Disney's Frozen: A Very Heart-Warming Tale of True Love
Frozen definitely deserves the right to be called a Disney film and to be part of the Disney Renaissance as it upholds and continues to further the long-lived legacy of fantasy, imagination, and the spectacle that which is Disney.
Disney has yet again raised the bar in creating movie magic and surpassed my expectations. To be honest, at first, I had doubts about the films that came after Tangled but after watching Wreck-It Ralph and now, Frozen (and hopefully, Winnie the Pooh), I cannot deny that the spark of movie genius is back.
Disney has made top-notch films that catered to all audiences and they never cease to amaze me with what they can do on the big screen. Disney always seems to impress a sense of joy whenever I watch the animated films and they bring out the child in me.
That's the wonder of Disney and you just have to live and grow with it.
Why I Loved Watching Frozen
Let's get down to business. Quite frankly, by this point, I have watched Frozen three times and to me, it is a breath of fresh air. There are many reasons why Frozen makes me feel good after watching it.
But the most personal to me is the fact that Frozen deals with the different facets of adolescence and how teenagers feel and how we cope with the events that happen in our life.
It appeals to our longing for identity, acceptance, independence and of course, love. All of these I took out from the different elements of the movie.
A Literary Spectacle
In my eyes, Frozen shows a general depiction of how we teenagers are constantly fearful of what others might think of us or of how people might get hurt because of our actions or even of our own capabilities. We fear that we might disappoint the people around us so we do our best to fulfill expectations.
In this respect, I believe that many people would relate to the chaos and inner turmoil that Elsa experiences. Elsa's trip to the mountain to live in isolation is a great representation of how we teenagers frantically reflect and ponder about the things that happen to us and around us.
We search deep within our souls to find out who we really are. That's the moment when we just break out of the shadows, out of our shell, and release all the pain and the fear and let go of the past and live the fullest of life in the present.
Now, on the other side of the spectrum, Anna is also a great representation of a teenager's naivete which blinds our judgment especially when we think of the concept of true love. I believe that the movie made a compelling case against the pettiness of puppy love and teenage romance.
It shows how teenagers may be subject to deception when a guy tells a girl that he loves her and urges her to do hasty and irrational things which will ultimately lead to more despair and loneliness. In the end, Anna found out the hidden motives of Hans and realizes what the true meaning of love is in the person of Kristoff.
I loved that the movie was somewhat a metaphor for love overcoming fear when the ice was thawed out from the kingdom and from Anna's heart.
I also liked how the movie tackled these two concepts especially with regard to the biblical allusion of "having no fear in love but perfect love casting out fear." These are definitely the things that I took out from the movie and really made a lasting impression on me.
Music, Animation, Casting
Now, on with the other elements of the film. The music was legendary, unbelievable, amazing, wonderful, spectacular, mesmerizing. Coupled with an impressive animation, Frozen is the right combination of eyegasm and eargasm.
I won't go much into the technicalities but I can say that it was truly a visual and aural spectacle that makes you sit back on your chair awestruck and marvel at its wonder. Perhaps the epitome of this wonder that I am talking about is the scene where Elsa creates her castle of ice.
Let me just take a moment to say that Elsa was hot! The costume change that Elsa did during this scene is very noteworthy and rivals Katniss Everdeen's costume change in Catching Fire.
But on a serious note, "Let It Go" is perhaps, in my honest opinion, at the pinnacle of all Disney soundtracks and the stellar performance by the vocal powerhouse, Idina Menzel, definitely gave life and justice to the scene.
The characters in Frozen were cast perfectly. Idina Menzel gave life and substance to Elsa; Kristen Bell was perfectly matched for Anna as she is really a bubbly and energetic person which definitely showed in Anna.
Jonathan Groff voiced Kristoff and he surprised me with the things that he can do with his voice; and Josh Gad voiced Olaf and gave him enough balance of innocence, wit, and comic relief.
Characters and Concepts
I loved how the two sisters were in contrast with each other. Elsa had a more melancholic temperament alluding to the Snow Queen while Anna has a more sanguine attitude to her.
I liked that even in the color of their clothes and their hair spoke volumes about their personalities: Elsa having snowy blonde hair and wearing cool colors, representing the seasons of winter and fall which may be a metaphor for fear, death or mystery.
While Anna having auburn hair and wearing warm colors, representing the seasons of spring and summer which are usually a metaphor for life, rebirth, and energy.
Another thing that I really liked about the movie is that it breaks cliches especially with the concept of true love and that true love's kiss can break any spell.
Here, we see that there are different dimensions of true love and Frozen shows that it's not only about eros or the romantic kind of love between a guy and a girl but it can also be storge or the love that siblings have for each other.
Of course, Frozen also was able to show agape which should be present in every kind of love and is what we call "unconditional love." As we saw in the film, Anna sacrificed herself willingly to save her sister, passing off the opportunity to save herself.
Overall, in my opinion, the film is a success and rightfully so. I would like to reiterate that Frozen definitely deserves a spot in the Disney canon and as part of the Disney Renaissance as it brings back the wonders that Disney films are. I recommend all to watch it for the holidays because it would definitely be worth it!
The Tale of Frozen
Spoiler Alert!
Frozen tells the tale of two sisters, Elsa and Anna. Elsa was born with the power to create ice and snow from her hands but as with every great power comes great responsibility. One day, as Elsa and Anna were playing, Elsa accidentally freezes her younger sister's head and turns a strand of her hair into blonde.
So, their parents, the King and Queen, brings Anna to the trolls who were able to release the magic from Anna but also erased any memory of Elsa's powers. The elder troll then shows Elsa the fate of her powers.
Wanting to protect anyone else from getting hurt, the King isolates Elsa from the outside world and most especially from her sister. They closed the gates of the castle to reduce any human contact for Elsa. As her powers continue to grow, Elsa becomes more and more afraid of her own capabilities.
One day, when the King and Queen left to voyage on the seas, a terrible accident befell upon them and they were swallowed by the waves and the storm. Now, Elsa and Anna only have each other.
Three years later, Elsa has come of age and is to be crowned Queen. After the coronation ceremony, at the party, Anna saw a slight window of opportunity to get to know her sister better but was shut by Elsa due to the memory that continues to haunt her.
Anna, feeling disappointed, left almost teary-eyed until she met Prince Hans and they get accustomed to each other. Then one thing led to another and before they knew it, they were engaged. They tried to ask Elsa's blessing to which Elsa rejects pragmatically.
A confrontation between the two sisters would soon provoke Elsa to reveal the secret she has kept hidden all those years. Thereafter, Elsa banishes herself to the North Mountain where she builds a castle of ice.
Anna then goes after her sister to persuade her to come back and thaw their frozen kingdom. Along the way, she meets Kristoff, an ice deliverer, who wants to find out what happened to the summer. Anna tags along with him and they finally get to the North Mountain where there have been strange things happening.
Olaf, the snow man that Elsa created and came to life, joins them in their quest and guides them to Elsa. They see the castle of ice that Elsa built and Anna goes in to talk to her sister.
The two sisters meet again and Anna tries to convince Elsa to go back home with her but Elsa, still haunted by the memory of their childhood, resolves to stay in isolation and urges Anna to just enjoy the summer back home.
At this point, Anna reveals to Elsa that she has frozen everything. However, Anna is hopeful that Elsa can thaw it all out but Elsa continues to wallow in fear and blames herself for all the mishap. As Anna tries to encourage her, Elsa accidentally freezes her sister's heart and forces Anna and company to leave.
After being thrown off a cliff, Kristoff immediately notices that Anna's hair is turning white and so they decide to go to Kristoff's friends whom he calls love experts and happens to be the same trolls who helped Anna before.
However, this time, they are unable to help since it is the heart that got frozen and "only an act of true love can thaw a frozen heart" which translates as "true love's kiss". So Anna, Kristoff, Sven, and Olaf return to find Hans so that he can kiss Anna.
Meanwhile, Prince Hans and his troop went on a quest to search for Anna and they find Elsa's Ice Castle on the North Mountain. As they near the steps toward the castle, the giant abominable snow man, that Elsa created to force Anna and company to leave, confronts Hans and his men.
While trying to fend off the giant, two of the men, who were actually sent to assassinate Elsa, goes up the castle and frantically hunts Elsa down. Elsa, however, was no match for them until one shoots the glass chandelier which came toppling down on Elsa causing her to become unconscious.
After regaining consciousness, Elsa finds herself chained in a dungeon. Anna arrives home and quickly finds Hans. As the two get close to kiss, Hans's expression shifts and reveals that he was merely using Anna to get to the throne.
He then leaves Anna locked in the room to freeze and convinces the other men that Elsa has killed Anna and so he charges Elsa with treason. Elsa, on the other hand, escapes from the dungeon and tries to search for Anna and in the process creates a snow storm.
Olaf frees Anna and keeps her warm. Kristoff realizes that Anna is in danger and goes back to save her. Olaf sees Kristoff charging for Anna and helps Anna get out of the castle. Meanwhile, Hans tells Elsa the bad news about her sister and Elsa falls into tears, thereby ending the storm.
As Hans prepares to attack Elsa, Anna sweeps in to save her even though Kristoff is just a few yards away from her. Just in the nick of time, Anna freezes into solid ice which breaks Hans's sword. Elsa collapses into tears in front of Anna and everyone grieves.
But just then, Anna slowly starts to melt from her heart to the tips of her fingers. Olaf reveals that by saving her sister from imminent death, Anna has exhibited an act of true love which broke the spell.
Elsa then realizes that it is love that can help her control her powers and enables her to thaw the whole kingdom. The two sisters became really close afterward and the gates of their castle were forever opened.
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