Family film time - Disney's Frozen

As you know, we love films in our house and this seems to be something that we're passing onto Ethan as he gets older and his attention span increases. We're always on the look out for new releases and great deals which is why I was so pleased to receive Frozen, Disney's latest smash hit, on DVD from Suppose.com, the price tracking website.

Yep, that's right - we totally missed the Frozen boat when it first came out but, hearing great things, and seeing that it's available for just £10 instead of the RRP of £15, we were keen to check it out.

Frozen has become something of a phenomenon; it has risen to become the highest grossing animated film of all time; the soundtrack is the bestselling album of 2014 and the now iconic song, ‘Let It Go’, has become something of an anthem. I knew the words before seeing the film!

Frozen is a simple tale at heart; a retelling of Hans Christian Andersen’s timeless classic The Snow Queen, but with the usual Disney flair and panache.

Elsa is a princess with a secret: she can somehow manipulate snow and ice for reasons never explained, and she has a younger sister Anna, who is hurt one day due to Elsa’s powers, causing their parents to lock Elsa away for her own good. Without giving too much away, the story contains the usual Disney tropes of handsome princes, animals and comedy sidekicks, as well as catchy tunes – specifically ‘Do you want to build a snowman?’ and ‘Let it go’. 

What’s clever about this story, however, is the way it plays up to some of these familiar storylines and character types, giving a sly wink to the audience that yes, they know this story has been told countless times before, but that they still have a few tricks up their sleeve.

For mum: I came to Disney relatively late in life; when I was younger I owned Lion King and Aladdin on VHS, but otherwise my knowledge of Disney films was quite limited. Despite this, over the last 10 years or so, I’ve come to appreciate Disney (particularly Disneyland Paris, a place of magic and wonder and somewhere I can’t wait to take Ethan on holiday), although I’m not a huge fan of musicals. 

I enjoyed Frozen; I thought the tale was a sweet one with a few neat twists and turns, but I thought they broke into song a little too often for my liking! The characters were fun and interesting and the film looked amazing, as you’d expect, but overall Frozen doesn’t beat out any of Pixar’s efforts or even Tangled, Disney’s last effort for me. I did love Olaf the talking snowman in particular, who provided the most laughs!

For dad: Stephen is a huge animation fan; his mum raised him on a diet of Disney and he wanted to be an animator when he was younger, so he has a greater appreciation for the behind-the-scenes side of animation – the tools and techniques used, the look and feel of things and so on. 

Stephen enjoyed Frozen, and ‘Let It Go’ has joined the ‘Ethan Sleepy Time’ playlist that he sings to help Ethan off to sleep, but after all the hype surrounding it, he felt a little disappointed by it and didn’t think it was as good as Tangled, either.

For the little one: The film is enchanting, particularly Olaf. He provides a lot of comedy relief alongside the reindeer, Sven, that keep the otherwise quite dark film light and entertaining. 

Ethan was transfixed for the majority of the movie, which is impressive enough, and he clapped along to the songs and giggled at the funny little trolls. His Nanny had already bought him a cuddly Olaf and Sven, which he had next to him during the film and he also has the official book, which is one of his favourites. I think Frozen is a film he’ll only grow to appreciate the older he gets and the more he understands it. I look forward to hearing his impressions in a few years’ time!

Frozen is a fun and engaging film, fit for both adults and little ones, although the story gets quite dark at times. The animation is gorgeous, the soundtrack catchy and the story simple yet satisfying. It was particularly refreshing how the central story was about the love between two sisters, rather than the usual way Disney and similar films seems to focus on a love story or a woman who needs rescuing. In fact, it reminded me quite a lot of Brave for this reason.

Perhaps the hype spoiled it a little for us, perhaps we expected too much, but nonetheless the film has become a welcome addition to our ever-growing Disney collection and at such a great price, it's a must for any fan.

* Thank you to Suppose.com for sending us Frozen for the purposes of this review. We love a good film (see our Lego Movie review here) and a good deal too!