zoom
Shia LaBeouf and Brad Pitt Aren't Getting Along on Set
Hugh Jackman Has Skin Cancer Spot Removed
Starring the voices of Kristen Bell, Josh Gad, Idina Menzel, Jonathan Groff and Santino Fontana. Directed by Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee. 108 minutes. Opens Nov. 27 at major theatres. G
There’s plenty of talking (and singing) about true love in Frozen, Disney’s gorgeous and engaging musical adventure.
But this animated sort-of adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen’s The Snow Queen, directed by Chris Buck (Surf’s Up) and Jennifer Lee (who co-penned Wreck It Ralph and also wrote Frozen’s screenplay), makes it clear that girls who pin all their hopes on romance may want to rethink the fairy tale and opt for self-reliance.
Welcome to Disney 2.0, which has learned from the box office success of Tangled and last year’s Brave, that kids are demanding a lot more from their cartoon princesses these days.
With Frozen, the Mouse House delivers a story that’s cool in every way with the tale of orphaned princesses Elsa (Broadway superstarIdina Menzel) and her little sister Anna (Kristen Bell) in the Norwegian-inspired town of Arendelle.
Elsa has a secret power; she can magically transform any room into a shimmering vision of snow and ice with a wave of her hands or a simple touch. It often delights young Anna but backfires with dangerous consequences one day.
Anna’s life is magically saved with the help of friendly forest trolls, her memory of the events erased. The only evidence of Anna’s accident is a white streak of hair (which looks terrifically fierce and may supplant sparkly crowns and fancy gowns for the princess look little girls want to ape this year).
Terrified that her touch or even strong emotion will send ice shards vaulting to the ceiling, Elsa locks herself away in the castle, vowing to never risk her sister’s safety again. While pining for Elsa’s company, Anna grows into a delightfully goofy, headstrong gal who is ready for adventure. If only they’d open those palace gates.
She gets her wish on Elsa’s coronation day, where Anna falls hard for handsome visiting Prince Hans (Santino Fontana). But to her horror, Elsa can’t control her ice-making powers during the coronation ceremony and the entire kingdom is suddenly frozen solid in the middle of a summer day, right down to the ships in the suddenly icebound harbour. A panicked Elsa runs off, heartbroken at her curse.
Or is it a curse? Soon Elsa is all but singing “I Am Woman” as she discovers she likes her icy powers, an evolution of her character that avoids turning her into the evil queen of the Anderson fairy tale. She’s a newly liberated female, happy in her own (frozen) skin.
Elsa is a snowbound Garbo, magically building her icicle kingdom and transforming into a bit of a vamp in the process, complete with a snazzy gown and a wiggle in her walk. Or maybe that’s just her shoes slipping on all that ice.
Undeterred by the deep freeze, Anna is determined to find her sis, using love to thaw her frozen heart and bring summer back to the land.
She teams up with local lad Kristoff (Glee’s Jonathan Groff), who has the bad fortune to be an ice salesman in the midst of the Elsa-engineered deep freeze.
Sven, Kristoff’s rambunctious reindeer sidekick, whose overgrown puppy side will delight kids, and a naïve summer-seeking snowman named Olaf (a scene-stealer voiced by The Book of Mormon’s Josh Gad) round out the expedition.
Being a Disney musical, songs pop up throughout the action, with varying success. “Do You Want to Build a Snowman?” is a whimsical charmer sung by Bell, proving to have a pleasing voice. And of course Broadway babe Menzel of Wicked and Rent fame can shatter icicles with her powerful voice, showing off all her skills with empowering anthem “Let It Go.”
But often the music, by Robert Lopez (MormonTony winner for Broadway’s The Book ofMormon and Avenue Q) and wife Kristen Anderson-Lopez (soundtrack co-writer on 2011’s Winnie the Pooh) is forgettable and some of the lyrics — like “don’t know if I’m elated or gassy” — are suspect.
Better to focus on the stunning icicle kingdom, snowy landscape visuals and the engaging female characters, especially the funny, iron-willed Anna, whose love for her sister propels her quest. With their back stories, quirky personalities and faults, the sisters seem more human than animated, although they do have that big-eyed, wasp-waisted impossible prettiness that Disney just can’t seem to abandon.
As impossible as it may seem, these two even pass the Bechdel test for feminism on film, where two women talk to each other about something other than a man.
Make way for a new kind of fairy tale. These Frozen princesses are the kind we can definitely warm to.
0 comments:
Post a Comment