Frozen (2013 film)

Plot

Princess Elsa of Arendelle was born with the ability to conjure ice and snow through magic. One day, she accidentally hurt her younger sister Anna with this power. Their parents took both girls to a group of trolls, whose leader Grand Pabbie healed Anna and removed her memories of Elsa’s magic. To prevent further accidents, the king and queen decided to seal the castle gates and keep Elsa isolated until she could control her abilities. This separation caused a growing distance between the sisters. When they were teenagers, their parents died in a shipwreck.

Years later, on the day of Elsa’s coronation, the castle opened to the public for the first time. Among the visiting nobles was Prince Hans from the Southern Isles, a charming young man. Anna immediately fell for him, and he proposed to her. Elsa refused to approve the hasty marriage and, in her frustration, lost control of her magic, revealing her powers to the horrified crowd. The Duke of Weselton accused her of witchcraft. Frightened, Elsa fled to the North Mountain, where she felt a sense of freedom. She built herself an ice palace and decided to live alone, not realizing that her magic had trapped Arendelle in an endless winter.

Anna set out to find her sister, leaving Hans in charge of the kingdom. She met Kristoff, an ice courier, and his reindeer Sven, and convinced them to guide her to the North Mountain. Along the way, they encountered Olaf, a living snowman created by Elsa’s magic, who agreed to lead them. At the ice palace, Anna told Elsa about the winter. Overcome with fear, Elsa accidentally struck Anna with ice again, freezing her heart. Unaware of the injury, Elsa created a giant snow monster and forced Anna out of the palace to protect her.

As Anna began to freeze to death, Kristoff brought her back to the trolls. Grand Pabbie explained that only an act of true love could save her. Kristoff and Olaf rushed Anna to the castle so Hans could kiss her. Meanwhile, Hans defeated the snow monster and captured Elsa after a fight with the Duke’s guards. Instead of kissing Anna, Hans revealed his plan: he had intended to marry Anna, kill Elsa, and take the throne. He left Anna to die. The sisters escaped, and Olaf helped Anna reunite with Kristoff, whom he realized was in love with her.

Voice cast

Kristen Bell voices Anna, a fearless and optimistic 18-year-old princess of Arendelle and Elsa's younger sister who is determined to save both her kingdom and her relationship with her sister. Livvy Stubenrauch voices 5-year-old Anna, with Katie Lopez providing her singing voice, and Agatha Lee Monn voices 9-year-old Anna. Idina Menzel voices Elsa, also known as the Snow Queen, the 21-year-old queen of Arendelle and Anna's elder sister who possesses magical ice powers.

Eva Bella voices 8-year-old Elsa, and Spencer Lacey Ganus voices 12-year-old Elsa. Jonathan Groff voices Kristoff, an iceman who is accompanied by a reindeer named Sven, with Tyree Brown voicing 8-year-old Kristoff. Josh Gad voices Olaf, a sentient comic-relief snowman that Elsa and Anna created as children, who dreams of experiencing summer. Santino Fontana voices Hans, a prince from the Southern Isles who is a fraud and a traitor.

Alan Tudyk voices the Duke of Weselton, Ciarán Hinds voices Grand Pabbie the Troll King, Chris Williams voices Oaken, Maia Wilson voices Bulda, Paul Briggs voices Marshmallow, Maurice LaMarche voices King Agnarr, and Jennifer Lee voices Queen Iduna. Non-speaking characters include Kristoff's reindeer companion Sven, horses, and wolves, with Sven's grunts and snorts provided by Frank Welker.

Production

Walt Disney Productions first considered a film blending live action and animation about Hans Christian Andersen in late 1937, even before Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs premiered that December. In March 1940, Walt Disney proposed a joint project with producer Samuel Goldwyn: Goldwyn’s studio would film the real-life scenes of Andersen’s biography, while Disney’s animators would bring his fairy tales to life. When the United States entered World War II, Disney shifted to making wartime propaganda, and the collaboration with Goldwyn was abandoned in 1942. Goldwyn later released a live-action Hans Christian Andersen film in 1952, and Disney Animation put aside several unfinished projects, including The Snow Queen.

In the late 1990s, after the success of the Disney Renaissance, Walt Disney Feature Animation tried again to adapt The Snow Queen. That effort ended in late 2002 when Glen Keane reportedly left to work on what became Tangled. Earlier, Harvey Fierstein had pitched his own version to Disney executives, but they turned him down. Paul and Gaëtan Brizzi, Dick Zondag, and Dave Goetz each attempted adaptations without success.

From 2000 to 2002, after repeated failures, Disney shelved the project once more. During one of those attempts, CEO Michael Eisner backed the idea and suggested bringing in Pixar’s John Lasseter as director, expecting Pixar’s contract with Disney to be renewed. However, negotiations between the two companies fell apart in January 2004, and the contract was not extended. After Eisner left, his successor Bob Iger negotiated Disney’s purchase of Pixar in January 2006 for $7.4 billion. Lasseter then became chief creative officer for both Pixar and Disney Animation.

Release

Frozen first hit theaters in the US on November 27, 2013, paired with the new Mickey Mouse short Get a Horse!. Its premiere took place at Hollywood’s El Capitan Theatre on November 19, 2013, with a limited five-day run starting November 22 before it went nationwide. Ahead of the release, the songwriting duo Lopez and Anderson-Lopez gave audiences a sneak peek of “Let It Go” and “In Summer” at the 2013 D23 Expo, where Idina Menzel performed “Let It Go” live.

A teaser trailer dropped on June 18, 2013, and the full trailer followed on September 26, 2013. Disney promoted the film across its theme parks, including Disneyland’s Fantasyland, Disney California Adventure’s World of Color, Epcot’s Norway pavilion, and Disneyland Paris’s Disney Dreams! show. Meet-and-greet sessions with Anna and Elsa were held at Disneyland and Epcot. On November 6, 2013, Disney Consumer Products launched a line of toys and other merchandise tied to the film at the Disney Store and other retailers.

A sing-along version of Frozen arrived in US theaters on January 31, 2014, playing in 2,057 locations. It featured on-screen lyrics, and audiences could follow a bouncing snowflake to sing along with the film’s songs. After the movie’s wide release in Japan on March 14, 2014, a similar sing-along version debuted there on April 26, with Japanese lyrics displayed for viewers. The UK got its own sing-along version on November 28, 2014.

For home viewing, Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment made Frozen available for digital download on February 25, 2014, and on Blu-ray and DVD on March 18. Those physical copies included behind-the-scenes featurettes, deleted scenes, the teaser trailer, a “Let It Go” music video, and Get a Horse!. Following an announcement on August 12, 2014, a sing-along reissue of the film was released on DVD and digital download on November 18 of that year. A 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray version came out in 2019.