Ever since John Lasseter took the reins at Disney Animation, that ole Disney magic has been making a comeback in a big way – Tangled was such a lovely surprise – and now a new fairy tale has been tapped for the full-length Disney animated feature treatment. Coming our way in 2013: Frozen, a story based on Hans Christain Anderson’s The Snow Queen.
The story: When a prophecy traps a kingdom in eternal winter, Anna (voiced by Kristen Bell, she of Veronica Mars fame) is forced to team up with Kristoff, a daring mountain man (yet to be voice cast) on the grandest of journeys to find the Snow Queen (voiced by Tony Award winner Idina Menzel, who you may know from Glee) and put an end to the icy spell. Encountering Everest-like extremes, mystical creatures and magic at every turn, Anna and Kristoff battle the elements in a race to save the kingdom from destruction.
Sounds fun, no? And if that isn’t enough to get you excited, here’s another drool-worthy tidbit – none other than Broadway legends Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez (they of The Book of Mormon fame) are on board to write the original songs. (I sense an Oscar for best song looming in Disney’s future…)
Oh, and for those of you who were wondering – yes, this will be computer animation (a la Tangled), not hand-drawn (like The Princess and The Frog). And I’ll admit, that does make me just a smidgen sad – yes, Tangled was undeniably gorgeous, but to my eyes there’s still just something extra, something just a bit more special, about hand-drawn animation. (So yes, I’m one of those sappy fools hoping Lasseter sticks to his promise to keep the old hand-drawn art form alive…)
But as for Frozen, keep a weather eye out: the ice sets in November 27th, 2013.
Bring it on, Tink.
I love hand-drawn animation, too, but this one still sounds good regardless. They better keep the strong-female-protagonist going too.