What started off as another Disney movie quickly became an international sensation almost overnight. Loosely based on “The Snow Queen” by Hans Christian Andersen, Frozen broke many of the molds established by early Disney princesses, such as Snow White or Cinderella, while also setting many new molds for movies to follow in the future.
It starts off with ice harvesters gathering ice. Among them is a young Kristoff and Sven, who apparently have no adult supervision, as they seem to come and go whenever they want. The movie then cuts to young Anna and Elsa, who are up late playing. Elsa accidently hurts Anna, and the whole family rushes to the rock trolls to undo the magic. How the king knew to go to the rock trolls in the first place, perhaps we’ll never know. They pass Kristoff and Sven, who follow Elsa’s icy trail. The rock trolls heal Anna and adopt Kristoff. For some reason, the king of the rock trolls decides it’s best to make Anna believe that Elsa is normal and removes all her memories of Elsa doing magic. The king and queen are okay with this and go along with the ruse. They hide Elsa’s magic for the next ten or so years using gloves, until their deaths.
When Elsa turns 21 three years later, she becomes Arendelle’s new queen. Diplomats come from far and wide to celebrate the event, and the whole town is excited for a rare appearance of the two sisters. Anna runs around town before the event and literally bumps into Hans. The two are adorkable together and they soon have to head to the coronation. Elsa has to remove the gloves that conceals her powers during the ceremony, and even though she had started to freeze the orb and scepter, the bishop doesn’t seem to notice it when she puts them down.
After the coronation, there’s a party. Hans proposes to Anna, Elsa says the famous, “You can’t marry a man you just met,” and this leads to Anna ripping off one of Elsa’s gloves, which exposes her powers to everyone. Elsa runs off, and Anna decides to go after her, leaving Hans in charge of Arendelle.
In the mountains, Elsa builds her ice palace while singing about how she’s abandoning her kingdom and giving up on her responsibilities and fitting in with society. Anna, who is looking for Elsa, hears about the magical storm coming from said mountains from Kristoff. She convinces Kristoff and Sven to help her locate Elsa and undo the curse on Arendelle. Along the way, they meet Olaf, a snowman who likes warm hugs. He accompanies them on their journey to the ice palace. They find the ice palace and confront Elsa, but Elsa refuses to go back. She accidently freezes Anna’s heart when she kicks the group out. Kristoff, who has started to develop feelings for the princess, takes Anna to the rock trolls to heal her, and they tell her to go back to Hans and kiss him, as an act of true love is the only thing that can save her.
Meanwhile, Hans is taking care of the people. When Anna’s horse returns without her, he decides to go look for her and Elsa. He doesn’t find Anna, but he does find and capture Elsa. When Anna returns, slowly freezing to death, he locks her in a room to die. He then lies to everyone and says that he and Anna were able to marry just before she died, thus making him the king of Arendelle. He goes to finally kill Elsa, but she escapes. Kristoff, when he sees the chaos Elsa is causing with her powers, races back to help. Anna finally realizes that Kristoff cares about her and makes her way to him. However, she sees Hans about to kill Elsa, so she steps in and saves her sister. This act of true love for her sister thaws Anna’s heart and saves her life. Elsa realizes that the power of love is what can melt the snow and reverses her curse on Arendelle, since love is the opposite of fear.
A more confident Elsa takes charge of Arendelle. She ships Hans back to his home in the Southern Isles and stops all trade with the Duke of Weselton, who had tried to undermine her from the start. She then turns the courtyard into an ice rink and everyone skates until the movie ends.
The movie features several hit songs written by Robert and Kristen Anderson-Lopez. Ever since the movie premiered, people everywhere have been singing these songs. The first song is “Frozen Heart.” It’s simple and foreshadows dangers of ice. A lot of people tend to forget about this song, but I really enjoy it. The backgrounds and animation are beautiful to watch. Next is “Do You Want to Build A Snowman.” It’s kind of a solo, since Anna is the only one who sings, but Elsa and the king both speak during the song, so can it be considered a true solo? This song shows the girls growing up, with Elsa struggling to control her powers. It starts off upbeat, but turns slow and sad by the end, with both girls mourning the loss of their parents.
“For the First Time in Forever” is the next song. It’s a pretty song, and it shows the personalities of the sisters well. The best part of it is watching Anna’s skirt move as she runs and twirls. However, this song has probably the most bizarre line of the whole movie. When Anna’s singing about meeting her prince charming, she blurts out “I wanna stuff some chocolate in my face.” Where did this come from? I’m convinced the writers were struggling to rhyme with “grace,” and didn’t like mace, place, pace, or base. Next is “Love is an Open Door.” Basic love song where the princess sings a duet with the villain. Next. “Let It Go.” The only true solo in the whole movie. The song that made Elsa not be the villain. The song that inspired so many people to let go of their troubles, even though that’s not at all what the song is about. Still, it is incredibly catchy. The first time I saw this movie, I was with a group of people who had already seen it, and one of my guy friends tried to sing the high notes. He didn’t quite do it, but it was very entertaining to watch him try. The next song is another forgettable song. “Reindeer(s) are Better than People” is sort of a duet of Kristoff and Sven, but Kristoff sings for Sven. It’s short, sweet, and to the point. Up next is “In Summer.” It’s Olaf’s fantasy of what it would be like for a snowman to live in the warm summer. Complete with dancing seagulls. They do a fake out with the line “Winter’s a good time to stay in and cuddle, but put me in summer and I’ll be a … happy snowman!” I don’t like this song as much as some of the others, but I know a lot of people do enjoy it. “For the First Time in Forever (Reprise)” is the next song that’s sung. Anna tries to convince Elsa to return to Arendelle with her, but it ends in disaster. It’s short and again has the two sisters sing a duet together.
Lastly is the song I like the least. “Fixer Upper.” The rock trolls are trying to hook Anna up with Kristoff, and even arrange a wedding on the spot when they learn that she’s engaged to Hans. They doubt this, though, and there’s even a line that goes “I don’t see no ring,” However, Anna is wearing mittens the entire time, so how would they know she doesn’t have a ring on? Arendelle is based off of Norway, where the average coldest temperature is around 27°F (-3°C), however this varies depending on where in the country you are during the winter. And this is before sewing machines were invented, so the mittens would’ve had to have been hand sewn. They look like they’re of good quality, being thicker and warmer to protect the hands better. So even if Anna had a ring on, unless it was giant, it’s highly unlikely that they could’ve seen it through the mittens. The only other explanation is they have X-ray vision, and it’s never mentioned.
Princess Anna, voiced by Kristen Bell, is Elsa’s younger sister. She is the exact opposite of Elsa. She’s spunky, outgoing, and longs for adventure. She used to be close to Elsa before the accident, and the two even shared a bedroom. Why they shared a bedroom in a giant palace is unknown. Maybe they wanted to, and their parents agreed to try it out. After the accident, she tries to reconnect with her sister, and despite Elsa repeatedly shutting her down, Anna never loses hope in her. Like all teenage girls, she dreams of finding her prince charming. I like that she made a mistake with her love life, since far too many people jump into a relationship without thinking, and they end up getting hurt in the end. She wasn’t expecting to fall for Kristoff, she just needed a guide up the mountain. So instead of marrying the guy she just met that day, she ended up with the guy she met maybe two days ago. Way to sell your message, Disney. Still, Anna never gives up on people, and the world needs more people like that.
Queen Elsa, voiced by Idina Menzel, is the queen of Arendelle and the older sister to Anna. She is the only known member of her family to have magic powers. There has been a lot of debate of how Elsa got her powers. One theorizor even suggested that Elsa was the twin sister of Rapunzel. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lhf9dekzyq4 And it’s all based on one shot of Rapunzel and Eugene at the coronation. It couldn’t possibly be because Disney likes to throw Easter Eggs into all its movies.
I feel like out of all the characters in this movie, I would get along best with Elsa. She’s quiet, smart, and has trouble connecting with other people. She also understands that sometimes you just have to get away from everything for a while. What I like most about Elsa is that she’s single. She doesn’t end up with anyone at the end of the movie. In a society that judges you based on your relationship status, I found this very refreshing. I know there’s a movement to give her a girlfriend in the sequel, but honestly, I think they should just keep her single. Your worth is not defined by your relationship status, or who you’re interested in. I wish there were more prominent characters in TV and film that were single and okay with it. If there were more positive single role models, then maybe there wouldn’t be such a stigma about being single. Even if they do decide to give Elsa a love interest, especially given the time period and the fact that she’s royal, making her a lesbian just wouldn’t make much sense. Frozen is set in a time where bloodlines meant everything, and as queen, she would want to make sure her family’s line continued.
Kristoff, who’s last name according to the Frozen Wiki is Bjorgman, is the ice harvester Anna meets on her journey to find her sister. Voiced by Jonathan Groff, when he is introduced, he’s covered in snow and ice, and ominous music plays in the background, like he’s the villain. The very definition of an outdoor man, he’s extremely reluctant to help Anna at first, and only agrees for the money. However, the two grow close, and by the end of the movie, they are a romantic couple. He spent an unknown amount of time with the rock trolls after they adopted/kidnapped him, but he does refer to them as family. At some point, though, he leaves them and starts his own ice business. His people skills are lacking in certain areas, and he lists reasons why he doesn’t like being around people. But for someone who hates being around people, he sure spends a lot of time around other people. His job is basically customer service and retail, and it’s really hard to do that well when you hate people. Also, he should be dead, since he eats after Sven and modern medicine isn’t a thing yet, and troll magic is only so-so.
Sven is an energetic reindeer that accompanies Kristoff everywhere. He loves carrots so much that he’s constantly trying to eat Olaf’s nose. He and Kristoff has such a strong bond that Kristoff often “speaks” for him and understands what Sven is saying. He has an unusually long lifespan for a wild reindeer. In captivity, reindeer typically live about 20 years. In the wild, however, male reindeer typically live less than 10 years, with the average lifespan being only 4-5 years. Female reindeer have a little bit of a longer lifespan in the wild, usually living for about 10 years. And we know Sven has been with Kristoff a long time, since they were shown to already have a strong bond when Kristoff was a small child. The youngest Sven could’ve possibly been at the beginning of the movie was two or three months old, since he was shown to be eating carrots, but he was most likely a little older than that. Why Sven wasn’t with his herd is unknown, but most likely someone or something killed his mother and the herd rejected him as a result. Thirteen years have passed since then. One can argue that Sven lives in captivity, since he’s always with Kristoff. However, they live outdoors 90% of the time, and this is before modern medicine. Yes, they have troll magic, but that’s shown to not be the best solution. In short, Sven should be dead. http://www.biokids.umich.edu/critters/Rangifer_tarandus/
Prince Hans, voiced by Santino Fontana, was introduced as Anna’s love interest, but later revealed to be the villain. I heard a theory that Hans was based off the mirror in “The Snow Queen,” and there is a little bit of evidence to support this. His personality and motivations are constantly changing. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uSLv9cYOA6M He’s upbeat and awkward when he’s with Anna, he’s quiet when he’s with Elsa, he throws his weight around when he’s with the diplomats, and he even shows how cold hearted he is after Anna’s heart is frozen by Elsa. I think the more likely explanation is that after it was decided that Elsa wasn’t going to be the villain, they picked a name out of a hat and made Hans the villain. As a villain, he was kind of bland. He was last in line for the throne his family has, so he planned to marry Elsa or Anna, then murder them both, so he could rule their kingdom. He was given opportunities to kill Elsa earlier in the movie, but didn’t take them for unknown reasons. In fact, when someone else was about to kill Elsa, he saves her! If he really wanted her dead, he would’ve let the guy kill her, then brought the guy back to Arendelle and said, “This guy killed Queen Elsa! I are witnesses!” Anna would’ve been next in line for the throne, so he would’ve married her and gotten what he wanted. Maybe it was all an elaborate ruse he cooked up with the rock trolls to get Anna and Elsa to reconnect.
Olaf, voiced by Josh Gad, is a snowman that Elsa brought to life. He is basically child Anna reincarnated, since he represented to Elsa all of the pleasant memories she had of her and Anna playing together. He’s supposed to be the comic relief, but I got more laughs out of Sven than Olaf. He’s an okay character, and I don’t dislike him, but he didn’t really add much plot wise.
The rock trolls are pretty annoying characters. They can only heal people by making them forget about what injured them in the first place. Kristoff describes them as “love experts,” but we’re never told WHY they’re called that in the first place. What do they know about how humans love and feel? They’re isolated from the world! After all, it seems that only a handful of people in the entire world know about their existence, since Kristoff was surprised to learn they existed at the beginning of the movie, and Anna had no memory of meeting them when she was a child. They have weird rock/crystal necklaces that glow in various colors. We don’t know that much about the rock trolls, but they do apparently have X-ray vision, since they could see through Anna’s mittens that she didn’t have an engagement ring on. Do you know who else has X-ray vision and is associated with glowing colored rocks? Superman. How do we know the rock trolls didn’t visit many planets, including Krypton, and take small parts of the planets with them before settling on Earth and that’s how they got their powers? Yeah, it’s a weak theory, but they’re weak characters. I’m glad they were only in the two scenes.
While the movie takes a lot of creative liberties with the fairy tale, they do name two of the servants, Kai and Gerda, after the main characters in the fairy tale. You can see this in the credits, or if you have the captions on. It’s a cute nod to the source material.
The animation on the ice at the beginning is very detailed. They show the imperfections in the ice. The first shot of the movie from underneath the ice might be my favorite shot in the whole movie. I love the look and feel of the town. I wish I could visit Arendelle in real life, though I did hear that after the release, the number of tourists at Norway Pavilion at Epcot skyrocketed.
The shot of the palace with the town and the waterfall in the background was stunning. I love the design of the girls’ coronation dresses. Anna, who is very excitable, has a skirt that expands as she moves around, which fits her personality very well. And I’ve always loved the blue/purple color combination, so seeing it on Elsa made me very happy. Elsa’s magic is beautiful, and I love how they change the design of the ice to reflect her emotions. The backgrounds are absolutely beautiful. However, even before the release of the The Good Dinosaur, I have seen better water effects. Thankfully there aren’t too many water shots, and the snow and ice look so much better. The team had to develop a new software, called Matterhorn, to make the snow look realistic, and they accomplished their goal.
Even though this movie is really good, it is by no means perfect. It has its flaws, like every other movie in existence. The worst thing to come out of this movie is the Frozen franchise. I don’t understand why this movie took off the way it did, and I really don’t like seeing Frozen stuff everywhere I go. Even in 2018, there are still Frozen products everywhere. It has toned down a little since 2013, but it’s still very prominent. Seriously! Just take a walk through your grocery store and you’ll see what I mean. I imagine it will get worse again when the sequel comes out. Let’s talk about the sequel for a minute. Initially, everyone who worked on the movie denied that there would be a sequel, saying that it wasn’t necessary. But the fans kept begging, so in 2019, Frozen 2 will be released. I don’t know what they can possibly do, and since Disney sequels usually aren’t the best quality, I don’t know how good it will be. I don’t think it needs a sequel, but that’s just my opinion. Disney execs see a way to make more money, so they’re going to go for it. The Broadway musical has also just released, so I’m sure that will also get things going again. Elsa and Anna were originally going to be Disney princesses, but because Frozen just blew up the way it did, they had to make it its own franchise, or else it would drag down the other Disney princesses. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVt5w6ce3hM I like the movie, but the franchise is highly overrated.
I’m SJ, and these are my real thoughts on Frozen.
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