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Spoiler warning!
Narrative secrets ahead.

Frozen is a Disney movie that came out on November 27, 2013. The film is loosely based on Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale The Snow Queen.

Plot

The film begins with a crew of ice harvesters collecting ice out from a frozen lake in the Scandinavian mountains ("Frozen Heart"). Among them is an 8-year-old boy named Kristoff, and his reindeer calf Sven, who try to emulate the harvesters but are always shut out. After collecting enough ice, the harvesters depart to the kingdom of Arendelle late at night.

That same night, down in a castle in the kingdom of Arendelle, 5-year-old Princess Anna wakes her elder 8-year-old sister, Elsa, to play. Elsa playfully brushes her sister off until Anna mischievously suggests that they build a snowman, to which Elsa delightfully agrees. The sisters run down to the ballroom and create a winter field of snow using Elsa's snow magic, enjoying their time with plenty of merriment. They build a snowman, who Elsa names Olaf, claiming "I like warm hugs!" The girls play gleefully until Anna makes a leap Elsa wasn't prepared for, and the blast of power meant to create a pile of snow hits Anna in the head, knocking her out and turning several strands of her hair white. The king and queen rush both girls to a group of trolls up in the mountains.

As the royal family gallops through the forests at speed, they pass by Kristoff, who is still being dragged on his sled by Sven. He is intrigued by the trail of ice left behind by one of the horses. He follows it into an empty clearing that appears to only be populated by a large assortment of moss-covered boulders. From the edge of the clearing, Kristoff watches the girls' parents appear to ask the boulders for help. Suddenly, the boulders all begin to roll into a circle around the royal family, then unfold themselves, revealing themselves to be the trolls. In fact, the "boulder" that Kristoff is hiding behind is revealed to be another troll, Bulda, who takes Kristoff and Sven in after deciding they are cute (and in part because Sven licks her).

Pabbie, the leader of the trolls, shows up and asks the king if Elsa was born or cursed with her abilities. He observes that Anna is lucky she was hit in the head, as a hit to the heart would have been fatal. He advises the family that it might be best to not have Elsa use her powers around Anna, and alters Anna's memories so she has no knowledge of her sister's powers, remembering only the fun they've had. Pabbie warns Elsa that her powers will grow, and they'll be a risk to her if she cannot learn to control them, as fear will be her greatest enemy.

Subsequently, the castle is closed off to visitors. Staffing is reduced to a minimum, and Elsa is ostracized from everyone, including Anna, in order to protect her from the world until she can learn to control her powers, leaving both sisters distraught and lonely. Despite Anna's best attempts ("Do You Want to Build a Snowman?"), she is unable to rouse Elsa from her room. Their despair only escalates when, while Elsa is 18, their parents die after a ship they are on capsizes in a storm and is swallowed by a huge monstrous wave.

Three years later, it is the day of Elsa's coronation ceremony. Dignitaries from around the world are coming to visit, including the Duke of Weselton, who wants to run Arendelle's profits dry. Nobody is more excited than Anna, as they are finally opening the gates to the kingdom. She is happy to see other people, and hopes for the possibility of meeting that special someone, but Elsa is still concerned about trying to control her powers ("For the First Time in Forever").

As Anna strolls out onto the streets, she crashes into a horse that happens to belong to the charming and handsome Prince Hans of the Southern Isles. Though angered at first by the clumsiness of the stranger, Anna is attracted by Hans's appearance and looks once she lays her eyes on him. She hurries off when she hears the church bells.

Elsa remains nervous during the coronation ceremony. The bishop has to remind her to remove her gloves before she takes up her golden orb and scepter. Holding them, she turns to face the congregation, but almost immediately, she sees that the gold of the orb is turning to ice. She returns the orb and scepter hurriedly to the bishop, and puts her gloves back on, narrowly averting disaster.

At the post-coronation party, one of the servants introduces Elsa and Anna to the crowd. Anna's first interaction with Elsa in years brings quite the delightful feeling to the princess, flustered at first, as well as seeing Elsa so happy instead of serious and preserved boosts Anna's confidence, prompting her to continue on with the conversation. They're interrupted afterward by their steward Kai introducing the snide Duke of Weselton (which his kingdom, throughout the movie, is commonly mispronounced as "Weaseltown"), who offers Elsa her first dance as queen. Elsa politely declines the offer, but instead playfully volunteers Anna, much to the Duke's delight nonetheless, and the two head off into a comical dance scene. Elsa couldn't hold back a chuckle in during which she sees Anna innocently flustered by the Duke's over-the-top (and incredibly terrible) dancing skills. This causes Anna to feel just as whimsical about the entire matter, for seeing Elsa in such a state hasn't been a sight for years. Anna returns by Elsa's side afterward, commenting on how well things have been going through the day, and expresses her wishes to have things the way they were that night all the time. Elsa's smile, unfortunately, fades away, and she reluctantly denies Anna's wishes all at once despite failing to explain why so.

Anna and Hans then sneak off to spend the evening together, quickly realizing the mutual attraction between them. The romantic dance eventually leads to an entire date ("Love is an Open Door"), with the entire night of the young couple being spent bonding. Hans, during their time together, learns of Anna's longing of having someone special in her life, with her sister, apparently developing a dislike of being around her by suddenly shutting Anna out one day when they were kids. Hans openly relates to this, only furthering Anna's connection with him. Hans then promises to never shut Anna out, unlike Elsa, much to the princess' absolute joy.

By the end of their tour throughout the kingdom, Hans proposes right on the spot to which Anna immediately accepts. The two head back the ballroom, where Anna asks for Elsa's blessing on the marriage. Elsa's baffled by the shocking news, but Anna and Hans couldn't appear more excited going on to ramble about the wedding arrangements. Elsa ceases the sudden rambling by denying the marriage, much to Anna's dismay. The queen asks to speak to Anna alone in private, likely to finally confess her abilities and why it's not wise to marry someone she just met without causing a scene that would surely get her magical nature exposed, but the younger princess refuses any private conversation, stating whatever Elsa has to say can be said to both her and Hans. Elsa, becoming frustrated, outright forbids Anna from marrying a total stranger, indirectly telling the princess she knows nothing about true love. This causes Anna to hiss back, telling Elsa all she knows is how to shut people out. Although Elsa is visibly hurt by this, she continues to refuse with the argument only worsening when she orders the guards to end the party and close the gates. Elsa refuses to grant her blessing on the marriage, setting off an argument between the sisters and culminating in Elsa's abilities being exposed to the party guests.

Panicking, Elsa flees with Anna in hot pursuit. As she becomes more stressed and panicked, the weather starts turning colder: snow begins to fall, and Elsa races across the fjord, freezing it with each step but turning the whole body of water into ice and trapping all the ships before spreading throughout the rest of the kingdom. Having failed to retrieve her, Anna and Hans return to the castle courtyard where the guests have gathered. The Duke of Weselton begins to panic as it eerily begins snowing, declaring they must take action and put an end to Elsa's curse. Anna, however, refuses and volunteers to seek out Elsa herself and make things right, feeling that it's her fault for pushing her. With Hans being left in charge of the kingdom, Anna heads off on her horse to begin her search for her sister. Elsa makes it to the North Mountain where she laments her failure at keeping the powers contained but quickly becomes more and more at ease and relaxed, free to use her powers as she pleases (singing the song "Let It Go", creating a snowman (the same one she and Anna built when they were young), an ice castle and ice dress).

While searching for Elsa, Anna loses her horse in the process after it gets spooked by snow falling from a tree. She travels on foot until nightfall, where she finds herself at Wandering Oaken's Trading Post and Sauna. She asks the shop owner Oaken for winter boots and dresses. She makes small talk with him, then meets Kristoff. Anna convinces Kristoff to take her to the North Mountain, where the source of the winter is coming from. Along the way, they get attacked by wolves on their journey, causing Kristoff to lose his sled. As they continue on foot, they meet Olaf, the snowman Elsa created, who seems to be alive. Olaf shares his dreams of experiencing summer ("In Summer") and agrees to lead them to Elsa's castle.

The gang makes it to Elsa's castle, where Anna and Elsa reunite. While both are happy to see each other, Elsa still harbors fears of wounding Anna once again. Despite Anna's promising to stand by her sister's side and help her, Elsa only grows more agitated and nervous resulting in her magic flaring. This time, it strikes Anna in the heart. Elsa, in desperation to get her sister to safety, creates a giant snow creature (that Olaf calls "Marshmallow") to throw them out. As revenge, Anna balls up a snowball and throws it at the giant beast. Though it left literally no damage whatsoever, the lack of respect was enough to infuriate Marshmallow and cause him to chase Anna, Kristoff, and Olaf down the North Mountain and most likely eliminate them.

Marshmallow manages to corner them at the edge of a cliff, though Kristoff immediately begins digging a snow anchor by using a rope to safely guide himself and Anna down the mountain to safety. Marshmallow, however, catches up to them, though Olaf tries to stop him. Marshmallow, annoyed, kicks Olaf over the cliff and continues his chase for Anna and Kristoff. He pulls them up to his face by the rope, and orders them once more to never return. Just after, Anna grabs Kristoff's knife and cuts the rope. This sends the duo plummeting down, though they survive. With his mission to drive them away completely, Marshmallow returns to the ice palace. After they escaped the snow monster, Kristoff notices that Anna's hair is turning white. He takes them to seek help, to which he leads Anna (who is slowly freezing) to the trolls. A mix-up occurs, and the trolls insist Anna and Kristoff get married ("Fixer Upper"). Anna collapses before the two can be wed by Gothi the Troll Priest, and Grand Pabbie appears. According to him, only an act of true love can thaw a frozen heart or else Anna will freeze solid. Kristoff races back to Arendelle to get Anna to Hans, believing true love's kiss will save her.

Meanwhile, Hans, on a search for Anna after her horse returns to the kingdom without her, and the guards find the ice castle. Shortly after they arrive, Hans orders that no harm is to come to the queen. While everyone agrees, the Duke's thugs quietly disagree, still following the Duke's orders to kill her. The moment they come close enough, Marshmallow reveals himself from the form of snowy boulders in case more unwanted guests were to arrive, and jumps right into battle. The soldiers immediately attack the beast with their arrows, infuriating Marshmallow and causing his ultimate form to be unleashed. Marshmallow is able to hold most of the guards off. Hans, however, proves to be a fierce warrior himself, avoiding each of Marshmallow's attacks and eventually using his sword to slice the snow monster's leg off and cause him to lose balance and begin tumbling over to a large gorge. With Marshmallow wounded, Hans begins heading inside Elsa's castle. Marshmallow, however, doesn't give up, giving one last swing in an attempt to drag Hans down with him. Marshmallow, unfortunately, fails plummets down into the chasm below, apparently to his death. While Hans battles Marshmallow, the Duke's men attack Elsa. She fights back, nearly killing them both much to her own horror. Just as Elsa was about to murder the two, Hans appears and stops her to say not to prove she's the monster they believe she is. Elsa settles down a bit at Hans' words, realizing the demon she was becoming and halts her magic. One of the soldiers, however, aims his arrow at Elsa, still following the Duke's orders. Hans intervenes just as the soldier is about to shoot her, causing the arrow to cut through Elsa's chandelier which then plummets towards the ground. Elsa tries to escape the collision but is knocked out in the process. Hans and the soldiers then capture her and head back to the kingdom. She wakes up shackled in a cell back in Arendelle Castle. Hans pleads with her to undo the winter, but Elsa replies that she can't due to the fact that she is unable to control her powers.

Anna is returned to Hans, freezing and growing colder by the second. She tells Hans everything that has happened and hopes he will kiss her and break the curse. But he instead cruelly reveals that he had been pretending to love her the whole time, as part of a fiendish plan to seize control of Arendelle's throne, because he is the youngest of thirteen brothers and will never reach the throne in his own kingdom. Anna tries to stop him, but she is far too weak. He puts the fire out to prevent Anna from getting any heat and warmth and leaves Anna to freeze to death. Then he tells the Duke and the kingdom's officials what Anna told him, in addition to lying that he was too late to save her. He also pretends to grieve for her and sentences Queen Elsa to death as part of his plan to gain the Arendelle throne.

Elsa escapes from prison just as the guards come in, and heads out into the blizzard on the fjord. Meanwhile, Anna's curse becomes stronger with her death process nearly complete. When Olaf arrives, he finds Anna in the library on the ground and quickly dying. Olaf comes to Anna's rescue and starts a fire to keep the princess warm. Olaf then asks what happened with the true love's kiss from Hans, to which Anna reveals his treachery and Hans never loved her. Fearing he'll melt, Anna tells Olaf to leave. Not wanting to abandon his friend, the snowman stays by her side and nearly melts during this time. Anna brokenheartedly tells Olaf that she doesn't even know what love is anymore. Olaf replies by telling Anna that love is putting someone else before yourself, using Kristoff as an example. This reveals Kristoff's true feelings to Anna, much to the princess's surprise. Suddenly, the library's window bursts open due to the strong winter winds. Olaf rushes to close it, but he then notices Kristoff and Sven rushing back to the castle. Knowing Kristoff is truly the one that loves Anna, the two try to head out to meet him. Olaf then aids the dying princess out of the castle and into the fjords. The two then travel together out on the fjord to find him, where he is racing back to the kingdom. With a sword at hand, Hans is prepared to slay the queen. Hans eventually stumbles upon her, telling her that she can't escape all the horrible things she's already done. Elsa pleads for mercy, still believing Hans to be a benevolent prince, and asks him to take care of her sister for her. Hans cuts Elsa off and tells her that Anna is dead because of her. Devastated by the horrific news, Elsa breaks down in tears.

In Elsa's despair, the storm immediately stops. This then gives Kristoff and Anna the chance to reach each other. But at that moment, Anna hears a sword being drawn a short distance away. In horror, Anna sees that Hans is about to kill her sister. Anna must choose to save herself or her sister, which is only seconds away. After one last look at Kristoff, she makes her decision to save Elsa and throw herself between Elsa and Hans; she freezes solid just as Hans' sword hits her instead of Elsa, causing the sword to shatter and also causing Hans to be brutally knocked out unconscious in the process. Elsa, after a few moments of despair, sees that her sister has thawed and come back to life because she sacrificed herself to save her sister, constituting an act of true love that Olaf first realizes.

Elsa realizes that love is the key to controlling her powers, and thaws the kingdom. Olaf, overjoyed, smiles with glee, but quickly melts due to the summer heat. Elsa restores him and gives him a small flurry cloud to hover over his body and keep him completely cool, finally allowing the snowman to live his dream of experiencing summer and all its wonders. When Hans awakens several moments later, he finds Arendelle thawed and peace restored. When Kristoff attempted to confront Hans for trying to kill the two sisters, Elsa seems touched by Kristoff's protectiveness over her and Anna. Anna, however, decides to confront him instead. Anna then approaches the manipulative and deceptive prince, which the sight of Anna alive and well confuses Hans and prompts him to ask how she'd survive the frozen heart curse as her heart was frozen. Eventually, Anna berates Hans by telling him he's the only one around here with the frozen heart and turns her back at him much to Hans's disbelief. Out of fury, the princess turns around and punches him in the face off the ship they were aboard and into the water a few seconds later. Anna and Elsa then hug, with their friendship restored stronger than ever. As the sisters hug each other, Anna looks lovingly towards Kristoff, showing that she reciprocated his love. Once again, Arendelle is restored to peace. Elsa is once again accepted as queen, with everyone finally understanding that she is no monster, but a creator of beautiful magic. Exposed as the manipulating liar he is, Hans is then arrested and deported back to his own kingdom to face punishment from his twelve older brothers for his deeds. Elsa additionally cuts off all trade with Weselton. The Duke tries to claim that he was innocent and a victim of fear. But to no avail, he and his thugs are sent back to Weselton.

He is then heard insisting that the town is not named "Weaseltown" after being mispronounced once again, though purposely by Kai to annoy him. Sometime later, Anna leads a blindfolded Kristoff to the docks, though briefly leads him to a pole. She removes the blindfold, and gives Kristoff a new sled and reveals that Elsa has named him the Official Ice Master for the kingdom and so he can be with Anna. He attempts to decline both the sled and the title, too modest to accept, but Anna points out that this is a direct order from the queen. When she asks what his thoughts on the sled are, Kristoff picks up Anna and twirls her around in his arms, exclaiming he loves it, and that he could kiss her. Realizing what he said, Kristoff immediately puts her down and stammers awkwardly that he'd like to, among several sentences of nonsense, leaving him embarrassingly flustered before Anna kisses his cheek, saying to Kristoff, "We may," and the two share a kiss. Elsa creates an ice rink in one of the castle courtyards and promises to never shut the castle gates again while gifting Anna with a pair of ice skates (made out of snow and ice). Anna is delighted but tells Elsa that she can't skate. Elsa helps her, and she is later joined by Olaf. The movie ends with everyone in the village skating, making the most of Elsa's ice rink.

It is revealed after the credits that Marshmallow had survived and (to some degree) reattached his leg. He is seen limping back into the castle, where all he finds is Elsa's old crown. The monster looks around for a moment and smiles. Then, pleasing his inner prince, Marshmallow happily crowns himself ruler of the castle while going back to his neutral and peaceful form smiling and letting out a happy sigh, happily continuing his life in the North Mountain.

Cast

Frozen castposter

The main cast of Frozen from left to right: Elsa, Kristoff, Sven, Olaf, Anna and Hans.

Actor Role(s)
Kristen Bell Anna
Idina Menzel Elsa
Jonathan Groff Kristoff
Josh Gad Olaf
Santino Fontana Hans
Ciarán Hinds Pabbie
Alan Tudyk

The Duke of Weselton

Livvy Stubenrauch 5-year-old Anna (speaking)
Katie Lopez 5-year-old Anna (singing)
Agatha Lee Monn 9-year-old Anna
Eva Bella 8-year-old Elsa
Spencer Lacey Ganus 12-year-old Elsa
Chris Williams Oaken
Maia Wilson Bulda
Paul Briggs Marshmallow
Maurice LaMarche The King
Jennifer Lee The Queen
Jack Whitehall Gothi
Stephen J. Anderson Kai
Edie McClurg Gerda
Annie Lopez Baby Troll
Robert Pine Bishop of Arendelle
Jesse Corti Spanish Dignitary
Jeffrey Marcus German Dignitary
Tucker Gilmore Irish Dignitary

Additional Voices

Stars
Ava Acres
Stephen Apostolina
Annaleigh Ashford
Kirk Baily
Jenica Bergere
Dave Boat
Tyree Brown
Woody Buck
June Christopher
Lewis Cleale
Wendy Cutler
Terri Douglas
Eddie Frierson
Jean Gilpin
Jackie Gonneau
Nicholas Guest
Bridget Hoffman
Nick Jameson
Daniel Kaz
John Lavelle
Pat Lentz
Katie Lowes
Mona Marshall
Dara McGarry
Scott Menville
Adam Overett
Paul Pape
Courtney Peldon
Jennifer Perry
Raymond S. Persi
Jean-Michel Richaud
Lynwood Robinson
Carter Sand
Jadon Sand
Katie Silverman
Pepper Sweeney
Fred Tatasciore

Songs

  • Vuelie
  • Frozen Heart
  • Do You Want to Build a Snowman?
  • For the First Time in Forever (Reprise)
  • Love is an Open Door
  • Let It Go
  • Reindeer(s) Are Better Than People
  • In Summer
  • Fixer Upper

Trivia

  • Anna and Elsa were supposed to join the Disney Princesses franchise, then it turned out it was a massive success in the box office so they ended up having their own franchise and Disney thought it wouldn't be necessary for them to be with the princesses. However, they continue to be associated with the franchise, as they were featured in the Disney Princess court in the film Ralph Breaks the Internet.
  • The four characters Hans, Kristoff, Anna and Sven, if their names are put together, it sounds like "Hans Christian Andersen".
  • Before the film production, Disney studios have tried to adapt The Snow Queen many times over the 20th century.
  • It is the second Disney film that is based on a work by Hans Christian Andersen. The first was The Little Mermaid. Furthermore, Disney studios also had done two short adaptations of the tale The Ugly Duckling, then the apparent mention of the story The Emperor's New Clothes in the title of the movie The Emperor's New Groove.
  • For a brief part of the song 'The First Time in Forever' we can see the characters Rapunzel and Flynn Rider from the movie Tangled in the crowd coming to Elsa's coronation.
  • 'Love Can't Be Denied' was not in the movie because Alan Menken, the writer of the song, left the project.
  • This is the third Disney Princess film not to kill the main villain, first two being Cinderella and Pocahontas. Although Jafar did not die in the first Aladdin, he did in the second.
  • This is currently the only movie with two Disney Princesses.

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