So. Frozen.

[IamLEAM1983]

I finally went and watched Frozen. Thanks, Popcorn Time.

The long and short of it is that anyone who calls it another return to form of the Disney Renaissance is absolutely correct. The songs are spot-on, the animation is flawless, it basically is everything you'd expect from a movie influenced by the years between The Little Mermaid and Aladdin – but it's also something more.

Part of me is still grumbling like a curmudgeon at the “death” of Disney's cel animation department, and part of me misses the 2D charm that left with the surprisingly excellent The Princess and the Frog, but it's more or less been recaptured by John Lasseter's in-house studio. It's 3D, as computer-generated as computer-generated gets, but it fits perfectly with the Disney Renaissance's themes and its juggernaut of a mainstay, the Princess archetype. Not only that, but it also toys with it, and with the company's usually clear-cut lines for heroes and villains. It's a movie that's not only about coming of age for girls on the cusp of biological adulthood, but it's also about acceptance – of yourself and of your loved ones. It takes the Disney staple of True Love's Kiss and reinvents it in a manner that feels timely and that is sure to be widely appreciated by today's more realistic parents.

Like Ariel's adventures, Frozen takes root in a Hans Christian Andersen tale, The Snow Queen. Like a lot of Andersen's fairy tales, it's not a pretty sight near the end and starkly punishes its titular character for committing a slew of grievous mistakes. Fairy tales, long before Disney took the helm and decided to make them all about whimsy and self-affirmation, were about scaring the shit out of your kids so they'd stand in place and behave responsibly. Check Andersen, and you'll find that the Snow Queen gets it hard on paper, once she does go Dark Side. Lessons are drilled in ruthlessly, and the storyteller never really seemed to care for what happened to his brazen heroines who dared to dream big in eras in which women were better off nurturing small hopes – at least, if you go by the masculine standards of everything between the Middle Ages and the tail end of the Industrial Revolution.

Granted, Frozen is only inspired by Andersen's tale, and that's what makes it a frankly typical Disney production as much as it is what distinguishes it from the rest.

The setup is as follows. In the Norwegian-ish kingdom of Arendell, there lived two sisters. One is named Elsa and has inherited ice powers from some unknown source. Being the eldest, she's destined to be queen. The other, Anna, seems stuck living in her sister's shadow. The movie starts with our two heroines as kids, both having a grand old time thanks to Elsa's powers. One unfortunate incident later, the reigning king and queen and forced to take their daughters to the trolls in order to have their leader, Pebble, save Anna's life by wiping her mind of any knowledge of her sister's abilities. He also warns the king of the potential dangers to be found in Elsa not keeping her powers in check. Quicker than you can say X-Men and Rogue, guilt and slightly paranoid obligations of safety drive Elsa apart from her sister and force her to lock the outside world away.

Fast-forward a few years later and the kiddies have come of age. Elsa is ripe for her coronation day and Anna dreams of it as the one day in which Arendell's doors will open to the outside world. She falls for Prince Hans, who gives her the expected and Disney-patented “I just met you and it's crazy but I think I'm totes in love with you, girl!”, but Elsa's reclusive nature makes her wary of inviting a hitherto unknown man in her household – especially as a sudden brother-in-law. Anna's years of having been denied trigger a round of pressing ballroom questions, which themselves send Elsa over the emotional precipice she'd been teetering over for years.

What follows feels like a sort of unconscious homage to Universal Studios' Frankenstein, even as Elsa takes to the distant mountainside and elects to finally let go of her apprehensions. There's always the fleeting sense that this is another tipping point for the character, in which she could embrace her nature as an ostracised woman and elect to demonize her former kingdom, or otherwise stay on the Light Side while still embracing what defines her. Shadows still cling to her character, as well they should, and the movie smartly elects not to go in one direction or another.

Obviously, the elephant in the room is attributable to Andersen's influence. Elsa's powers are a metaphor for her coming into puberty, her first big snow-gasm really leaves little to the imagination with moans and sighs replaced with glowing self-affirmation because Disney and Western societal values of independence and self-discovery, and yadda-yadda...

In-between Anna and Elsa, we'll find Prince Hans, yes, but also Christian the Ice Salesman who finds himself out of business now that Elsa's made Game of Thrones' winter-laden Wildling country look like the Riviera Maya. We'll also meet Sven, his stalwart and loyal reindeer of a steed, a handful of well-meaning and panicky visiting dignitaries – along with Olaf the snowman, a bit of a childhood reminder that Elsa brought to life unknowingly.

I really do have to address the voice talent, at this point. Idina Menzel needs no introduction as Elsa, having absolutely nailed the Wicked Witch of the East in the character's own Broadway epic. She powers the Queen of Arendell with as much nervous youth and studiously maintained social constipation in the early minutes as she does with “Let it Go” and its offered burst of confidence and guides the character through her emotional turmoils in a rather flawless performance. Kristen Bell packs Anna's required cast of arrested development and all the moxie you'll find in today's more contemporary Disney Princesses – along with a set of pipes I didn't know she had. Granted, my personal experience with Bell starts and ends with the Assassin's Creed series, in which she voiced Lucy Stillman, and that character didn't really allow for much more than her acting as a reasonably fetching exposition device. This is the first time in which I've seen her full range – or well, as much range as you'd expect of today's idea of a Disney Princess.

Past that, Josh Gad's turn as Olaf feels like a sort of slightly modernized take on Jiminy Cricket, the eldritch and endearing critter whose job it is to act as the emotional core of the movie. Packing as much childlike wonder as he does a sort of puppy-like dedication to his barely-known friends, his one clearly defined character trait is meant to be slightly quirky but actually comes off as being a bit dark – perhaps as an echo of Andersen's typically favored gloomy fates and epilogues. Again, not to worry – this is a Disney flick, and this homonculi of a snow pile emerges out of the proceedings largely unscathed. Then comes Alan Tudyk's turn as the Duke of Weselton, who sort of acts like a watered-down King Candy and who's essentially there to pack the requisite Boring Grownup Considerations to Elsa's coronation. Giddy at the prospect of tapping Arendell's ressources for the sake of his homeland, he does come to the locals' defense once Elsa goes MIA, but tends to embody the other typical Disney Grownup standard, which tends to be a propensity towards snap judgments.

We get it, Mickey – some adults are incredibly fussy and won't be able to see how much of a Special Snowflake (ba-dum-tish) you'll get to be.

Speaking of snowflakes, the technical aspects also are deserving of a gander. As much of a guy as I am, I tend to like Disney flicks for their technical excellence. I just love the way Jafar's smarm oozes through his profile and general mannerisms, I can't watch Treasure Planet without going through at least one scrutiny-favoring viewing of John Silver's tons and tons of hand-drawn and CG details and I really do love my family-friendly Medieval Fantasy romps à la Shrek because Cloth Physics.

Seriously. Cloth Physics.

Games have so much trouble conveying realistic clothing seeing as they can't just render everything frame-by-frame that seeing animated productions that actually pack some wind and movement-induced creases and flutters absolutely floor me. Anna's dress had me stare at her legs, trying to spot the legs' contact points underneath the fabric and the kind of Caustics that were used to make the rest of the fabric move around the clothed limbs, when it didn't just freeze itself solid and make me chuckle at the concept of any unfortunate girl or woman who's ever had to wear a light and damp dress in chilly weather. Snow, as you can expect, plays a huge role in the set dressing, and this would be one of the first times where I've seen it rendered convincingly, if not realistically. It isn't altogether realistic thanks to the movie's cartoony roots and the characters never really look like they're cold or otherwise slightly indisposed, but I've seen much worse before.

Ahem. Lookin' at 'cha, Skyrim with Light Armor-packing characters... Without the game's lenient nature, two thirds of my Dovahkiins would have died of frostbite or hypothermia somewhere on the shores of the Sea of Ghosts, for sure.

By far, what's noteworthy and sure to spawn a fuckton of slash-fic material, much to my dismay, is what I've hinted at earlier. The third act of the film makes a surprising turn, with Anna and Elsa's relationship being defined as the cornerstone of the flick – as opposed to the seemingly inescapable pairing of Christian and Anna. Without revealing too much, Frozen celebrates family and the acceptance of what one already has far more than your expected fairy-tale notion that a young woman won't be complete until she finds herself a dashing young man to sweep her off her feet. It's not Disney trying to be DreamWorks, and yet it packs a surprising amount of modernity in its overall structure. You won't find Pop Culture references, even though the characters do speak in occasionally jarringly modern slang, but the emotional core of the movie reflects on something that feels current and pertinent, and not in any way stuck in Disney's past tropes of the Shackled Woman finding freedom in Man's awaiting arms.

Yeah. Read between the lines, and you'll see why I mentioned being afraid for the slash-fics to come. I'm sure some people have already “expanded” Elsa and Anna into free-thinking young women who figure it's completely okay if they celebrate their newfound freedom and renewed sisterly bonds in, well, graphic fashion – and those people would be missing the point of the movie's redefined vision of so-called True Love.

The short of it is that love, as Frozen posits, is where you've forgotten to take a look, basically everywhere except where the more classic Disney productions tend to suggest you'll find it. That, in and of itself, feels to me like a much-needed addendum to the trope of True Love, as its very concept refers to something that's unconditional. Yes, spousal attraction can and does qualify in the happiest of cases – but Frozen is smart enough to talk to kids who might, for instance, come from broken homes or separated families. Sometimes, love isn't to be found in the person of the nice guy who picks you up at your most vulnerable and who puts on a heck of a show. Love can be what you already have or what you didn't know you had. With True Love's Kiss losing its importance as a framing device, the movie smartly undoes the original tale's somewhat sexist undertones and focuses on what should matter in this day and age, at least according to yours truly.

The end result feels, well, rather revolutionary. It's easy and obvious when you give it a few moments, yes, but coming from Disney? This is a monumental stepping stone towards more progressive role models, something that starts with the now tried-and-true idea of the spirited young woman who yearns for More and just might end with the spirited young woman who does yearn for more, but who comes to realize in a roundabout way that she does possess the fundaments to a decent life. It's a great and wholesome addition to the Disney Princess archetype, not so much in the sense that it gives Elsa and Anna anything like demure traits, but in how it weaves their unifying strengths together into themes that feel like they've been a long time coming.

Frozen, like a lot of Disney flicks, is about finding the hidden golden nuggets in yourself. It's also, and this is where modernity sinks in, about being able to realize when you do need a helping hand and that on some occasions, there's really no need to go halfway around the world to find some sort of peace of mind or general assistance. Call an old friend or a sibling, reach for your parents – essentially anyone who knows you, and who knows what you're capable of. It feels like a breath of fresh air after spending decades being told that every guy gets his problem-fixing girl or that every girl gets her problems-escaping boy-toy of a fix.

And no, Paheal – Frozen does not implicitly enable Sisterly Softcore. Who am I kidding, though – some people salivate at the idea of purposefully reading too deep into fairy tale relationships...