The Disney animators seem to have gotten their “groove” back with “Frozen,” and the result is an enjoyable holiday film that actually deserves to be labeled a “classic.” The studio expands its Princesses’ franchise with two royals—a Scandinavian blonde named Elsa (voice of Broadway’s Idina Menzel) and her younger, redheaded sister Anna (voice of Kristen Bell). When Elsa’s magical ice-powers go awry (by creating an indoor blizzard and accidentally freezing her sister’s head), the two girls are forced by their parents to grow up separately to keep Anna safe from any other magical mishaps.
There’s plenty of catchy songs, a traditional Disney-style Prince Charming named Hans (voice of Santino Fontana), a helpful ice-merchant named Kristoff (voice of Jonathan Groff), scheming villains and funny support characters to join those phalanxes of Happy Meal figures. The stand-outs are the charming Trolls (who appear to be ordinary rocks, but are really personable rock-trolls), an intelligent reindeer named Sven, and Olaf (voice of Josh Gad), a malleable snowman whose head, body, nose and eyes are recombined in amusing Mr. Potato Head configurations.
Directed by Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee, with a screenplay by Lee, the film’s greatest drawback is the lack of any exposition offering the how, what and why of Elsa’s magical powers. Is it a gift or a curse? Her father enigmatically intones, “She’ll have to learn to control it,” but that’s all the audience gets in explanation.
It appears to this film critic that the movie has been constructed with an eye toward recreating it on a Broadway stage. Menzel and most of the other singers come from the Big White Way, and the song’s composers (Tony-winner Robert Lopez and Drama Desk-winner Kristen Andersen-Lopez) are Broadway and off-Broadway luminaries. Choreographed Broadway-style, many of the musical sequences are set-pieces—the during-the credits Nordic-language chant resonates like the African opening from “The Lion King,” the rousing male chorus of ice gatherers harkens back to the lumberjacks in “Seven Brides for Seven Brothers,” the Trolls’ fun-filled, do-it-yourself tune, Fixer Upper, includes a solo for Broadway’s Maia Wilson, and the wistful In Summer, the song about Olaf the Snowman’s wish to be warm, was expressly written for Broadway’s Josh Gad.
One song that has already been covered by several pop stars is the challenging female-empowerment song, Let It Go. Performed in the film by the singer/actress who played Elephaba, the green-skinned witch in Broadway’s “Wicked,” it is a “pay-attention” set piece, with stunning vocal range and astounding animated effects. The words of the song serve to move the story along as Elsa powerfully describes why she has abandoned her kingdom in favor of residing in a spectacularly beautiful sculpted ice castle while clad in a gown spun from ice crystals. Menzel’s voice reverberates through the theater:
Don’t let them in,
Don’t let them see
Be the good girl you always had to be
Conceal, don’t feel,
Don’t let them know
Well now they know
Let it go,
Let it go,
And here I’ll stand.
And here I’ll stay.
The cold never bothered me anyway.
I have some serious reservations about telling young women that the only way to be yourself is to shun your sister and your townspeople and become a hermit in a castle made of ice. I also noticed that this ice castle doesn’t have a stick of furniture in any of the rooms. Since Elsa will be living all alone in her icy fortress of solitude, you would think that tables, chairs and a bed might come in handy.
Despite these grandfatherly observations, Disney’s “Frozen” is a timeless tale, well told, with lots of amusing interludes, catchy tunes, and lovable characters—a “must see” for the whole family this holiday season.
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