By Heather Monahan
Copy Editor
The recent plummeting temperatures weren’t the only cold front that swept the nation in the past few weeks. Despite its name, Disney’s newest animated movie “Frozen” has been on fire, earning a world-wide $712 million so far since its Nov. 27, 2013 release.
The heartwarming story features princesses Elsa and Anna, two sisters from Arendelle, yet it is anything but the typical princess story. Elsa, voiced by Idina Menzel, has a dangerous power that allows her to create ice and snow. To keep her younger sister safe, and secretly conceal her powers, Elsa isolates herself and is withdrawn from the world, spending most of her time locked in her room.
When the King and Queen die while traveling, Elsa and Anna are left on their own to look after the kingdom of Arendelle. Upon her coming of age, Elsa prepares for her coronation ceremony, which will also be the first time the outgoing and quirky Anna, voiced by Kristen Bell, remembers the gates of Arendelle being opened to the public and royalty from other kingdoms.
Among Arendelle’s guests is Prince Hans of the Southern Isles, voiced by Santino Fontana, whom Anna becomes immediately smitten with upon meeting. At the ceremony following her coronation, Elsa and Anna get in a heated discussion which leads to Elsa accidentally revealing her powers to her sister and all of Arendelle’s guests. In her rushed and terrified flee, Elsa accidentally sets off a raging and dangerous winter throughout Arendelle.
Anna, feeling guilty, decides to venture in order to find her sister and bring summer back to Arendelle. Along the way, the younger princess meets Kristoff, voiced by Jonathan Groff. Kristoff is a man of the mountains who makes a living out of selling ice. His intimidating exterior seems to only fade away when he’s alone with his reindeer, and best friend, Sven. Kristoff agrees to help Anna search for Elsa, and soon find help from Olaf, the goofy and lovable snowman Elsa created. Voiced by Josh Gad, Olaf provides much of the comic relief throughout the movie with his naivety and ironic love for summer.
The end of the movie is riddled with a plot twist that will leave you sitting on the edge of your seat and one of the most heartwarming and surprising acts of true love you’ll have ever see in a children’s movie.
“Frozen’s” cast of charming and relatable characters, catchy songs, remarkable animation and gripping plot comes at what seems to be the perfect time for the Walt Disney Company. After a series of movies that critics considered flops, “Frozen” has, for lack of a better phrase, taken the nation by storm.
Critics with The Wire, The San Francisco Gate, The Los Angeles Times and USA Today, have all praised the animated film’s focus on Elsa and Anna’s bond with each other, rather than having the plot revolve around two sisters looking for love.
“Frozen” ended 2013 on a strong note, yielding the biggest opening weekend for Disney Animation Studios at the box office since 1994’s “The Lion King,” earning $66,713,000. The movie kicked off 2014 just as successfully, with the soundtrack being named the number one album in the nation last week.
The film was also nominated for two awards at Sunday’s Golden Globes. Elsa’s ridiculously catchy anthem, “Let it Go,” performed by Idina Menzel, was nominated for Best Original Song in a Motion Picture. Though the song didn’t win, it’s doubtful there were any hard feelings, as “Frozen” won the Golden Globe for Best Animated Feature Film later that night. This is only one among the many awards the cast and crew have already taken home for their work.
“Frozen” now heads to the Academy Awards March 2, with nominations for best animated feature and best original song for “Let it Go.”
Among the nominations, awards and stellar reviews, it was also recently announced that “Frozen” will be heading to Broadway in the future, though an official date has yet to be confirmed.
So if you’re one of the few who is still holding out on seeing one of the greatest movies of the year, I leave you with the advice to “let it go” and treat yourself to an hour and a half of laughter and joy.
