Watched on 3D Blu-Ray

Walt Disney himself came up with the idea of bringing a Disney version of Hans Christian Andersen's famous fairy tale "The Snow Queen" to the cinemas - more than 70 years ago! And after the worldwide success of the Andersen film adaptation "Arielle", the mouse studio again seriously played with the idea in the 1990s. But even though it was always clear that there was a lot to be gained visually from the story set in the Norwegian ice, the tragic figure of the Snow Queen could never be mastered.

But what lasts a long time will finally be good. After the megahit "Tangled" from 2010, the Disney managers were suddenly very hot on classical musicals with a modern touch - and "The Snow Queen" fit perfectly into the program as a model. The director duo Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee solved the narrative challenges with the help of some wonderful songs and transformed the Andersen material into a sentimental fairy tale musical. In addition, it set new technical standards with its winter animation adventure "Frozen" (in German "Die Eiskönigin - Völllig unverfroren"- that means literally completely bold, but it's a German pun) and also has one of the most memorable Disney sidekicks ever with snowman Olaf.

The Disney creatives show the competition right in the opening sequence who's the boss in terms of animation: In the deep Norwegian winter, a group of sturdy workers knocks ice blocks out of a frozen lake in order to sell them in the city in summer. The men facilitate the strenuous work with a droning, gothural joik (= singing of the Sami people in homage to nature). In its rough force this prelude not only reminds of the bombastic first scenes from Tom Hooper's musical hit "Les Misérables", it also captivated me with its technical brilliance back in 2013. And it's still great! Especially the dancing and slipping ice blocks as well as the splashing snow reach an almost photorealistic quality - and still preserve the fairy-tale magic of classic Disney productions.

Where the makers of "Tangled" and "Merida" showed their protagonists with the animation of the flowing hair what is technically possible nowadays, the Disney specialists set completely new standards in snow and ice. Especially in the animation business you might think that the end of the flagpole has to be reached slowly but surely - and then comes a movie like "Frozen", where it's hard to get out of your amazement.

If the wonderful work of the animators is gradually receding into the background, it's not because the quality is diminishing, but because I had enough to do with cheering on Anna and her involuntary comrades-in-arms. Because screenwriter Jennifer Lee not only successfully took the Disney mantra "A Tear for a Laugh" to heart, she also works out the tragic fate of the ice queen impressively. So it's no wonder that the highly dramatic scenes in Elsa's ice palace are surprisingly intense for a Christmas fairy tale - not least due to the repeatedly varied self-finding anthem "Let It Go", in which the actresses are literally allowed to sing their souls out of their bodies.

This is one of eight original songs by the experienced broadway couple Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez, woven into the plot, which make "Frozen" a true musical. The songs aren't all musical hits and Christophe Beck's instrumental score isn't as thrilling as Alan Menken's compositions for "Tangled", but the soundtrack also contains some real pearls. A special mention should be given to the ambiguous "In Summer", with which the snowman Olaf sings about his dream of finally experiencing a summer - an actually cheerful song with a tragically sad note, because Olaf doesn't know that snow melts in the warm season. This probably best song of the movie isn't performed by the most successful and original character by chance, as is so often the case with Disney, the absolute darling is once again a sidekick: Olaf, who literally loses his head and has to take care that reindeer Sven doesn't eat away his carrot nose, is an invention for eternity and with his clumsy-naive good-naturedness he easily secures himself a place in the hearts of young and old viewers.