‘Frozen’ makes viewers feel warm all over

GORGEOUS animated feature is visually and emotionally eventful.

Some reviewers get a kick out of watching a bad film, because it gives them a legitimate reason to give it a witty and well-deserved kick in the pants—but we’d much prefer to see a good film and just sing its well-deserved praises!

That’s why we were so happy to catch “Frozen” last week—it’s a gorgeous gem of an animated feature that goes a long way in making up for all the disappointing animated productions we’ve seen of late.

The visually and emotionally eventful film tells the story of two princesses with magical powers that take a turn for the worse, resulting in an accident that makes their parents curtail their powers so they can’t hurt anybody else again.

Unfortunately, this drives a wedge between the two royal sisters, and once Elsa becomes queen upon the death of her parents, she turns herself into a recluse. Despite her best efforts, however, the negative effects of her awesome powers unintentionally make themselves felt, plunging the kingdom in a vise of ice that makes the film’s resident villains entertain dark thoughts about exploiting the populace’s unhappiness to gain control of the troubled country.

Botched romance

For her part, the younger sister, Anna, gets into her own share of scrapes, including a botched romance with an initially super-charming prince who turns out to be a villain in princely garb!

In addition, while attempting to get reunited with her self-exiled sister, who’s become a veritable Ice Queen, the feisty princess has to fight off  the movie’s increasing number of villains, with the very welcome help of a goofy ice merchant and his trusty reindeer.

Another ally is a snowman character who gets so much screen exposure that, by the end of “Frozen,” we’re sure that we’ll be seeing him again soon in other TV-film Disney productions.

Aside from being an eventful and visually thrilling movie, “Frozen” gains more plus points by being a musical film, with a number of original songs that are so good that one of them was even nominated for a Golden Globe.

The singing is great, the characters are empathetic, the plot details are interesting and even exciting—what more do we want to see and hear in a full-length animated film?

But, even exceptional movies have their less than praiseworthy moments, so we should share that the midsection of “Frozen” is a bit flabby and sluggish, especially the scenes involving Trolls who are looking for a good wife for their human “adopted” son.

The long detour features a song that doesn’t deserve the extended treatment it’s given, so we’re only too happy to see those Trolls toddle away!

Come to think of it, even the film’s finale sort of feels stretched and overwrought. But, the film as a whole is so entrancing and winning that we quickly overlook its occasional downers and just focus on the good stuff—which stays with us long after we’ve left the moviehouse!