To sum up:  what a charming, delightful animated movie.  I walked out with a huge smile on my face before walking three blocks with my husband to look at San Francisco’s Christmas tree and all the fancy decorations around Union Square.  On our way back to the Muni, we walked past the Macy’s windows full of kittens and puppies ready to adopt.  The volunteer I talked to about the joy of rescue cats said that 111 cats and dogs have already been adopted due to the window displays.  Awesome, right?  And then I walked into the Disney store and burst into overwhelmed tears.

Which is me, really.  That’s what I do.

SPOIIIIILERS.

What I liked most about the movie wasn’t actually the relationship between the sisters (which is awesome!) or the somehow non-obnoxious sidekicks (a feat!) or even the Nordic stylings (my Swedish heart was pleased!).  I just loved loved loved the character of Elsa, who is both villain and victim, queen and repressed woman, violent and anguished.  I loved her intensity, I loved her anger, and when she strutted out onto her ice balcony after the best song in the movie, I was exhilarated.  Part of that has to do with Disney animation, of course.  The ice effects were fantastic.  And while I really really get the criticism about the ice-dress with the heels and the princesses being thin and big-eyed and so on…that strut after she tells her past to go stuff itself just made me want to cheer.

Also, Idina Menzel is ridiculous as Elsa, she’s just so good.  Kudos to Disney for choosing a voice talent that (no offense to the excellent Kristen Bell, or Mandy Moore in Tangled) isn’t cute and breathy and …yeah.  Cute.  Nothing wrong with cute.  But Elsa isn’t a Disney princess, she’s a Disney queen.  And of course Menzel’s voice is just amazing.  There’s an echo of her staggering “Defying Gravity” from Wicked in Frozen‘s “Let It Go,” and I am okay with that.  Songs of liberation – at cost, with consequences – lift my heart every time.

I don’t usually post videos and then say don’t watch it! but it really deserves to be seen in the movie, in situ.  That said, if you’ve already seen Frozen, maybe you want to watch it five times like I did.

Delightful, bright, beautiful, awesome.  Go see!