'Frozen' mixes song, wit and heart in magical winter tale

• USA TODAY Review%3A **** out of 4
• Voices%3A Kristen Bell%2C Idina Menzel%2C Josh Gad
• Rated PG%3B runtime%3A 1 hour%2C 38 minutes%3B opens Wednesday nationwide

Frozen (**** out of four; rated PG; opening Wednesday nationwide) is wonderfully enchanting wintry fare.

Despite the frosty title, it's a warm-hearted, rousing and stunning animated saga ideally poised for the holiday season.

Like The Little Mermaid, it's loosely based on a Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale —The Snow Queen — updated with contemporary wit, a stellar musical score and superb vocal talent.

The fresh focus in this Disney film is on sisterhood. Anna (Kristen Bell) and her older sister Elsa (Idina Menzel) are more complex heroines than The Little Mermaid's Ariel, though just as tuneful, energetic and winning. The screenplay by Jennifer Lee, who co-directed with Chris Buck, appealingly blends the vintage with the post-modern.

It's a worthy follow-up to 2009's The Princess and the Frog and 2010's Tangled in terms of musical score and magical appeal. Elaborately rendering snow and ice in myriad breathtaking variations, Frozen is set in a mythical Scandinavian kingdom. Glacial castles, crystalline icicles and intricately delicate snowflakes dazzle.

Elsa and Anna are royal daughters in a mythical Nordic kingdom. They're sweet little playmates as children, but not conventional Disney princesses. Elsa has a magical condition she cannot control — the creation of snow and ice with the mere swipe of her hand. When she inadvertently injures Anna with her powers, her bewildering ability becomes a curse. Her regretful parents sequester Elsa. Anna is never told why her beloved sister suddenly refuses to play. But Elsa's distance is borne out of love and a sense of protection. Anna grows up lonely, estranged from her sister and longing for the joyful moments they once shared. Do You Want to Build a Snowman is a lovely musical number that illustrates Anna's emotional yearning, sung with heartfelt sweetness by Bell.

Tony-award winning composer and lyricist Robert Lopez (The Book of Mormon) and his wife, Kristen Anderson-Lopez, wrote the catchy songs, splendidly capturing the moods of the film — from heart-rending to humorous.

The girls grow up cloistered in the castle — until the day of Elsa's coronation. Amid the celebration, however, Elsa runs away. Anna is stricken. Ever loyal, she sets off to find her sister.

Along the way Anna meets mountain man Kristoff (Jonathan Groff), and a cheerful snowman named Olaf (Josh Gad), an adorable scene-stealer. His song In Summer is a strikingly memorable number.

A rare animated movie that makes ideal use of 3-D technology, it is integrated artfully here without gimmickry.

Just as The Lion King was a tale of a loving father and son, this story celebrates the bonds of sisterhood. Happily, the sisters are more complicated characters than is the norm for Disney animated movies. Anna is a variation on Beauty and the Beast's devoted and fearless Belle, with more layers of emotional complexity. Despite possessing supernatural powers out of her control, Elsa is not cast as a villain. She struggles to resign herself to her fate and retain her humanity. Elsa's song Let it Go (wonderfully performed by Menzel, who played Wicked's Elphaba) captures the shadings of her persona.

A thoroughly involving story — both modern and timeless — Frozen embraces the classic Disney tradition, while avoiding stock conventions and formulaic elements.

Given the endearing characters, good-natured comedy, memorable music and beautiful design of this animated charmer, it's easy to imagine the Broadway show that will likely be created in its wake.