Disney is about to whip out the winter cheer in the run up to Christmas this year with the release of its latest animated movie, Frozen. With more snow scenes than Ski Sunday and a little inspiration from Hans Christian Anderson’s The Snow Queen, it looks like the new film to watch to get into the festive spirit in the run up to the holiday season.
The story is set in the sunshine kingdom of Arendelle, where everything is pretty roasty toasty most of the time until it gets frozen entirely by Princess Elsa, played by Idina Menzel, thanks to her wayward power over the elements. When her sister Anna, voiced by Kristen Bell (Forgetting Sarah Marshall), sees what has happened to their home town, she sets out to find her sister, believing that she knows how to save the kingdom.
The good news is that she isn’t going to be going it alone as she’ll have the butch outdoor skills and bravery of ice cutter Kristoff and his rough round the edges reindeer Sven-to. Along the way they also get teamed up with a very random looking little talking snowman called Olaf as they face off against danger in the wilds of the snow covered country.
Kristoff is voiced by Jonathan Groff (Glee) and the freaky snowman, Olaf, is played by Josh Gadd of Ice Age: Continental Drift and The Internship fame. There’s also Santino Fontanas as the dashing neighbouring Prince Hans, Alan Tudyk (Wreck it Ralph) as the dastardly Duke of Weselton and Chris Williams as nutsy shop keeper Oaken of Wandering Oaken’s Trading Post and Sauna.
While the plot of the film has small elements of the The Snow Queen story woven into it, mainly surrounding the presence of a would be queen that can control the snow and influence of mystical trolls, it’s a long way away from being a adaptation. Instead, it’s more of a whole new story with a micro nod in the direction of Hans Christian Andersen’s original fairy tale.
Set for a release date in UK cinemas on the 27th November 2013, Frozen looks like it’s going to be an instant classic new addition to the long list of Disney animated movies. Directed by Chris Bruck (Tarzan, Surf’s Up) and the brilliant Jennifer Lee (Wreck It Ralph), who is also the movie’s screenwriter, it’s got a lot of positives in the mix, so we’re expecting it to be the Christmas movie of the year.
