakes an epic journey to find and then reconcile with her estranged sister, who fled when her icy powers inadvertently trapped the kingdom in an eternal winter. Anna is accompanied by a down to earth iceman named Kristoff, his loyal pet reindeer, Sven, and Olaf, a living snowman. The sisters are eventually reconciled and the icy spell broken via a sacrificial act of true love from Anna. I haven’t enjoyed a Disney film like this in ages. There is a clear moral message and the powerful emotional highs and lows that the film provided took me straight back to the Disney films that I watched in my childhood. Olaf’s character as a comic sidekick is spot on, very funny but never annoying, and actually quite touching in places.Visually, this one of the most beautiful animated films that I've ever seen. The quality of the cinematography is outstanding: the characters are rendered in hyper-realistic detail. Both Anna and Elsa are beautiful as you would expect. You can even see the freckles in Anna's face. Some of the snowy shots were so realistic they made me wonder whether I was looking at animation at all. I have to mention in particular the scenes which feature the blue ice palace created by Elsa. They are just stunning to look at. Kristoff speaks for perhaps all of us when he says “Now that’s ice…I might cry…flawless”. The scene where Anna enters the ice palace and Queen Elsa makes her appearance was breath taking and had me reaching for the rewind button just to take in the sheer beauty of it all. It was really quite dazzling.The musical score is a lovely mixture of full on orchestral background combined with catchy songs such as ‘Do You Want to Build a Snowman?’ and ‘In Summer’. The song ‘Let it Go’ has my vote for the most insistent ear worm song of 2014.It is clear that the Disney crew have put a considerable amount of resource into this film and it shows: the production values are sky high and the film has a peculiarly enchanting, majestic grace about it. When it finished I wanted to see more. It gave me the sort of buzzing high that only a good Disney movie can provide. Recommendations don’t come any higher than that.