For decades, Disney has been capturing an audience of young children with fairytales. Following the same storyline time after time; the girl meets a boy, falls in love with him, something happens to them so they can’t be together, a tragedy occurs, they kiss, and then live happily ever after. Sounds familiar right?

Over the last few years, Disney has begun to move away from this trend of just happily ever after. Now the princesses aren’t seeking out the prince, they set out to find something, to achieve a goal, and the just happen to pick up a prince along the way.

Frozen, released in November of 2013, is Disney’s most recent movie that follows this trend. Princesses Elsa (voiced by Idina Menzel) and Anna (voiced by Kristen Bell) live a fairly normal life, until, wait for it: tragedy strikes. Elsa, born with magical powers, nearly kills Anna while they are playing together. From this point forward, Elsa becomes withdrawn from society. Following the unexpected deaths of their parents (surprise!), Elsa, who over time has become withdrawn from her sister, assumes the throne when she comes of age. The rift between Elsa and Anna only gets worse when Anna asks Elsa to bless her marriage to a man, Prince Hans (voiced by Santino Fontana), who she just met.

Now this is where Disney breaks from tradition. Instead of Anna and Hans getting married, Elsa refuses to to bless the marriage and in a fit of anger against her sister, runs off to the mountains.

Anna, sets off into the mountains chasing after her sister, leaving the Hans behind to rule over Arendalle. Instead  of staying behind with her so called true love, like most princesses would, Anna chooses to go after Elsa. Along the way she meets Kristoff (voiced by Jonathan Groff), a quirky iceman and Sven, his loyal reindeer.

Anna, Kristoff, and Sven travel up the mountain looking for Elsa. Initially Anna is wary of Kristof and his motives. Instead of instantly falling in love with him at first sight, like most princesses would, she is focused on her quest to find her sister .

As Elsa races up the mountain, the overplayed song “Let it Go” fills the air. Singing things such as, “A kingdom of isolation, And it looks like I’m the queen.” This alludes to Elsa’s personal quest to be comfortable with her powers, to be who she truly is, alone.

When they finally stumble upon Elsa, her anger and frustration towards Anna coming after her drives them away. But as they leave, Elsa endangers her sister’s life once again, and this time she freezes her heart.

As Anna and Kristoff travel back down the mountain, the effects of her frozen heart begin to take a toll. Kristoff, who doesn’t know what to do, brings her to his family, a clan of rock trolls. They tell them, “Only an act of true love can save her from a frozen heart.” Thinking that Hans was her true love, Kristof bring her back to Arendalle.

When Anna comes back to Arendalle, Hans pretends that he cares about her, and in a not so surprising twist, he turns out to be a villain. Instead of saving her, he tells her he only tricked her so he could steal the throne. Leaving Anna to die alone, he seeks out Elsa.

Upon finding Elsa, he tells her sister is dead in order to break her. At that same time, Kristoff races back down the mountain, realizing that he truly has love for Anna. Anna, with her little strength left, goes in search of Kristof, to save herself. In a surprising plot twist, instead of searching for Kristoff, she finds Elsa, who Hans is about to kill. She steps between her sister and Hans, ready to sacrifice her life for her family, when she turns to solid ice, saving Elsa. Elsa, heartbroken that her beloved sister is dead, apologizes to her sister’s frozen form. Anna miraculously comes back to life, because of this act of true love. What Disney shows us it an act of true love doesn’t have to come from a handsome prince on a white horse, it can come from an even stronger bond, family.

Filled with hilarious one liners, a fantastic orchestral score, and catchy songs, it’s no wonder people can’t just let it go of Frozen. Behind the icy facade that this princess movie creates, lies a deeper meaning. Love at first sight doesn’t always happen, the princess doesn’t  always chase after her prince charming, and an act of true love, isn’t always a kiss.