Frozen

The story opens with a band of men cutting ice from a frozen river. Among these men are young Kristoff and his pet reindeer, Sven. He is learning the trade and as they leave with a sleigh filled with ice, he follows close behind in his tiny sleigh with a single block of ice.

Meanwhile at the Arendale Castle, Princess Elsa and Princess Anna sneak off in the night to play in the ballroom. Elsa can conjure ice and snow, which delights her younger sister. At one point, Anna jumps from a snow mound as Elsa creates a taller one to catch her. However, Anna is jumping faster than Elsa can conjure. Elsa accidentally hits Anna in the head, causing a lock of her dark hair to become blonde. The King and Queen arrive and, finding Anna unresponsive, ride into the night for help. They stop in a circle of stones which soon animate to become rather friendly and harmless-looking trolls. They cure Princess Anna but also remove her memories of Elsa’s power. The trolls warn Elsa against revealing her power lest it get out of control.

Years go by and the formerly inseparable sisters hardly speak. Worse, the King and Queen die at sea. More years pass and Elsa is now of an age to become Queen. Anna can hardly wait. She has been cloistered in the castle for most of her life and is eager for the grand ball. Elsa is terrified that she will be unable to control her powers. The ball proves entertaining as Anna fall for the handsome Prince Hans within minutes of meeting him and asks her sister for a blessing to marry him. Elsa refuses, ends the party, and calls for the castle gates to be closed again. And then things go south with the newly crowned queen fleeing into the wilderness and bringing winter upon the lands.

Arendale is thrown into chaos. Anna sets out alone to bring back her sister and leaves her fiancé, Prince Hans, in charge. Unprepared for the cold, she stops at a lodge where she meets Kristoff and his reindeer Sven. Last we saw Kristoff, he was a young boy watching the King talk to the trolls about Anna. He agrees to guide her through the wilderness.

To my surprise, this is a musical. The songs are good and catchy. I particularly liked Queen Elsa singing in her frozen mountain keep. Great singing voice. Anna is a great heroine; she is naïve and determined, bouncy and daring. Olaf the snowman came out of the blue but proved to be great comic relief. Loved his song about how he wanted summer to come. Kristoff, who is the male lead, really pales in comparison to the sisters. He’s a good character but he mostly serves as a means to an end for Anna. However, his relationship with Sven is most entertaining, especially when he speaks for Sven and Sven thus serves as his conscience. Oh, and his upbraiding of Anna for getting engage to Prince Hans the day they met was hilarious.

It is hard to determine the time period of the movie. The clothing looks to be 19th century but there is not a gun to be found. The soldiers run around with swords and crossbows. There is really no explanation for why Elsa has her powers. The trolls are entirely too cute and adorable. They are more like gnomes and perhaps should have been cast as gnomes. I was a bit baffled by Prince Hans being put in charge. Shouldn’t there have been a regent who had been ruling since the king died? Wouldn’t it be logical for Anna to put that person in charge while she chased after her sister rather than a foreign prince you met earlier that evening?

All in all, a great movie and recommended.