Frozen (3 Stars)

Something about this film has fascinated me for years, ever since it was first released in 2013. It was a mixture of the quirky little faces and the beautiful theme song "Let it go". For years I've been tempted to buy it on Blu-ray, but the price remained too high. So I waited for it to be released on Netflix or Amazon Prime. No luck.

Then the new streaming service, Disney Plus, was founded. I didn't want to sign up for it, partly because I was opposed to the creation of yet another streaming service, partly because it was overpriced in comparison with the Big Two. Recently my son Benjamin signed up for Disney Plus, and he offered to share his account with me. Four people are allowed to stream from one account simultaneously, which is generous, almost making up for the high price.

So today I logged in to Disney Plus and searched for "Frozen". No such film. What? That can't be. How could Disney fail to include one of their most popular recent films? So I scrolled through the animated movies on offer, and what did I see? "Die Eiskönigin". That's the German title for "Frozen". It never occurred to me to search for that. When I want to watch films on Netflix or Amazon Prime, I can always search for the original English titles, however much the German title differs. Disney ought to consider improving their search function.

Elsa and Anna are two princesses, the daughters of the King of Arendelle. Elsa, the older sister, can do magic, creating and controlling ice and snow. She does tricks to entertain Anna. One day there's an accident, and Anna is badly injured. A troll is called to heal her, which he does, but he says that to remain healthy she must be separated from her sister until they're adults. Strange. In addition, Elsa must cease to perform magic. She wears gloves at all times, because the magic comes from her hands.

The King dies. On Anna's 21st birthday she's crowned the Queen of Arendelle. This is the first day that Anna is allowed to see her since their early childhood. While arguing, Anna pulls off Elsa's glove, and Arendelle is plunged into a cold winter. She's unable to undo the spell. The people call her a witch, so she has to flee. Only Anna believes in her sister's goodness, so she sets off to find her.

There are a lot more details to the story, but the only thing I'll add is that Anna, not Elsa, is the film's main character, even though the German title (literally "The Ice Queen") is named after Elsa.

I'm not saying that I didn't like the film, but it didn't thrill me either. I fail to see why it's become so popular. That's not just because of my age. There are other children's films that I enjoy. All I can say is that the film didn't speak to me.

I've read that the film deviates strongly from the original fairy tale, because it was considered too adult to be a children's film. I'm curious. Now I'll have to read it.

Success Rate:  + 6.5

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