Skip to footer

Kristen Bell stars in the animated Disney movie 'Frozen' (+trailer)

Kristen Bell voices the character of Anna in the animated movie, which is based off the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale 'The Snow Queen.' Kristen Bell is also involved in the upcoming 'Veronica Mars' movie.

|
Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP
Kristen Bell poses with dolls of the characters from the movie 'Frozen.'
  • By Andrew Crump Screen Rant

Disney has released the first teaser for their winter animated release, the musical-fantasy Frozen, finally kicking off wide promotion for the film in earnest. Don’t expect to learn too much about the movie’s story from the clip, though: the footage plays more like its own distinct short than anything else, focusing on antics between two side characters rather than plot.

Fortunately, Frozen happens to be based off of The Snow Queen, Hans Christian Andersen’s classic fairy tale, so audiences may already be familiar with it. Here’s the official synopsis:

In “Frozen,” fearless optimist Anna (voice of Kristen Bell ) teams up with rugged mountain man Kristoff (voice of Jonathan Groff ) and his loyal reindeer Sven in an epic journey, encountering Everest-like conditions, mystical trolls and a hilarious snowman named Olaf in a race to find Anna’s sister Elsa (voice of Idina Menzel), whose icy powers have trapped the kingdom of Arendelle in eternal winter. Encountering Everest-like conditions, mystical trolls and a hilarious snowman named Olaf, Anna and Kristoff battle the elements in a race to save the kingdom.

The teaser revolves entirely on the interactions between Olaf (Josh Gad) and Sven, and even though it doesn’t say anything about the film, it’s funny and charming enough on its own merits. What may be most striking here is how much this feels like something out of Pixar’s wheelhouse; last year, Disney’s Wreck-It Ralph pulled off the same feat, blurring the lines between the Mouse House and its subsidiary. Be that as it may, the animation and imagination on display here are both great, particularly Olaf’s attempts at rearranging his body to best Sven in a race across the ice.

It may also worth noting that Frozen boasts a smorgasbord of Broadway talent. In fact, Gad, Menzel, Groff, and Santino Fontana (starring here as Prince Hans) have each originated roles in plays ranging from The Book of Mormon (whose composer and co-creator, Robert Lopez, provided scoring for Frozen), to Wicked, to Rent. Those are some impressive credentials, and it’s going to be interesting to see how Bell keeps up with all of them.

Andrew Crump blogs at Screen Rant.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.
editor@csmonitor.com
Subscribe
Mark Sappenfield
Editor

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

Subscribe to insightful journalism

QR Code to Kristen Bell stars in the animated Disney movie 'Frozen' (+trailer)
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/The-Culture/Culture-Cafe/2013/0813/Kristen-Bell-stars-in-the-animated-Disney-movie-Frozen-trailer
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe