5 Reasons Why My Kids Can Watch "Frozen" Over and Over Again

As a little girl, I had a few movies that I watched over and over and over again for years.  I would act out the movies, sing the songs, and pretend to be the main characters for days on end. The Sound of Music, The Wizard of Oz, Beauty and the Beast, and Cinderella, among a few others come to mind. I feared that there might be very few, if any, movies made in my kid's lifetime that would be positive enough to let them watch so regularly. So many movies today have such worldly messages, negative themes, or even just crude humor that it is hard to imagine letting my children watch them. But when I recently saw Frozen, it completely surprised me by its awesomeness and positive messages.

Before you read the rest of my post I should warn you, THERE ARE SIGNIFICANT SPOILERS! If you haven't seen the movie, go out and see it, and then come back! I really do not want to ruin this for you, so please go see it before reading on.

Without further fuss, here are 5 reasons why I love this movie, and why I would let my little girl (and other future children) watch it as often as they like:

1. Elsa and Anna as siblings - I loved the relationship between Elsa and Anna. Of course, there is the obvious message of self-sacrifice: the "act of true love" where Anna gives up her chance at being saved to save her sister. That is such a powerful moment in the movie, but there is also a lot of realism and positive examples in the rest of their relationship as well. Even when Elsa hurts Anna by ignoring her and shutting her out, Elsa does it because she wants to protect her sister. And Anna never becomes resentful; she loves and cares for Elsa despite the fact that Elsa has not been there for her over the years. This is such a positive message for kids with siblings - even when your brothers and sisters do things that hurt you, you still love them and care for them.
2. "You Can't Marry Someone You Just Met." - "You can if it's true love!" I loved that exchange! I don't have to spell out why this is great; every parent knows. I love that this movie is so counter to the message in other Disney princess movies, and that's a good thing! One of my favorite songs in the movie was "Love is an Open Door," despite the fact that Anna is merely "twitterpated" during that scene, because, let's be honest, we've all felt that way before. That puppy love feeling is one that everyone is likely to encounter at some point, and it's great. But we all need an Elsa in our lives to keep us grounded and remind us that we can't marry someone we just met. This movie has such a great definition of true love, and I love that it both applies to romantic relationships and extends beyond that as well. As Olaf says so eloquently, "true love is putting someone else's needs before your own."
3. Learning from Elsa - Anna may be the main character in this story, but you can learn a lot from Elsa. Maybe because I'm the oldest in my family (well, definitely because I'm the oldest) I instantly identified with Elsa. I know I don't have any magical powers, and the cold certainly does bother me, but I do know what it is like to feel the need to hide parts of who I am to be more acceptable to others. I bet everyone has been there at some point. We will never be able to constructively handle our struggles, strengths, or personal battles by pretending they don't exist and hiding them from everyone. And while we think that we might be protecting the people we care about, there are better ways to do that. Elsa was trying to do the right thing, but she was not taught how to correctly handle her powers. If her parents had encouraged her to practice controlling her skills and had not told her she had to hide and fear them, this whole crisis could have been averted. I also appreciate that Elsa is a good character, and while not the main protagonist, she is never made out to be a "bad guy" or a "problem." I think kids can learn just as much from Elsa's mistakes and good qualities as they can from Anna's, which is great. 
4. The Music - This is more practical from a parent's perspective. I would probably attempt to not let my kids watch a movie over and over again if I couldn't stand the sound of it. You know they're going to be singing the songs and acting out the movie for years if they like it, so it better be good! The music in this movie is wonderful! I already find myself singing the songs. In fact, I decided to watch the movie solely based off of how much I loved the songs when they started popping up in my Pandora station. The movie is also beautiful to look at. The animation is fabulous and the color palate is very lovely. I do not usually like animation, especially when it is unattractive or "cartoony." But this movie was a treat to listen to and to watch. 
5. Christ-Like Themes - The final act of sacrifice where Anna gives up her life for Elsa and then ends up coming to life again is an obvious opportunity to talk to your kids about Jesus and how he gave up his life to save us. Even when, like Elsa, we turned away from God and shut him out, he still comes after us, pursues us, and ultimately sacrifices himself to save us. Anna had no real reason to sacrifice herself from her sister. From Anna's perspective by the end of the movie Elsa had been very hostile to her. But that didn't matter. Anna loved Elsa, so she gave up her life for her anyway. What a wonderful opportunity for family discussion, and how powerful to be able to help kids make that connection and realize the extent of what Christ did for us.

Bonus Reason: Fractals! - As a math major, how can I not love a movie where the main song ("Let it Go") mentions fractals?! And as a future homeschool mom, I plan to take full advantage of that tie-in with my kids some day and have a Frozen-inspired math lesson (or even a unit) on fractals! 

Side note: Coming right on the heels of my post about TV, I feel the need to clarify that I don't have a problem with letting my kids watch movies that have been previewed and pre-approved my myself or my husband. There are good movies out there, and many that I'm excited to share with my daughter! The key will of course me moderation of screen time. They may have to watch a feature movie a half-hour at a time over a few days when they are little, but that's okay. It's what I did growing up, and it worked just fine!