Frozen

Based on The Snow Queen, Disney's Frozen follows the story of two princesses, one of whom is born with an extraordinary power; to manipulate and create snow and ice. One day, Elsa accidentally hits her sister, Anna, with her powers and only through the powers of a few other, more earthy, magical creatures, does she survive. Elsa is forced to confine herself and to have any memories of her power wiped from her sisters mind so that she may learn to control her powers, but she just keeps getting stronger. Years later, Elsa is made Queen and the palace gates are opened once again, but things go terribly wrong and Elsa is forced to flee when her powers are revealed. Anna, our heroine, goes out in search of her, and along the way finds three rather eccentric companions; a man who sells ice for a living, a reindeer and a walking, talking snowman. The rest is exactly as you'd expect from Disney; a bit of action, a bad guy or two revealing themselves (quite unexpected actually), a lot of love and a big happy ending.

Once again, here is Disney teaching children about the healing power of love. But this time it isn't love's kiss that breaks the spell, this time it all comes down to family (and a fair bit of determination). I love that aspect, as romance is actually given a back seat and sisterly affection takes its place. Love really does conquer all, but this film is telling us that it doesnt need to be the romance we are so used to being depcited in Disney films, and that is very refreshing.

The storyline is very nicely laid out, with some great scenes, my favourite of which is the one where Elsa builds her palace, and also the confrontations between the sisters. The songs are nice, with some truly excellent singing courtesy of Kristen Bell and Broadway Legend Idina Menzel. We've all heard about the true excellence that is 'Let It Go', and wow, is it amazing, but Anna's song 'Do you Want to Build A Snowman' is actually really good too.

There is one thing that really takes your breath away though, and that is the absolutely stunning scenery, supposedly based on Norway (I've never been so I have no idea how realistic it is). The scene where Anna and Kristoff meet Olaf is beautiful, and many shot feature a landscape that wouldn't be out of place in the Alps. The whole thing is wonderfully detailed, even down to the houses of the town and the flurries of snow created by Elsa.

Here are some wonderful examples:

The kids will adore the singing, the adventure and the snowman, and adults will appreciate the fact that the story is a good one that they can sit through without becoming bored... until you've seen it a dozen times, then I give you permission to leave the sofa.

9 out of 10.