At the weekend we took the children and saw Frozen, we saw the 3D version in a small studio style cinema and I have to say that the 3d effects were excellent and well used rather than gimmicky.
The story is based on the fairy tale ‘The Snow Queen,’ but has been Disneyfied with songs and other talking characters. The funniest characters are the snowman Olaf and the reindeer. There are the usual good and bad characters although some of them do not turn out to be as they appear! The children loved the songs and the visual appearance of the film is great.
Based as it is on a fairy tale it works well and there are some moments which younger children may find frightening, at one point a huge snow monster chases two of the characters down a cliff and SPOILER ALERT one of the sisters becomes a frozen statue for a few minutes. At this point a girl of approximately four years old was inconsolable! Anyway the story does have a happy ending, and the message behind it is clear, love is good and fear is bad and depending on which emotion you happen to be feeling magic for good or bad will come out of you.
A good sign in a kids film is a lack of fidgeting and on the whole mine were riveted enough to sit still and watch the film and were able to give details about it the next day, the thing they seem to have remembered the most are the songs which the five year old has been constantly singing and the snowman. My favourite line is when he is talking to one of the other characters and trying to convince them that love is strong and says ‘some people are worth waiting for.’
Yes it is somewhat formulaic and if you are looking for a film that is new and original then maybe this isn’t the right one for you. If you are looking for a film that will keep your children happy and hold your attention as well then this will work , and for any Disney fan, especially those who liked Tangled, then this is a must see! Not too long for smaller children and not overly simplified for the older ones a good film to see over the Christmas holidays. 4.5/5 0.5 deducted for too much schmaltz!
