Author: Charles Solomon
Hardcover: 168 pages
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Release Date: December 3, 2013
Our Score: 3 out of 5 stars
When a new Disney or Pixar movie comes out, I am usually more excited for the “Art of” book, then the film recently. I love the behind-the-scenes door into these films. “Frozen” is my hand down favorite film of 2013 to date, so maybe my expectations were a little high, but I was slightly disappointed with this book. It is quite different from recent companion books for “Tangled” and “Wreck-It Ralph” for sure. If you’ve seen this film then you will know how visually amazing it is, I didn’t really feel that scale when I did a flip through on this. The concept art included in this book consists of storyboards, character designs, location designs, props etc. I enjoyed all these quite a bit but I wish the overall presentation was just a little more welcoming. Still this book will have a prominent place on my table for months to come since I am in love with the film.
Official Premise: In Walt Disney Animation Studios upcoming film, Frozen, the fearless optimist Anna sets off on an epic journey—teaming up with rugged mountain man Kristoff—to find her sister Elsa, whose icy powers have trapped the kingdom of Arendelle in eternal winter. Encountering Everest-like conditions, Anna and Kristoff battle the elements in a race to save the kingdom. The Art of Frozen features concept art from the making of the film—including character studies and sculpts, color scripts, storyboards, and more—alongside interviews with the film’s artists about the making of this comedy-adventure.
One thing you should know though before picking this up is that if you haven’t seen the film do not read this yet since there are a few decent size spoilers given in the book. The artwork is well represented by Chronicle Books, but that is not a surprise since they usually deliver great books. The images are very high quality, so that is definitely a plus going for this book. It is also authored by Charles Solomon, who also did one of my favorites “The Art of Toy Story 3”. There is a solid preface from the Chief Creative Officer at Walt Disney and Pixar Animation Studios and Principal Creative Officer at Walt Disney Imagineering aka John Lasseter. He was also an executive producer on the film. The foreword is from the films directors Chris Buck (director of “Surf’s Up”) and Jennifer Lee (writer of “Wreck-It Ralph”) and worth checking out. Even though this may not be the best “Art of” book of the year, if you enjoyed the film then I would say that it is worth checking out still just keep expectation lower.