Frozen - 8.8/10
As this was another fairy tale, naturally I've been looking forward to it since it was announced. Since the previews started appearing I've also been dreading it a bit, but more on that in a moment. The main point here is that my anticipation for this movie could not have been higher, so there was a lot of potential for me to either get blown away or mired in disappointment. For the most part, Disney delivered.
I'll save spoilers for the last two paragraphs, so let's just cover the basics. Animation: stellar. Voice cast: great. In fact, aside from Kristen Bell (whom I could not recognize despite knowing it was her from the beginning) and Idina Menzel (who occasionally sounded too old for her character but nevertheless did an amazing job), I hadn't really heard of any of these guys. And that's good! I miss the days when you could go to an animated movie and just enjoy it rather than constantly be saying, "Whose voice is that?"
The songs were a mixed bag. There was a really phenomenal one (sung of course by Idina Menzel), a couple of okay ones and one or two that felt a little awkward. Kind of like the old-time Don Bluth and even early Dreamworks movies where it felt like they were putting songs in simply because they thought they were supposed to, or something. The music itself was excellent, at least.
Characters. All right, here it is: I was dreading the snowman. From the trailers it looked like he was going to be exactly like the gargoyles from The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and we all know how much I loved those guys. Miraculously, save for one horribly out-of-place song sequence (I'm talking gargoyle bad, or even two-headed dragon in Quest for Camelot bad), he was actually a good character who served not only a necessary plot function but a symbolic one as well. Touché, Disney.
The character of Kristoff was there mostly to serve as a facilitator and a smokescreen to the plot, but again more on that in a minute. The two female leads were amazing. I loved them both and I can't really go into why until the spoiler paragraphs. All these characters and even the plot itself play a lot with the audience's expectations, a lot like what they did in The Princess and the Frog, but taken to the next level.
Okay, here be spoilers. Can I just say how much of a loop I was thrown for at Hans' betrayal? Seriously. I left the film a little baffled because there had been times when there was no need for him to keep up the charade (except from a writer's perspective to preserve the twist), but he did it anyway. I'm willing to let this go because how often do villains reveal their true nature too early and for no reason (other than from a writer's perspective to shock the audience) only to get caught. Fair enough, I guess. He just wasn't taking any chances.
My absolute favorite part of the movie was the climax. I know it's supposed to be, but this is a special case. Princess Anna has been (accidentally) cursed, and we are told that only an act of true love can save her. This is where the movie starts messing with your expectations. True love's kiss, we all assume, is the answer, because isn't it always? This serves to reveal not only Hans' duplicity, but that Anna's heart truly lies with Kristoff (as anyone who had seen any promotional material could have guessed). So then she goes out to try and kiss Kristoff, but before she can, she sees her sister about to be executed. In lieu of saving herself, she places herself in front of the sword. Even if the blow doesn't strike her, the curse will kill her, but she doesn't care because come on - it's her sister. Of course this act of true love breaks the curse, and in sacrificing herself Anna not only saves her sister AND herself, but the entire kingdom is freed from eternal winter. You know what? I'm gonna go ahead and say it: Anna is best princess.
