Frozen (2013)
★★½ — Frozen (2013)
Released in November 2013, Frozen arrived at a moment when Walt Disney Animation Studios was riding a significant wave of renewed confidence following the success of Tangled (2010) and Wreck-It Ralph (2012). Loosely inspired by Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale The Snow Queen, the film transplants that source material into an original kingdom called Arendelle, centring on two royal sisters whose bond is tested when one of them inadvertently plunges the land into perpetual winter. It became a genuine cultural phenomenon, one of those films that crossed over from family entertainment into something approaching a mass obsession, generating merchandise, stage adaptations, and a sequel in the years that followed. Whether that level of saturation has been entirely good for the film's reputation is, perhaps, a matter of perspective.
The film was co-directed by Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee, with Lee also credited as screenwriter. Buck is a Disney veteran whose earlier work includes Tarzan (1999), and he would later return to Arendelle for Frozen II (2019). Jennifer Lee, making her feature directing debut here, went on to become Chief Creative Officer of Walt Disney Animation Studios, so it is fair to say this project was a significant launchpad. The animation itself, produced entirely in house at Walt Disney Animation Studios, drew considerable attention on release for its rendering of snow and ice, with the technical team developing new software specifically to handle those effects at scale. The result is a picture that is polished but, depending on your tolerance for the house style, occasionally a little clinical.
The voice cast is a strong one. Idina Menzel, already well known to theatre audiences for her stage work, voices Elsa, the elder sister whose powers over ice and snow form the heart of the story. It is Menzel's performance of "Let It Go" that lodged itself most firmly in the public consciousness, to put it mildly. Kristen Bell plays the younger sister Anna, bringing a warmth and a slightly self-deprecating energy that keeps the character likeable through some fairly contrived plotting. Jonathan Groff voices Kristoff, the rugged ice delivery man who accompanies Anna on her journey, while Josh Gad provides the comic relief as the snowman Olaf. It is a cast that handles both the musical numbers and the dramatic beats with competence, even if the material does not always give them equal amounts to work with. For a broader look at how animation handles character and tone, it is worth comparing the approach here to something altogether more austere, like Fantastic Planet (1973), or something more grounded in human storytelling such as The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996), another Disney animated film reviewed on this site.
Let It Go… Please. If I had a pound for every time I’ve seen Frozen, I’d be able to fund my own Disney sequel. My daughter adores it, which means I’ve endured, sorry, experienced, this film well over a hundred times I reckon. For its time, the animation is genuinely impressive, and the reworking of The Snow Queen is a solid twist on a classic tale. The songs are utterly inescapable. Let It Go alone has haunted my waking hours like a persistent spectre of parental suffering. But after the hundredth viewing, you start to notice things. The plot is fairly thin, the pacing wobbles a bit, and despite its praise for being subversive, it still lands firmly in standard Disney fare. It’s not bad. It’s just… enough. I respect its impact, I appreciate its craftsmanship, but if I never have to hear Do You Want to Build a Snowman? again, it’ll be too soon.
I think that more or less sums it up. There is craft here, no question, and the first time you watch it there is genuine charm in the relationship between the two sisters and a few moments where the film feels like it might go somewhere genuinely surprising. But the sheer repetition that tends to accompany any film beloved by small children has a way of stripping away the goodwill layer by layer, and what you are left with is something that is fine, functional, and very, very familiar. If you have somehow avoided the whole thing until now, it is worth a single viewing on its own terms. Just maybe keep the remote close for the songs. You have been warned.
Rating: ★★½ | Year: 2013 | Watched: 2018-08-05
Trailer
▶ Watch the official trailer for Frozen (2013) on YouTube
Where to watch
Watch in the UK
Stream: Disney Plus
Rent: Apple TV Store · Rakuten TV · Amazon Video · Google Play Movies
Buy: Apple TV Store · Rakuten TV · Amazon Video · Google Play Movies
Physical: Amazon UK · Zavvi
Watch in the US
Stream: Disney Plus · fuboTV
Rent: Amazon Video · Apple TV Store · Google Play Movies · YouTube
Buy: Amazon Video · Apple TV Store · Google Play Movies · YouTube
Physical: Amazon US
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Related on Movies With Macca
More from Chris Buck: Tarzan (1999) · Surf's Up (2007) · Frozen II (2019)
More with Idina Menzel: Frozen II (2019)
More from the 2010s: Wonder (2017) · Beautiful Boy (2018) · The Witch (2015) · What We Do in the Shadows (2014)
More animation: Fantastic Planet (1973) · Alice in Wonderland (1951) · Mononoke the Movie: The Phantom in the Rain (2024) · Mononoke the Movie: Chapter II - The Ashes of Rage (2025)
More family: Alice in Wonderland (1951) · Wonder (2017) · Kirikou and the Wild Beasts (2005) · Anastasia (1997)
