Frozen

Disney has a girl problem. Take a look at TV commercials for the new animated feature Frozen, and you’d likely suspect that it’s about a funny talking snowman, and maybe also a funny non-talking reindeer. You certainly wouldn’t know it had anything to do with a complicated relationship between sisters. Because people, especially boys, might think that was – yuck! – too girly.

In a lot of ways, it’s a problem no different than that found in studio movie-making everywhere, emphasized by the surging pop-culture awareness of the “Bechdel Test” for how few movies feature more than one female character, who actually talk to each other, and about something other than a man. And it’s a problem complicated by the Mouse House’s wildly successful marketing of its princesses. In Frozen, Disney keeps showing that it’s scared to death of boldly proclaiming one of their animated movies has a female protagonist.

That institutional anxiety about over-estrogenizing their stories drips from large chunks of Frozen – and it’s heartbreaking to watch, because the opening 15 minutes suggest the potential for a flat-out masterpiece. The prologue introduces Scandinavian princesses Elsa and Anna, close playmates as children until Elsa’s magical powers – manipulating ice and snow – injure Anna.

It’s a magnificent set-up for a story by screenwriter/co-director Jennifer Lee (Wreck-It Ralph) about the complicated dynamics that can estrange family members from one another – right up to the point where the newly-crowned Queen Elsa (Idina Menzel) inadvertently unleashes an unseasonal winter on her coastal kingdom, and flees into the mountains. Anna (Kristen Bell) heads off in pursuit, eventually finding assistance from solitary ice merchant Kristoff (Glee’s Jonathan Groff) and his puppy-friendly reindeer Sven. They also encounter Olaf (Josh Gad), a genial enchanted snowman created by Elsa. And nearly the entire middle hour of Frozen is spent focused on their quest, to the point where you might wonder, “Wait, wasn’t there another sister in this movie at some point?”

Frozen drifts through a generally pleasant, well-performed final 80 minutes full of solid songs, effective action beats and decent laughs. By the time it reaches its big emotional payoff, it simply falls a little flat. There’s a risk Disney just wasn’t willing to take, not when the big dollars are to be found in guiding boys deftly around having to engage with a story about – ick! – girls.

FROZEN (3) • Directed by Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee •Starring Kristen Bell, Idina Menzel, Jonathan Goff •Rated PG • 108 min •At Lighthouse Cinemas, Century Cinemas Del Monte, Maya Cinemas, Northridge Cinemas.