Film

Frozen

The Walt Disney Pictures logo and the movie title appear played over by the Norwegian song "Vuelie".In a winter landscape, we see ice harvesters using saws and hooks to cut blocks of ice from a lake, chanting as they work ("Frozen Heart"). They load the ice blocks onto their wagon and then head into town. A young boy named Kristoff (Jonathan Groff) is seen working alongside them (not very expertly) accompanied by his reindeer Sven (sounds supplied by Jonathan Groff). They imitate the ice harvesters with a single cubic block of ice and a small child's sled.That night, the action shifts to the Kingdom of Arendelle, where the king and queen have two daughters: the elder, named Elsa (Eva Bella), and the younger, named Anna (Livvy Stubenrauch). Elsa was born with a power to create and manipulate snow and ice, but Arendelle is not a place where magic is valued.That night, Anna wakes Elsa, wanting to play. Elsa allows herself to be persuaded when Anna suggests they build a snowman. Elsa turns the ballroom into a winter playground, complete with a snowman she calls Olaf, and claiming he likes warm hugs. The girls play gleefully until Anna makes a leap Elsa wasn't prepared for and the blast of power meant to create a pile of snow hits Anna in the head, knocking her out and turning several strands of her hair white. The king and queen rush both girls to a group of trolls in the kingdom's mountains.Kristoff happens to be in the woods with Sven still pulling the block of ice when Anna and Elsa's parents ride by at speed, Elsa's powers leaving a trail of ice behind the horses. He and Sven watch from afar and hide behind some boulders as the king and queen enter a clearing full of rocks. The king asks for help, and seconds later, all of the boulders start rolling into a circle around the king, queen, Elsa and the unconscious Anna. They then uncurl themselves, revealing them to be trolls. In fact, the "boulder" Kristoff and Sven are watching from behind is a troll named Bulda, who immediately decides to adopt the visitors after Sven licks her.As Kristoff and Sven watch, Pabbie (Ciarán Hinds), the leader of the trolls, shows up and asks the king if Elsa was born or cursed with her abilities. He observes that Anna is lucky she was hit in the head, as a hit to the heart would have been fatal. He advises the family that it might be best to not have Elsa use her powers around Anna, and alters Anna's memories so she has no knowledge of her sister's powers, remembering only the fun they've had. Pabbie warns Elsa that her powers will grow, and they'll be a risk to her if she cannot learn to control them, as fear will be her greatest enemy.Subsequently, the palace is closed off to visitors. Staffing is reduced to a minimum. The girls' parents separate the two, and having no memory of what has occurred, Anna is unable to comprehend why Elsa is not allowed to play with her. She often comes to Elsa's closed door and tries to coax her out by asking her if she wants to build a snowman ("Do You Want to Build a Snowman?"). As a further precaution, the sisters are also kept from leaving the castle.While Anna's life is dull but normal, Elsa's powers grow stronger as she matures. Her father cautions her to wear gloves to keep her icy magic in check, and to conceal her feelings, because strong emotions seem to cause her powers to manifest in unexpected ways.A few years later, the now teenaged princesses lose their parents to a storm at sea. Anna goes again to Elsa's door, pleading for consolation from her only remaining family member. But Elsa, though she sits sadly on the the other side of the door, refuses to communicate with Anna.Three years later:Three years after the death of their parents, Elsa (now voiced by Idina Menzel) comes of age, and the castle prepares to crown her as the kingdom's queen. Elsa is nervous about emerging from her seclusion and receiving the many guests. When she gives the order to open the castle gates, Anna (now voiced by Kristen Bell) eagerly rushes out into the city ("For the First Time In Forever"). As she goes around, she bumps into a horse belonging to a handsome prince, Hans of the Southern Isles (voice: Santino Fontana), visiting for Elsa's coronation, and inadvertently falls into a rowboat. Hans ends up in a very compromising position trying to apologize to Anna, who hastily runs off when she hears the church bells.Elsa remains nervous during the coronation ceremony. The bishop (Robert Pine) has to remind her to remove her gloves before she takes up her golden orb and scepter. Holding them, she turns to face the congregation, but almost immediately she sees the gold of the orb is turning to ice. She returns the orb and scepter hurriedly to the bishop and puts her gloves back on.At the coronation ball, Anna and Elsa share their first words face-to-face in many years. At first things appear to be going well, and then Elsa is asked by the Duke of Weselton (Alan Tudyk) to dance. The duke is a buffoon (to the point that many people mockingly call him the "Duke of Weasel Town"), but an important trading partner. Elsa declines and has Anna go in her place, but seems somewhat amused watching Anna work around the Duke's terrible dancing.After dancing with the duke, Anna takes the floor with Hans, who dances beautifully, and then they go off to talk. Hans tells how he is the youngest of 13 brothers, and as the two talk further ("Love is an Open Door"), they seem to have much in common. Hans soon proposes to Anna, and she eagerly agrees.Returning to the ballroom, they ask Elsa to bless the marriage, but Elsa grows distraught and will not agree. She asks the guests to leave, setting Anna off on a tirade at her sister, who now not only seems distant emotionally, but also seems intent on keeping her from happiness.Unable to contain her emotions, Elsa makes a violent sweep with her arm, causing a barrier of sharp icicles to appear. Shocked at the room's reaction to her powers, Elsa rushes from the room, through the city, and across the waters of the fjord, where her feet cause ice to form. She flees far into the mountains, leaving winter in her wake.Anna calls after her sister, but as she, Hans, and the other guests watch, the waters of the fjords completely ice over, and the air takes on an icy chill.The Duke of Weselton fears that Elsa is an evil sorceress (it's starting to snow) and wants to hunt her down, but Anna proposes a solution: she will find her sister, and get her to stop the snow and ice. Leaving Hans in charge of the kingdom, she takes off on horseback as the snow intensifies.Meanwhile, Elsa has found her way to a high precipice on the kingdom's North Mountain. It is here she realizes that far away from what she was taught, being on her own, she can begin to control her powers ("Let it Go"). She constructs an elaborate ice palace, changes her confining wardrobe into a shimmering dress, and vows to stay in seclusion, where she feels she can be herself, and harm no one else.Anna's pursuit is hindered when her horse is spooked by falling snow. Noticing some smoke nearby, she finds Wandering Oaken's Trading Post (and Sauna), run by a burly man named Oaken (Chris Williams). The trading post has very little winter gear in sock (as it's supposed to be the off season). As she is about to leave, Kristoff, who has since become an ice harvester, staggers in out of the storm, seeking to buy some rope, an axe, and carrots for Sven. Oaken can't help but notice that Kristoff is bundled up tightly and he replies that the storm seems to be originating on the North Mountain. As Anna waits for Oaken to return his attention to her, Kristoff argues with Oaken over the drastic increase in the prices of the items he needs (due to Oaken claiming that there's a supply and demand problem since Kristoff is buying from the almost-bare shelves of the winter department), which ends up with Oaken roughly throwing Kristoff out of the store after the latter calls him a crook.Kristoff and Sven take refuge in a barn on Oaken's property, but are soon met by Anna, who has bought Kristoff's supplies for him, on condition he take her up the North Mountain immediately. Kristoff eventually agrees.Anna and Kristoff set off into the night with Sven driving. As the discussion turns to Anna and her sister, Anna explains about her whirlwind engagement, which causes Kristoff to question the wisdom of getting engaged to someone she met that day. However, the conversation is interrupted when the sled is ambushed by a pack of wolves. They manage to fight a few of the wolves off, and escape by leaping a chasm, but lose the sled, which crashes to the bottom of the ravine and explodes. Kristoff is at first upset that his sled is gone (claiming he'd just paid it off), but is willing to help Anna keep going, worried for her safety. Anna promises she will replace the sled.After some wandering, the two enter a frosted over glen. They suddenly hear a new voice and a talking snowman named Olaf (Josh Gad) wanders into the area. Anna recognizes Olaf's design as being similar to one Elsa made when they were young. Anna and Kristoff tell how they want to find Elsa to bring back summer, and Olaf suddenly grows excited; it's his dream to see what summer is like. The two do not reveal that he will melt in the summer time, but follow him as he leads them to Elsa's ice palace.Meanwhile in the city, Hans is providing shelter and help for Arendelle's people. When Anna's horse returns, riderless, Hans asks for volunteers to join him in bringing Anna back. The Duke of Weselton volunteers his two bodyguards, and secretly tells them to take care of Elsa (as in, "kill her") if they should encounter her.Anna, Kristoff and Olaf arrive at Elsa's ice palace. Sven waits at the bottom of the stairway leading up to the front doors, as his feet can't grip the icy steps. Meanwhile, when they get to the front door, Anna tells Kristoff and Olaf to wait outside, warning them that the last time she introduced Elsa to a guy (referring to Hans), she froze everything (making Elsa look like an overprotective sister). The dejected Olaf and Kristoff wait outside and start counting to 60 while Anna heads inside.Inside, Anna is taken aback to see the new ice dress Elsa has conjured for herself. Though Elsa accepts Anna's apologies over the events at the coronation party, she becomes nervous and suggests Anna leave so she can't do any harm to her. The conversation, though, is interrupted when Olaf inadvertently crashes the meeting (having taken Anna's request of "give us a minute" quite literally). Elsa is astonished to find that her powers include the ability to conjure up snowlems.As it turns out, Elsa is surprised to learn that her entire kingdom is frozen, and Anna is surprised in turn to learn that Elsa doesn't know how to stop it. But Anna insists her sister's powers are no reason why they should be so distant. However, having seen Olaf, Elsa has a flashback of her accidentally hitting Anna in the head with her snow abilities and grows scared, demanding Anna leave.Elsa retreats to the upper portion of the palace, and Anna follows her, pleading with her sister that they can solve this problem together ("For the First Time In Forever (Reprise)"). But Elsa grows so upset that she unleashes an icy chill, of which a portion strikes Anna in her heart.Realizing she has hurt her sister again, but desperate to be left alone so she won't be able to do it any more, Elsa creates an enormous ice creature, Marshmallow (Paul Briggs). It chases Anna, Kristoff, and Olaf out of the palace. He initially leaves them alone, but becomes enraged when the pissed off Anna lobs a snowball at him. He proceeds to chase them to the edge of a cliff, which Anna, Kristoff and Olaf jump off to escape him. As they recover from the landing, Kristoff notices that Anna's hair has started to turn white. Fearful that she may be injured, Kristoff takes her to his family...who happen to be a group of rock trolls -- the same ones that saved Anna many years before. Kristoff explains that as he had no family at a young age, the trolls took him and Sven in.The trolls are overjoyed to meet Anna, and at first they eagerly believe that she is Kristoff's steady girlfriend, so they try to marry them in a dance number ("Fixer-Upper"), and almost get all the way through the vows before being stopped by the accidental participants. However, he tells them that she is injured and needs their assistance. Just as he did years before, Pabbie comes forward and examines Anna, but concludes that this time her sister's powers struck her in the heart. Pabbie cannot save her; Anna's heart has begun to freeze. Pabbie says "an act of true love can melt a frozen heart." Anna quickly tells Kristoff that Hans can surely help, and they take off for Arendelle.Meanwhile, Hans and his party have reached Elsa's palace. At first menaced by Marshmallow, the duke's bodyguards take advantage of Hans and the other archers distracting Marshmallow to charge up the steps. They pursue Elsa into her palace. Hans defeats Marshmallow, meanwhile, by cutting off his leg with a sword. Marshmallow then proceeds to fall into the chasm.Inside, Elsa is cornered by the Duke's men, who are determined to shoot her with their crossbows. She begs them to leave her alone, but they continue to attack her. This forces her to turn her powers on them, successfully pinning one to a wall with icicles and creating a large slab of ice that pushes the second guy onto the balcony. Elsa is interrupted when Hans's group comes up behind her and Hans pleads for her to stop, so she doesn't become the monster people accuse her of being. The pinned down bodyguard manages to regain control of his crossbow and is about to release an arrow at the distracted Elsa when Hans suddenly runs up and deflects the bow. The arrow is released and hits an icy chandelier, which comes falling down on Elsa and knocks her out.Elsa awakens in a prison cell in Arendelle, her hands chained and encased in steel mitts. As she looks out over the frozen kingdom, Hans appears, telling Elsa that Anna has not returned, and pleads with her to stop the winter. Elsa claims she can't, and must be let go to keep others from being harmed.Meanwhile, Kristoff and Sven arrive at the castle. Anna's condition has grown worse, a chill coursing through her, and more of her hair has turned white. Several of the castle staff escort her in; she looks back as Kristoff and Sven leave. Anna is brought to Hans and tells him that he has to kiss her in order to save her.The castle staff in the room quickly leave to give them privacy. Hans places Anna in a chair, leans in as if to kiss her... and says "if only there was someone here who loved you!" As Anna looks at him in shock, Hans explains that as the youngest of 13 brothers, he had no chance at claiming his family's throne, so he went looking for a royal family he could marry into. Unable to get to Elsa, he made Anna's acquaintance and played on her naivete. He intended to marry her before causing some form of "accident" for Elsa that would clear his path to the throne.However, given Anna's current condition, he plans to simply let her frozen heart overcome her, then kill Elsa, ending the eternal winter. Anna tries to stop Hans, but he extinguishes the fire in the nearby fireplace before locking her in the room. It is then that Anna collapses, her hair now completely white.Hans goes to speak with the duke of Weselton and several other dignitaries. He claims that Elsa has caused Anna to freeze to death, but before she died he and Anna recited their wedding vows. This apparently is enough to give him full authority to declare Elsa guilty of treason and sentence her to death.The palace guards go to Elsa's cell, but are detained when a wall of the cell collapses, and it is shown that Elsa has managed to freeze her shackles to the point that they shatter, and then broken out through the wall.Meanwhile, far from Arendelle, Kristoff and Sven are trekking away when Sven urges Kristoff to go back. Kristoff claims he has no need to, but as they look back at Arendelle, a mysterious swirling cloud of snow begins to engulf the kingdom. The two then take off towards the growing danger.Olaf has managed to find Anna in the locked room, and seeing her freezing, quickly lights a fire in the fireplace. Anna explains that Hans wasn't her true love, and that Olaf should leave or he'll melt. However, the little snowman says he will not leave her side until he finds an act of true love that can save her. As they talk, Olaf recalls how Kristoff did so much to get her back to save her, when the wind blows a window open. Olaf goes to close it, but in the distance he sees Kristoff and Sven charging towards them.This gives Anna hope. She realizes that they're in love: maybe Kristoff can save her. Olaf helps her up, but in the hallway, ice springs up to block their path. Going out a window, the two slide down the castle's steep roofs. Anna attempts to make her way across the icy fjord, with Olaf close behind. However, as the wind picks up, Olaf is blown away, and Anna finds her hands beginning to turn to ice. Even so, she continues to move forward, calling out Kristoff's name.Meanwhile, Hans has found Elsa wandering the ice of the fjord. Thinking he's come for her, Elsa tells him to leave her alone, and take care of Anna. Hans lies and says that Anna was killed by Elsa's magic. The pain of this causes Elsa to collapse, the snow in the air suddenly hanging in stillness.The clearing of the whiteout enables Kristoff to see Anna, and he runs to her, but as Anna looks around, she sees Hans about to stab Elsa. Even with her own life at stake, Anna rushes in front of Hans, blocking the knife. As she does so, her frozen heart finally consumes her, turning her into a statue of ice, and shattering Hans' blade.Kristoff and Sven arrive seconds later. Seeing Anna turned to ice, Elsa breaks down in tears, hugging her sister. No one is sure what to say, when Anna's icy form begins to change and gain color, and she returns to normal! Anna broke her own spell: saving Elsa was an act of true love.It is then that Elsa realizes what can end the winter: love. And with this realization, she dissipates the ice and snow, and summer returns to the kingdom. Olaf is found, and before he can melt, Elsa creates a "flurry" above his head, which lets him survive the summer heat.In the aftermath, Hans is taken back to his kingdom by a French ambassador, who promise to see he is punished for his crimes against the royal family of Arendelle. The duke of Weselton is as hotheaded as ever, and given his attitude, Elsa has it decreed that trade between Arendelle and Weselton shall be severed (making sure to piss the Duke off even more by deliberately calling him "Weaseltown" in her decree).Meanwhile, Anna makes good on her promise and replaces Kristoff's sled. She also tells him that Elsa has appointed him to be the castle's official ice deliverer. Kristoff is so grateful that he kisses her.Having come to grips with her powers and learning they can be a blessing and not a curse, Elsa uses them to create a wintry spectacle in the summer sky. She also turns the castle's courtyard into an ice rink, where she informs Anna that the gates to the castle will never be closed again. With the city's people in attendance, the sisters skate around the rink, happy that they are finally together again.

Genre: Action, Animation, Adventure, Fantasy, Music & Arts, Musical Comedy, Comedy, Mystery, Family, Romance, Thriller

Directed by: Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee

Starring: Kristen Bell (Anna), Idina Menzel (Elsa - Snow Queen), Jonathan Groff (Kristoff), Josh Gad (Olaf), Santino Fontana (Hans), Alan Tudyk (Duke of Weselton)

Screenplay: Jennifer Lee, Shane Morris, Hans Christian Andersen, Chris Buck, Dean Wellins

Country: USA

Year: 2013

Score: 75 %