Frozen is a heart-warming, snow-filled delight

Disney has done it again with another animation that enchants young and old alike. With lots of jokes, powerful songs, gorgeous animation and an adorable talking snowman, "Frozen" will melt any heart.

"Frozen" introduces two new Disney Princesses; Elsa (Idina Menzel), who has the power to freeze things and her younger sister Anna (Kristen Bell) who live in the Kingdom of Arendelle. As children Elsa and Anna were best friends, until Elsa accidentally hurts Anna with her powers. Anna is healed but her memories of Elsa's powers are wiped and Elsa exiles herself in her room. The castle gates are closed as Elsa tries to master her powers. Anna still remembers being close to her sister and is saddened when she shuts her out.

Several years later, the castle gates open again on Elsa's coronation day and several foreign dignitaries come to meet the soon to be queen. Anna and Elsa are very awkward with each other when they see each other for the first time in many years. Anna meets Prince Hans of the Southern Isles (Santino Fontana) whom she instantly falls in love with and she agrees to marry. The scene almost mocks the love at first sight seen in other princess movies. When Anna and Hans break the news to Elsa, Elsa becomes angry and accidently reveals her powers to the kingdom and accidently plunges Arendelle into a chilling never-ending winter.
Elsa flees into a self-imposed exile in the mountains, deciding that she will never return and finally feels like she's free. The focus of the rest of the film is Anna's adventure to find her sister and bring back summer in Arendelle. Along the way, she meets Kristoff (Jonathan Groff), an ice salesman, his semi-talking reindeer Sven (Kristoff can communicate with him and often gives Sven a voice) and a snowman created by Elsa, named Olaf (Josh Gad) who dreams of the summer.

The animation in the movie is beautiful, with lots of amazing colors and images. The snow looks magnificent and one of the best scenes is Elsa's creation of her castle made out of ice. The end result is spectacular. Seeing the film in 3D is an absolute must because it adds a lot to the movie. Several times throughout the movie, when there is a light snow falling in the foreground, it seems as if it is also snowing in the theater.
While the plot of "Frozen” is fairly formulaic there are still a lot of things that make it stand out. The movie moves the characters of Elsa and Anna away from being the stereotypical Disney princess. Both are strong characters who can fight for themselves. Elsa is a complicated character who has to figure out how to keep others safe from her power as well as keep herself safe. Anna is a quirky, clumsy girl who has bad bed hair, drool and who often says things without thinking and is more relatable for girls today. The film also focuses more on the love between the two sisters than finding romantic love which is nice.
The best character in the film is Olaf, who can compete with Frosty as the crowd's favorite talking snowman. Most of the jokes and laughs come from him, especially since he can fall apart and still be completely alright. His obsession with summer is really funny and he also says the cutest things such as, "Some people are worth melting for”.

In any Disney movie, one of the most important things people look for are the songs. Though they are not as memorable as the ones in "Beauty and the Beast" and "The Little Mermaid", they are still ones that are fun listening to and singing along to. Of course with a cast of broadway veterans, the songs are all well sung. "Do You Want to Build A Snowman”, from the beginning of the movie is poignant and heartbreaking. Olaf's "In Summer" is captivating and Idina Menzel kills "Let It Go”, Elsa's song about being independent.
One of the things that was disappointing about the movie was when the villain was revealed. It was far too late in the late in the film and therefore the ending felt fast and almost abrupt. There was not enough development of the villain and it made the movie confusing.
There is also a Mickey Mouse short film before the movie, entitled "Get A Horse”. The amusing story begins as the old black and white version of Mickey Mouse before bursting out of the screen in the film and becoming the current 3D animated versions of themselves. Its a long chase sequence that's hilarious.
While "Frozen” is not as good as the ones from Disney's 90's renaissance, it is still a great movie to see with the family this winter.

"Frozen is rated PG for some action and rude humor and is now playing in theaters everywhere.