'Frozen'

As shown in the December 11, 2013 edition of the 'Monroe County Reporter':

This Thanksgiving my family and I boarded our minivan to see Disney's latest animation installment, "Frozen." As is the case every time we go to the movie theater, my wife and I take a seat on opposite ends of our three children to serve as boundary posts. This time all three of our children pleasantly had their eyes glued to the screen for the duration of the 108 minute film. Usually our youngest child, our two-year old son, is quick to let my wife and I know he would rather transform the cinema experience into a game of duck-duck-goose. This was not the case. Every time I looked over he was either fixated in his seat or standing still between the two seats in front of him. Our six-year-old son enjoyed getting a kick out of the witty comedic relief provided by the snowman named Olaf (voice by Josh Gad), the ice trader named Kristoff (Jonathan Groff), and his reindeer named Sven. I delighted in watching our daughter gaze in wonder of the female leading roles portrayed in this film. I was curious if her precious little girl heart was processing the compelling themes presented in the movie, such as the interplay between fear and love.

This is not all I was led to wonder. I was not intending to review this film but the subject material in the 53rd feature length animation film by Disney surprised me. What I saw was an engaging tale about, well, innocence.

The story was loosely adapted from "The Snow Queen", an 1845 Danish fairy tale by Hans Christian Anderson ("The Little Mermaid", "The Emperor's New Clothes"). In the original fairy tale, the story concludes with a verse from Scripture: "Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 18:3). Although there is significant deviation from the plot and characters of the original, this essence of a child's innocent worldview was preserved in the latest Anderson adaption.

Disney's "Frozen" is a musical about two orphaned sisters in a royal family who are separated from one another at a young age. The first scenes of the story involve little Anna (Kristin Bell) begging her older sister Elsa (Idina Menzel) to build a snowman. Elsa is gifted with ice and snow magic, and accidently freeze-zaps Anna in the head. After a troll heals Anna and erases the memory of her older sister's superpower, the parents warn Elsa to "never feel--and conceal" her dangerous gift. Very soon thereafter, the girls' parents depart on a voyage at sea only never to return, leaving Elsa and Anna separated by the walls in their own castle until the day Elsa is made queen. The song "Do You Want to Build a Snowman?" beautifully portrays the tragedy of this sequence of events, where the two sisters are staged on opposing sides of Elsa's bedroom door, experiencing the heartache and loss of each other's friendship.

Through the use of crafty animation and musical score, the rest of the story unfolds into a daring tale full of adventure and plot twists. Holding my children in the corner of my eye, I couldn't help but wonder about the innocence they possess in a world tormented by fear. In the end, the film led me to meditate on another verse from Scripture: "There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear." (1 John 4:18). Where would we be without True Love? What a great way to spend Thanksgiving!