The Case for Disney on Ice

There are a lot of songs in Disney’s latest movie Frozen.

And to be honest, as song followed song in rapid succession in the first few scenes of the film, I began to panic somewhat.  Not because the songs were bad or sung poorly (not in the least), but more that most of the songs seemed fairly unremarkable, and I hadn’t quite expected a musical.

But soon the rush of songs slowed, and the story came out, and little by little, my heart warmed to the story of a Princess, her sister who becomes Queen and then runs away as the common folk discover her ice powers, and their encounter with a whole bunch of men that help and hinder them along the way.

And I laughed.  Or at least smiled broadly.  When Olaf the Snowman finally appears, his sunny disposition and enjoyment of warm hugs had me completely in love with him, though that infatuation wore off as his character had less and less to do.  I was stunned into silence when Queen Elsa, voiced by Rachel’s Mom and Wicked! star Idina Menzel, belted out the most memorable song of the movie, "Let It Go".



I smiled again when Princess Anna (voiced by the amazing Kristen Bell) encountered the Nordic Sauna of doom.  And I warmed to Kristof (another Glee alumnus Jonathan Groff) as he talked with and for his mighty moose. 

Of course, there are quite a few things that have to happen in this kind of movie, and I was a little disappointed in the way (and I will try not to spoil too much here) the love triangle that develops, opting for a fairly story book kind of resolution instead of actually dealing with an emotional choice.  But then, perhaps I was just lulled into a false sense of “more” from all the wonderfulness that had come before.  Sure, the barrage of opening songs gave me pause, and the Rock Trolls are cuter than they are interesting (their song was probably the worst), but almost everything else in the film clicked with me – and I am pretty certain I am not the target audience. 

And the animation was amazing and everything was beautifully rendered, mainly in the scenery and the imaginary characters more than the supposed humans and animals.  The theme of snow meant there were some gorgeous crystalline structures, and the snow flurries as characters plowed through the countryside were incredible in how little they looked fake.

Overall then, and without carrying on for the sake of it, Frozen is a beautifully realised film, with fantastic performances and wonderful characters and… well, I loved it.

Verdict: Disney made me happy and, with Frozen, brought me a White Christmas tale I actually enjoyed.  4.5 carrott out of 10.