Feeling cold? Try “Frozen”.
“Frozen”
“Frozen” will always have a special place in my heart because it was the first film seen by my granddaughter Catrin (one month short of her third birthday). We saw it with her little friend James (just three months older) who was also making his first visit to the cinema. Both sat through all 102 minutes totally transfixed and then at the end cried because they did not want it to finish.
This offering from Walt Disney Animation Studios tells the tale of two huge-eyed royal sisters from the kingdom of Arendelle: Queen Elsa who has a power to freeze things that grows uncontrollably, leading her to flee the kingdom, and Princess Anna who is determined to find her sister, while coping with two very different suitors, a crazy reindeer and a talking snowman.
The visuals are magical even in 2D (we judged that the 3D version would be sensory overload for a first movie on the big screen) and there are plenty of songs – notably the empowering “Let It Go” and the exuberant “For The First Time In Forever” – and humour plus a ice monster that had the kids jumping.
“Frozen” went on to win the Academy Award for Best Animated Film. Meanwhile Catrin’s parents took her to see the movie again and then bought her the DVD the first day it went on sale. Over succeeding months and years, the film became an absolute phenomenon.
“Frozen II”
in 2013, “Frozen: changed the lives of so many children (and their parents) in a storming success that generated $1.2 billion at the box office. We’ve had to wait six years for the sequel and now my granddaughter Catrin is almost nine and by the time, I managed to take her along to the movie, she had already seen it three times.
Naturally all the loveable characters are back: sisters Elsa (the one with the ice powers) and Anna (ever loyal) plus Kristoff (now a suitor) and snowman Olaf (endlessly recombining). The new adventure involves a quest to resolve a challenge to the future of Arendelle and another slew of meaningful songs (notably “Into The Unknown” and “Show Yourself”). The animation is even more spectacular. What’s not to like?