Frozen

Frozen is apparently the first Disney film to win the Oscar for best Animation film since the award was instituted in the 1990s, and this is a surprise since animation films are traditionally a Disney forte. (Mr Disney, however, won numerous academy awards for his work).

That said, Frozen epitomizes the goodness of Disney films, a song and dance fare about princesses who will overcome the perils they are set against.

When the film was released, it was praised by almost every critic for its progressive feminist outlook. Here is a film about princesses who are not docile and do not wait for their prince charmings to save the day. They do it for themselves.

But this is hardly a new things. In the last few years, there has been a surge of fairy tale retellings with its damsels in distress taking the matter in their own hands. The exquisite example is Brave, released three years back.

Yet, Frozen, inspired by Hans Christian Anderson’s The Snow Queen, a tale of two sisters who must discover themselves and each other among the usual perils of a fairy tale, some magic, some quest, is a charming ride, filled with hummable songs and inspired voice work, some cool action and some marvelous animation, especially in its rendering of the frozen countryside and the ice. And, above all, the film will be remembered for the ice-shattering rendition of Let It Go, by the incomparable Idina Manzel.

It is a fun-filled ride if not a great one.