Adam: There were two princesses, Elsa and Anna, who liked each other very much and played with each other every day. One day, Elsa hurt Anna by accident with her powers and after that she hid in the palace from everybody and refused to play with her sister any more.
Akin: Why did Elsa hide from her sister?
Adam: Because she was afraid that she would hurt Anna again with her powers. With her powers, she could turn anything to ice. When she hurt Anna, the Trolls saved her but they said it was lucky that Elsa had hit Anna’s head and not her heart. They could cure the head, but not the heart.
Akin: So what happened after that?
Adam: So Elsa grew up and became Queen, and there was a big party. And during the party, she had a big fight with her little sister Anna, and Anna took off Elsa’s glove.
Akin: Why was Elsa wearing gloves?
Adam: Because she could not control her powers. So when Anna took off Elsa’s glove, Elsa became afraid and ran away, but only after she turned the whole city to ice. But when she ran away, she was happy because she was free and didn’t need to worry about her powers any more.
Akin: What about the city?
Adam: The city turned to ice for ever, and everyone was very cold. So they had to find a way of stopping Elsa, and the only way was to kill her.
Akin: The only way?
Adam: No, no. There was a bad man who wanted to control the city, and he sent people to kill her. But Anna’s boyfriend…
Akin: Wait, Anna has a boyfriend?
Adam: You watched the film too!
Akin: Yes, but you’re talking about the film for the benefit of someone who hasn’t watched it yet. I’m just going to write down what you say.
(Short interlude where Adam questions, quite unfairly, his father’s capacity to encapsulate his thoughts accurately. After a brief but pointed exchange of views, Adam is coaxed back on topic.)
Adam: Yes, Anna met Prince Hans at her sister’s party. Hans is lonely too. Anna falls in love with him and wanted to marry him immediately, but Elsa won’t say yes, and that’s when they have the fight and Elsa looses the glove. So Hans wants to help Anna to save Elsa so he went too to tell her that she had turned the city to ice by accident and that they needed her back to rescue the city. But…
(Snip. Almost-seven-year-olds don’t appreciate the impact of spoilers in film reviews. To be fair, this almost-7-year-olds doesn’t read film reviews, so…)
Akin: So what happens?
Adam: Anna is the only person who can really save Elsa and the city. But it has be through an act of true love. When Anna goes to try and rescue Elsa, she meets Kristof, who sells ice with his reindeer. Kristof likes her very much but is too shy to say so. By accident. Elsa hits Anna again with her powers, and Kristof tries to rescue her. But this time, Elsa hits Anna in the heart and the trolls can’t help. The trolls say that only an act of true love can save Anna…
(Snip. Very long digression involving integral plot details and a huge chunk of the Harry Potter franchise. Eventually, almost-seven-year-old ties up his thinking with a very lucid analysis of the meaning of true love, which I am afraid I cannot share with you here. Spoilers and all that.)
Akin: So, did you like the film?
Adam: It was very nice. I really really liked the snowman
Akin: Yes, I’d forgotten about the snowman.
Adam: His name was Olaf and he was very cute and funny. The film was nice, and the sacrifice made by… (and again, Snip. Sorry.)
(We don’t think any animals were harmed during the production of this interview. That said, I was driving part of the time, so…)
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With an old-fashioned but delightful charm, Disney’s Frozen is a literate and (perhaps surprisingly) anti-stereotypical take on conventional fairytale tropes. Elsa, Crown Princess in the city-state of Arendelle, has a discomfiting secret: she has the power to create ice and snow. After an almost tragic accident whilst playing with her irrepressible little sister Anna, her parents decide that it is best that she is kept secluded until she learns to control her powers. It’s a lonely, painful childhood, made all the worse by the fact that Anna neither knows nor understands why her beloved older sister has cut her out of her life.
The years pass, and Elsa ascends to the throne as Queen of Arendelle. She is naive and inexperienced, an untested quality; the Duke of neighbouring Weselton plots at her coronation how best to manipulate her and her kingdom for his own commercial gain. Meanwhile, Hans, the youngest of 13 brothers and (a very junior) prince of the Southern Isles, sweeps lonely Anna off her feet and proposes marriage in the space of a day. Anna says yes but Elsa refuses to grant her consent, prompting a furious row spiked with the buried fears and resentments of many years.
Elsa inadvertently reveals her powers, and proves her parents’ fears correct as the entire audience recoil in fear and horror. She flees, but not before accidentally locking Arendelle into a state of perpetual Winter. Anna holds herself responsible, and determines to find Elsa and plead with her to return and to reverse the spell. She finds herself in a fix pretty quickly, but recruits the help of Kristof – an ice trader who has just been put out of business by the sudden global cooling – and his loyal reindeer, Sven. They soon bump into Olaf, a talking snowman, whose presence at first seems little more than comic relief.
Back in Arendelle, Anna’s horse returns without its owner, and the fear is that she has failed in the task of bringing Elsa back. Hans – who Anna conferred with the Regency of Arendelle in her absence – and the Duke of Weselton send off a party to try to track down Elsa and reverse the winter. But there are hidden agendas at play, liable to put both Elsa and Anna at risk…
In one respect, Frozen – loosely based on Hans Christian Andersen’s The Snow Queen – hews to a tried and tested formula; the lovelorn princess, the existential challenge, the Power of Love triumphing over all. But it isn’t just 3-D dazzle and charming songs. Olaf the snowman evolves into a touching and central aspect of the narrative. Elsa is not the boilerplate wicked stepmother (or sister, as we saw in the very average Oz the Great and Powerful earlier this year) but is rather challenged by the fear of just wanting to be herself; and the resolution…well, let’s say that it undercuts, but in the most charming and unforced manner, the integral presumption at the heart of almost every fairytale. My almost-seven-year-old enjoyed it a lot, as you may have gathered earlier; I liked it very much, and I think you will too.
Frozen (2013)
Directed by Christopher Buck and Jennifer Lee
Featuring the voices of Kristen Bell, Idina Menzel, Jonathan Groff, Josh Gad
108 mins, Animation, English w. Hebrew subtitles/Hebrew (Dubbed)
