Right at the business end of the year, Disney appear to have snatched away the Oscar for Best Animated Feature from the competition. We, the movie writers, have been nervously looking at each other trying to figure out which overblown cartoon will scoop the honor in March 2014 after some weak efforts, though the studio's latest release, Frozen, appears to be the one.

Frozen'Frozen' Is One Of The Best Animated Movies of the Year

The comedy-adventure follows the story of Anna (Kristen Bell), a fearless optimist, whose kingdom is trapped in eternal winter. She teams up with an extreme mountain man for an epic journey to find Anna's sister, The Snow Queen (Idina Menzel) . Along the way, the team encounter mystical trolls, a funny snowman named Olaf, and magic at every turn.

"In a year of weak animated features, Frozen - loosely based on "The Snow Queen" - takes the lead by default," said Peter Travers of Rolling Stone.

"Frozen is one of the few recent films to capture that classic Disney spirit," said Vulture.

"Make way for a new kind of fairy tale. These Frozen princesses are the kind we can definitely warm to," wrote the Toronto Star.

"Most importantly, this is a long-needed step in the right direction to a more varied depiction of female characters in Disney's canon," said AV Club.

"Frozen is a fine addition to Disney's animated pantheon, offering a witty and heartfelt princess fairly tale with creative musical elements and visual panache," wrote Screen Rant.

Frozen'Frozen' Could Win The Oscar for Best Animated Feature

Frozen is now considered the frontrunner for the Oscar for Best Animated Feature, with its only real competition being Hayao Miyazaki's swan song The Wind Rises.

It's difficult to imagine commercial hits like Monster's University, Despicable Me 2 or The Croods winning the award, though the first two in particular will almost certainly be nominated. Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2 and Epic remain outsiders for nominations.

Frozen is out in the U.S now.

Watch the Frozen trailer: