Disney has gotten be to be Disney by creating reliable family entertainment with certain hallmarks: showstopping tunes, wholesome stories, loveable sidekicks. Two things in particular make the Disney animated feature Frozen one of the films families will watch over and over. The first is that it surprises.
In Frozen, there is a twist on the old princess theme that feels traditional and also updated for modern girls. After the first viewing this is no longer a surprise, of course. But it provides a launching pad for family discussions and imparts a message that parents won’t have to explain away (“Hmm, why does she want to get married so badly? Well…”).
In case you don’t know the story: Elsa and Anna are sisters in Scandinavian-style kingdom, and Elsa has a special gift that she believe is really a curse — she can freeze things and create things out of ice and snow but is unable to control her power. To protect her, her parents counsel her to hide it. Soonafter they die, and the two girls grow up cloistered in their castle. When it’s time for Elsa to be publicly crowned, her secret comes out, and she flees to the mountains, with her sister in pursuit.
Along the way, we meet a comic relief snowman, two possible love interests and a story of sisterly love.
Even the normally scathing Honest Trailers — which has eviscerated crowd-pleasers like Star Trek and The Hunger Games — couldn’t find much fault with this film, allowing it to be one of the best Disney musicals in some time and that its main song is a catchy tune you can’t get out of your head.
Which brings us to the second thing that gives Frozen staying power: the songs. They have the rhythms, tunes, clever lyrics and orchestrations of good West End musicals. We saw it at the cinema and soonafter discovered our daughter and her friends knew all the words to not only the best known song “Let It Go” but also “In Summer” and a couple others as well. Just be careful if you sing them in the morning — you’ll be humming them for the rest of the day.
In February we got to go along to a screening that ended with directors Jennifer Lee and Chris Buck. It was fascinating hearing how Lee and Buck worked together as co-directers. Another nice surprise from Frozen: According to Wikipedia, Lee is first female director of a Walt Disney Animation Studios feature film, and the first writer at any major animation studio to become a director. At the screening I got to hold the BAFTA they won for animated film. Jennifer, I have to tell you, I liked the feel of it and quite fancy being the second. See you at the studio?
The film came out on DVD, Blu-ray and Digital Download on March 31st. Connect with Disney on Twitter at @Disney_UK #Frozen.
What did you think of Frozen? Leave a comment or a link to your review below.
About Jennifer Howze
Jennifer Howze is the Creative Director and co-founder of BritMums. She blogs about family travel at Jenography.net, tweets at @JHowze and Instagrams at @JHowze. Previously, she wrote the Alpha Mummy blog at The Times and as a journalist has contributed to The Times, The Guardian, The Independent, The Wall Street Journal, Travel & Leisure, Budget Travel, CNN.com, Allure, SELF and Premiere, among others. She won The Maggie Award from the Planned Parenthood Federation of America for a health article in Seventeen magazine.