I am treading on thin ice doing this review, I know.
Apparently, Disney has a huge hit on its hands with the film
Frozen. The secret to its success
still alludes me. After six or seven months of being bombarded by gifsets,
clips, music, fan art and promotional material for Disney’s Tangled on Ice, I snapped. I snapped and
I rented it. Note, that is five dollars I will never get back. The film’s
run-time seemed average for a Disney film and the trailers showed it as a
light-hearted trump through the fields snow with a Princess Rapunzel
Anna and man who sells ice instead of steals. There is a deer who
behaves like a dog this time instead of a horse. And instead of a random iguana
there is a forgivably less random snowman who talks.
Some time back in 2011 when I discovered that Disney would
be taking on Hans Christen Anderson’s Snow
Queen (I.e. the Best Book of His Career), I was hesitant to be excited. I
already knew that they would be calling it “Frozen” instead of a sane title
like “Snow Queen.” They seem to have begun this trend with “Tangled” because
having a female’s name in the title (Rapunzel) is poison now. Yes, apparently
this is a thing. But perhaps they would
transcend their questionable title choice. Some of the original concept art
looked promising and there came a glimmer of hope in my heart.
After all, with the wide range of characters, locations,
adventure, themes and fantasy, Disney really would have a moment to shine to
greatness again. They have made these kind of things work before, when they are
willing to take risks. Snow Queen would be the perfect opportunity to get
risky.
In the story of Snow Queen we have all the things a Disney
adventure needs. Peril, animals, landscapes, colorful cast of characters. Come
on, there are witches, thieves, talking reindeer, princesses (not related to
the protagonist of the story) and a truly terrifying but poetically beautiful
villain, the titular Snow Queen. Who and what is the Snow Queen? Well, she is a
wintry spirit. She is the villainess of the tale, who captures an innocent
child named Kai, to keep her company. Without giving away too much of the story
for those of you who wish to read it and experience it for yourself, let me
just tell you that Frozen is not an adaption of the Snow Queen. It resembles it
in very few ways. But Kay does not die. In Anderson’s tale, when Kai is
abducted by the Snow Queen, his best friend Gerda begins a one-girl quest to
rescue him. . The power of the metaphors
in the story layered and just ambiguous enough to keep us coming back to time
and again. The Snow Queen wants companionship but she can only have that with a
child whose heart is polluted to apathy/distortion and whose memories must be
erased. Though they inhabit the same palace and are physically together, Kai
and the Snow Queen are still alone. On Gerda’s way to rescue Kai she is aided
by a varied cast of characters, most of which are female. I will not give away
the ending of the story in case you (wisely) decide to read the book instead of
watch this movie I am about to review.
The complaint that Disney has completely ignored the source
material of the Snow Queen is, while well-founded, untrue. The classic tale is
still here, only torn to pieces, scattered, rearranged and gutted of any of its
subtle symbolism. So what did Disney do when they took on The Snow Queen?
- · Gerda is made into an adult princess.
- · Kai’s role is changed from captive into Anna’s romantic interest.
- · Kai’s look-alike who lives in a castle with a princess seems to have become Hans, “the other guy” in the romance and who turns out to be… (well, read on)
- · The evil trolls become good.
- · The wicked mirror whose shards blind Kai to beauty and goodness, distorting his view of everyone, is completely gone.
- · The Snow Queen’s heart-freezing kiss becomes Elsa’s spazzing out ice-daggers that can freeze people to statues. A heart does freeze but instead of the Kai-character, it is Gerda (Anna).
- · The kindly witch with the garden of eternal summer. Gone.
- · The band of robbers. Gone.
- · The little robber girl who helps Gerda. Gone.
- · The talking reindeer. Becomes a regular reindeer which Kristoff simply gives a voice to like those whacky pet-lovers who make their pets talk in freaky little voices.
- · The princess who helps Gerda. I don’t know. Honestly I think the Princess has been mashed up with the Snow Queen herself in an attempt to create another Disney princess.
- · The Snow Queen’s minions, the “Snow Bees” are replaced by a giant snow man called Marshmallow. (Who, to be fair, kicks major posterior.)
- · Talking animals and other nature. They are replaced by a snowman called Olaf who, for some reason wants to experience summer. Probably a death wish.
- · The Snow Queen herself. Changed from an enigmatic wintry entity into a human princess/queen who is Gerda-character’s own older sister. Actually, this character is Elphaba from Wicked. She is even voiced by the same actress to play Elphaba. Both their names start with El. Apparently she is going to be on Disney’s tarted up whore/show Once Upon a Time in its upcoming (shitty fanfic), too. This was all quite calculated.
- · You may notice that the Lake of Reason is gone.
- · So is the Snow Queen's eerie wickedness.
·
Also, that’s an awful lot of female empowerment
to give the axe to, isn’t it, Disney? What’s the matter? Afraid of isolating
potential male audience members? Didn’t want to appear too feminist?
I promise I am not here just
to shit and piss all over Frozen (though I will not hesitate to make some yellow
snow here and there). What I really want to get at here is why it was so
successful and why people consider it a new beginning for Disney. Some have
even claimed it is as good and well-made as Beauty and the Beast. So before I
begin the summary, I am going to compile a list of things I’ve seen said that
defends Frozen as “unique.” Now, just
because a movie is not unique or because
these things fans claim are less-than-true, does not mean the movie is bad. A movie can be cliché and overrated
and still good. But I think in analyzing why it is so popular, I need to
address this.
- A man doesn’t save the day.
- Elsa has anxiety/mental illness.
- The prince turned out to be evil.
- The music.
- The animation.
- It’s about sisters and not romance.
- The message is good. (Not sure how this makes it unique, since Disney has offered some good messages in the past).
I will return to these after the summary.
I am not the only one who pointed out that the opening of
the movie reminded me more of Lion King than a movie set in snowy mountains
with princesses. But that’s unimportant. The movie opens on a musical number
and I am quickly reminded that Disney has returned to its musical traditions.
At least we have that. Men are packing ice and singing about the “frozen heart
of Arandellel (I will never remember how that name is spelled” for foreshadowing’s sake. A little boy and a ridiculously cute
moose/deer are also there helping with the ice packing, apparently. Well, maybe
he’s an orphan. Because some rock-troll creatures “keep” him and apparently
raise him. Whether or not he is an orphan I suppose we’re to…assume?
In a castle somewhere, one big-eyed princess wakes up the
other by asking “Do you wanna build a snowman?” The elder child starts making
things with snow and ice, much to her little sister’s delight. It’s clear they
already know about her powers and that creating ice out of mid-air is just
something Elsa can do.
 |
| Do you want to build a Snowman? |
Anna is being a spazz and sliding on some nifty fixtures her
sister is making when things go wrong and Anna flies through the air. Elsa
panics and it causes ice-daggers to pierce her. (This is a thing that happens
with Elsa. She shoots killer ice-daggers when she’s frightened). Now you have
the lovely image of small child’s brain slowly freezing over.
 |
| A child's brain. She drank her snowball way too quickly. |
The King and Queen scream about how Elsa’s powers have
gotten “out of hand” and promptly drag their unconscious daughter Anna and
their freak-of-nature daughter Elsa to a valley of rocks. Unfortunately, the
trolls that appear are not frightening like the ones in the Snow Queen story.
Those trolls created a hellish mirror that is the root of much conflict in the story.
Here, the trolls are cuddly. (Because….? Why not.) They are also wise and
helpful. (Why are there trolls in this kingdom? That is not answered but
frankly that is not important. Cinderella’s mice can talk and make dresses,
I’ll give Frozen a pass when it comes to the neighborhood trolls). While the
eldest troll explains to the royal couple that Elsa’s powers will increase and
that fear will be her greatest enemy, an (orphan?) Kristoff appears
eavesdropping and a troll woman declares right then and there that she will
“keep” him and his baby deer.
 |
| Adoption papers? Yeah.r ight. TROLOLOL. |
The elder troll removes Anna’s memories of Elsa’s magic and
reminds the parents that the head is easy to heal but the heart is not. Then a
giant formation of stars spell out SYMBOLISM in the sky. (Or was it SFX? SEX? Whatever.)
Instead of deciding
to teach Elsa discipline and acceptance of her power, the parents instill a
life-time of repression, paranoia and self-hate. There is no possible way for that to backfire.
For this reason, she wishes to shield Anna from the truth of her powers,
terrified of hurting her again. We know this because Anna sings a cute exposition song telling us that she and Elsa have grown apart and that Elsa
never comes out of her room. Anna seems to have a problem understanding no,
though, because she keeps asking “Do you want to build a snowman?” well into
her young adulthood. That must get pretty annoying for Elsa.
Through the magic of exposition, we discover that the
princesses’ parents have died at sea. In probably the best scene of the movie,
Anna slumps against Elsa’s door and sings “Do you want to build a snowman?”
sadly while we see on the other side that Elsa is in tears and her entire room
covered in ice. The grief of losing her parents and the fear of facing the
world without them, the only other people who knew of her curse, has left her
hopelessly refined to her loneliness.
From there, things start to look significantly more like
Disney-Goes-Dreamworks (Tangled) as silly-looking people from all around the
world arrive at Arandelle for Elsa’s coronation day. All of the kingdom’s trade
partners and allies are coming in, as is tradition, with the hopes of bagging
the marriageable new Queen. An overly animated, greedy old merchant says
something that could make you wince if you think too much about it.
Something along the lines of “Open your gates and let me in!
Let me plunder your mysterious resources.”
Yeah.
But Anna is very excited about this event because it’s “The
first time in forever” there will be “real live people” in the castle.
(“You servants don’t count. You’re working class.”)
Because Anna is just oh-so-clumsy (like every other Disney
princess ever) she bumps into someone’s horse with her face and somehow ends
up… in a boat? (No, really. Go back and watch the animation. This is the
weirdest reaction to bumping into a large animal ever animated.) Prince Hans then appears, extending his hand
to help her clumsy-ass up after attacking his horse with her face. She is
smitten in 0.5 seconds. I feel like Spamalot’s “The Song That Goes Like This”
belongs here.
Now is an important time to note that Hans is Handsome Male
Lead #1 in this movie. There are two of them in Frozen. Gasp! Just like there
are two princesses!
At the coronation, Elsa appears before their people who are
all chattering more excitedly than those whacky Russians as the beginning of
Anastasia. “I bet she’s beautiful!” “I bet they’re both beautiful!”
I apologize. That
line just threw me off. Aren’t you, the peasants, supposed to be more concerned
with “I heard the princesses are leaving out all the bad potatoes after the
banquet for us poor folk to take home! All hail their generosity!”
I doubt the villagers give two fucks what their kingdom’s
princesses look like. The fact that the castle gate has been closed for years
should trigger more alarm and caution than celebration when the gates re-open.
Elsa and Anna might be serial killers who torture village virgins for all these
people know and hiding in the dark never does much for one’s public image.
Elsa takes the royal items as she is declared queen, but for
some reason somebody asks her to take her gloves off as it’s done. Probably
because she is scared shitless, Elsa begins to freeze the items but sets them
down just in time. She gets a few minutes to chat with Anna while they stand
around, waving to people. They seem to be reconnecting but before things can
become too heart-warming, Elsa exclaims that things cannot always be this way.
So Anna huffs off sings a musical number with Hans. Over the course of the song
they declare their love to one another. Hans proposes. Anna says yes.
Well, like a sane person, Elsa denies her blessing to have
Hans and Anna wed because Anna literally just met him. Anna throws a tantrum
and corners Elsa. The queen orders to have the gates shut and tries to make a
graceful exit, but that is complicated by the fact that her little sister Anna
is a brat and everyone at the party is sad the gates are closing so soon. They
basically corner Elsa until she loses control and her ice powers are revealed.
It is another highlight of the film. The villagers and
merchants who had been so eager to see her only hours ago end up chasing her
off into the forest. Anna, as second-in-charge of the kingdom, tells everybody
to ease off for a moment and grabs her horse to chase after her ice-spaz
sister. At least she has the good sense to realize that Elsa was not doing it
on purpose. But she has less good sense in leaving Hans in charge of the
kingdom while she is gone.
Then, it happens. The damn song that will not die. Summary:
Elsa runs off into the mountain, says “fuck it” and starts using her powers
purposefully. The castle, dress and special effects of the scene are
show-stoppers and fit well to the lyrics.
Anna loses her horse in the woods and limps into a shack
that sells hiking goods and the moment is a treat because Anna actually looks
cold. It is a special effect I have seen failed in past CGI animation but the
textures of her dress, her hair and her movement all create a believable temperature. This is when
she meets Kristoff, a big, gross dude (Handsome Guy #2) who sells ice. He also
seems to suffer from some mental illness, spending his time talking to himself
“through” his deer. He even gives the animal its own creepy little voice. What
did those trolls do to him?
This is a Disney movie, so the Princess has to have a male
around, so Anna demands Kristoff take her up the mountain to her sister. They
do and a chase scene with fire ensues. Asking how this manages to even happen
seems like a waste of time. There are wolves, snow, a sled and fire. On the way up the mountain they meet Olaf, the
talking Snowman.
At least they respond realistically to an inanimate object
walking and talking about.
But they recover rather quickly from their initial shock. No
wonder, because Olaf is a character/snowman that Elsa used to make for Anna to
play with before Mom and Pop decided Elsa needed to stop playing and be a
normal (repressed) child (with hidden ice powers).
Olaf is cute, yes. I would be lying if I said I found him
totally annoying because he has some great one-liners and an endearing
personality. But I could have gone without a snowman singing about how much he
would love to see summer. It screams Filler and is right around the part in the
movie that I became bored and hoped things would hurry up.
“Excuse me, I don’t know if this will help. But I found
stairs that lead right to where you’re trying to go,” is a good Olaf line and
carries us into the second half of the film, when Disney feels are about to
happen.
Anna and Kristoff get their first glimpse of what Elsa’s
powers can do when she controls them. They gawk at her breath-taking
ice-palace. Anna forbids Kristoff to come in with her even though he is
obviously in love (with the palace. But can you blame him? He works with ice
all day. It makes sense he would be enamored with ice powers. I was
disappointed that Kris and Elsa did not have a romance going by the end of the
film. Oh, well.)
Inside the new palace, the sisters argue. Anna promises Elsa
that they can work things out and asks her to undo the storm that is closing in
over the kingdom. Elsa explains that she cannot stop the storm. Anna sings
about some more lovey-dovey stuff. Elsa, again, explains that she cannot undo
the storm. But Anna, being an idiot, keeps on insisting they can. Obviously the
trolls did not heal her frozen brain completely because she seems to be deaf
when Elsa repeats that she cannot undo the storm.” Elsa spazzes and
accidentally hits Anna with one of this ice-daggers. But this time it hits her
chest. Kristoff arrives because, well, princesses be faintin’ and a big strong
man is needed. Elsa angrily tells them to leave and summons up an (awesome)
giant Snowman (who is apparently named Marshmallow). This monster chases Anna, Kristoff and Olaf
off of a cliff. But because the film is for the whole family they land on the
snow below like a pillow.
Deterred, Anna and Kristoff head back to the (non-snow)
castle. (So was Kristoff aware the entire time that Anna is a princess? Did he
just not care? Is he being nice because he is afraid he will be tried for
disobeying royal orders? So many questions unanswered). Unfortunately, along
the way we have to meet Kristoff’s “folks.” The damn trolls from the beginning
of the movie. As Kristoff’s adoptive family they are happy to see him with a
female hu-man and they sing about it. (It’s horrible. I cannot un-see or
un-listen.) At the end of the song, Anna drops and streaks of her hair become
white. Papa Troll Wise One shows up just in time to diagnose her with Freezing
Heart by Ice Dagger Syndrome and only an act of True Love can cure her. Without
hesitation, Anna declares that this means she should kiss the handsome stranger
she is engaged to back at home. Kristoff, not so subtly disappointed-looking,
rushes her home in order to save her life. (Note. Act of True Love #1)
After Kristoff drops Anna off and is leaving in the other
direction, his deer gets serious attitude with him and convinces him to turn
back around. Because, of course, Kristoff is in love with Anna.
 |
| "I've loved you ever since I saw you dressed as a troll." |
Here the timeline of the film starts to become confusing, so
work with me.
Apparently Hans and several others go on a hunt and discover
Elsa’s ice castle. Within they bravely
stupidly decide to go on attack mode. Elsa manages to kick their collective ass
with her ice powers, almost impaling one man and nearly pushing another out of a window to his death. Nice
Guy Hans is there to try to talk sense into her. But some action shit happens
and an ice formation on the roof falls, knocking Elsa unconscious.
Elsa wakes to find herself imprisoned in her ordinary
castle, steel around her hands, serving much like her old gloves used to, only
this time to keep her powers captive. Hans tries, once again, to talk sense
into her but again, she explains that she cannot undo the storm.
Are all of these people deaf?
At this point in the film, I admit that it was quite moving.
Not because of the animation, or the sisterly love or any of the other things I
have heard fans rave about. The simple fact that everyone is asking Elsa to do
something she cannot do is what
strikes the deepest cord with me. Often with anxiety and other mood/mental
disorders, we hear all too often “You could just stop if you wanted to.”
“Don’t be sad.” “You don’t have to touch that door six
times. Fight the urge.” “Why don’t you just go for a walk.” The well-meaning
but sadly misinformed instructions and suggestions from people who do not
understand these problems could be hidden under the surface of some of Frozen’s
better dialogue.
“Just stop the storm. I know you can.”
It is frustrating to watch and hear and relating to Elsa
becomes all too easy.
When Anna and Hans are reunited she begs him to kiss her,
her hair gone all white and her strength nearly gone. She is freezing just as
the Troll Doctor said she would. She asks Hans to give her a true love’s kiss.
Out of Fucking Nowhere, Hans transforms from Nice Guy Hans
into Douchbag Manipulative Psychopathic Hans.
“Oh, Anna. If only there was someone out there who loved
you.”
Following the cue of villains, he reveals his entire plan to
the weakened and dying princess. He planned to wed Anna in order to become
closer to a throne. He would then have staged an accident to kill Elsa, leaving
him the King of Ardenelle. But now that Anna is dying and Elsa could be blamed
for her murder, he has no need to go through all that trouble. Anna is too weak
to make a scene, so he locks the door on her and leaves her for dead.
Douche Hans tells everyone that Anna is dead and that they
spoke their vows just as she died. So he is her husband. Now he declares Elsa
is Anna’s murderer and that she should be executed.
Olaf sneaks in to visit the dying Anna and lights a fire for
her, which nearly melts him. (Act of True Love #2. Still not working? Oh, I
wonder why.) When he and Anna look out the window and see Kristoff riding
towards the castle, Anna gets the bright idea that maybe she needs to kiss him,
instead! (Is she really that slow?)
Elsa breaks out of her prison and begins to run away in a
blizzard. Hans goes after her with a
sword. But worse than a sword, he uses his words. He tells her that Anna is
dead because of her, even describing the physical state she was in when she
supposedly died. Elsa is broken then, falling to her knees and crying. Anna
meanwhile is trying to make her way to Kristoff ,but finds herself caught
between two scenes unfolding; the possibility of her kiss with Kristoff and
rescuing herself, or Hans lifting a sword above her kneeling, weeping sister.
Anna chooses to run to her sister and jump in front of Hans’
sword. Just as she does, she turns into a frozen ice sculpture. The sword
shatters against her ice hand. When Elsa sees what has happened, the blizzard
dies down but the cold remains. She clutches to her sister and weeps.
Then the credits roll.
Just kidding. That is probably what should have happened if
the film were to make a harder impact on mature audiences but instead, Anna
thaws. Her act of true love thaws her own frozen heart.
“What? You mean the act of true love had to be something I
did for someone else?”
Elsa, touched by her sister’s selfless act, is able to end
the ice storm. (She even manages to keep Olaf from melting in the summer heat.)
So, Hans is thrown in prison. Anna and Kristoff are a couple
and the kingdom knows about Elsa’s powers and everyone lives happily ever
after.
Why was that not as good as I hoped it would be?
Alright, now that we have gone through the plot synopsis and
details, let us return to the reasons why people consider the film special.
1. A man
doesn’t save the day. NOPE. I hope I
don’t have to list Disney and children’s entertainment’s long history of having
female protagonists succeed without a male’s help. Disney itself has a few in
its arsenal. Mulan, The Little Mermaid (Ariel actually rescues Eric’s life
twice and they work together to kill Ursula). Even Pocahontas has a similar
ending in which the Princess is selfless and willing to sacrifice herself to
put a stop to violence. But Disney also has a long history of making females
scarce in their casts. They are usually surrounded by men. (Mulan probably has
it the worst and yet she comes out as the most obvious sample of a female
protagonists saving the day, so it’s not as if Frozen axing 90% of the female
cast in Snow Queen had to be a detriment to the story). I would actually say
the Princess & the Frog is the best example of Disney breaking the mold of
expectation because of Lottie. Instead of becoming a vicious rival to the
female protagonist, she was an equal and supportive character.
2. Elsa has
anxiety/mental illness. NOPE. Whoodeedeefuckingdoo. Simba is traumatized after
watching his father DIE. Then Simba carries
the guilt for years and refuses to return home to face his problems. Avoidant anxiety.
Mulan lives in a culture where here worth is determined by being
matched well to a man and she is publicly shamed when she can not. Imagine her emotional baggage. Ariel is a
hoarder. And obsessive. Cinderella suffers years of abuse at her step-family’s
hands and she is physically attacked when she even tries to dress nicely and
attempt to go to the ball.
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| This woman wants to have fun for just ONCE and she is physically attacked by her step-family. |
Megara from Hercules had traded her soul to rescue a man she loved, only to have that man run away with another woman. She is damaged and unable to let anyone in.
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| Oh, and she belongs to Hades now, too. That's baggage. |
The Beast in Beauty and the Beast is a 20-year-old,
orphan, cursed monster (probably a virgin) who is expected to find true love by
his 21st birthday or he and an entire castle of staff will remain
cursed forever. All this because he (as a preteen or child, mind you) turned a
scary-looking stranger away. He had no parents there. Would you not have done
the same thing? Imagine how fucked up his psyche is? Don’t even get me started.
JFC. Rapunzel and her mom’s relationship. Look at that. And Rapunzel
mood-swings so badly I feel like I forgot to take MY anxiety medicine.
Want to
do Pixar? We can do Pixar. Remember Marlon’s trouble with letting Nemo grow up?
That moment when he was hanging on to a whale’s tongue and Dory says “It’s time
to let go. He says it’ll be alright.” And Marlon says “How do you know? How do
you know it’s going to be alright and everything won’t go horribly wrong?” to
which she replies. “I don’t.”
 |
| Just thinking about this scene makes my heart implode. |
I didn’t
want to have to pull this one out but here it goes. Quasi Motto. The fucking Hunchback of Notre Dame. He is beaten
in public, humiliated, forced back into the shadows and watches the woman he
loves fall in love with someone else. You know what? Fuck all of you. I'm going to post it:
 |
| Boohoo! Boohoo! You want some French Cries with that WahBurger? |
While the metaphor of the ice and fear causing her to lose control
is pretty to see, it is hardly unique to the screen, even for Disney.
3. The
prince turned out to be evil. Unique? Don’t you mean trite. Even if it had not
been spoiled for me I would have guessed Hans would be a villain within the
first few moments of seeing him. You know why? Because Kristoff is there, and
obviously the one the writers intended Anna for. So by cliché logic, Hans will
have to be bad so that nobody feels bad if Anna chooses Kristoff over him. But
tell me this, wouldn’t it have been a lot more moving if Hans wasn’t “bad?”
What if he felt killing Elsa was what he had to do? Or that he kissed Anna and
it just did not work? What about that? That would have been more entertaining
AND given children something to think about.
4. The
music. One good song (Let It Go, which even that has been burned out on me
hearing it so often) and a few good moments do not really stand out to me. For
me, the movie had too much filler. I could have gone without Olaf and the
Trolls’ songs.
5. The
animation. I will concede here that the
animation was stellar and paid close attention to tiny details. Even the pale
Elsa has freckles if you look very, very closely. If we judge a movie on
animation special effects alone, Frozen is a good one. But Elsa and Anna’s uncanny
resemblance to Rapunzel becomes distracting very quickly. You could have, you
know…made one’s nose a little bigger? Or made one’s cheekbones not as high.
Or…hell, I don’t know. Maybe one could be not a size 0? Just thoughts. You have
oodles and oodles of money and a staff big enough to brainstorm a variety of
character designs. You aren’t one poor artist just trying to keep a silly comic
free going. (*cough*)
6. It’s
about sisters and not romance. (Cough. Lilo and Stich. Cough). Sure, that’s
nice. I like that, too. But actually, it’s not true. Having a romance in the
movie is not a bad thing in itself. Kristoff and Anna are not an annoying
pairing and I did not mind it much. But at the end of the day it is still about
Anna and Kristoff’s romance way more than people seem to think. It cannot be
claimed that this is a romance-free Disney princess movie because it is not.
7. It has such a good
message OMG. Well, yeah. True love heals wounds. But not THAT quickly. Not even
in a magical world. And since when did Disney not have good or timeless morals?
Knitpick them as we wish, Disney has produced movies with perfectly nice morals
in the past. A few duds over the past years or films with questionable
educational value does not mean Disney has never pulled this off before.
A few things I did find unique? It was about sisters and it
didn’t include them fighting over a man. That was nice. The villain didn’t get
impaled/burned/drowned/frozen/eaten/etc. He was put in prison. You know, how
“real life” baddies are dealt with.
Ugggh…that’s it, really. Anna still gets a big strong man’s help to get
to Elsa. Instead of bringing in any number of the huge list of characters from
the Snow Queen canon, a love interest is dumped in.
Frozen’s strongest unique moment is the fact that Anna must
commit an act of true love to save the day. It does not include a man or
romance but the selfless love of one sister for another. Yes, that is
refreshing. But unfortunately, so understated that most of the younger viewers
will misunderstand it. Frozen’s weakest point for me is the cure-all ending.
Elsa’s storm cannot be taken seriously as a metaphor for emotional baggage or
mental illness when literally all problems are wrapped up in a few minutes. Healing
is an ongoing process, not something one act of true love can heal overnight.
Not even in the magical world. Perhaps showing her still working on controlling
the powers would have been nice. It is not as if the ending would have to be
dark and edgy. Only a little nudge that this kind of thing does not go away overnight.
I give it a C: Stellar animation, a good song, a nice change
of pace here and there. But it was dull and left me bored throughout most of
its run-time. There was some wasted potential in the final product.
But I cannot, in good conscience, give this a B or A. Not
after Disney bought Snow Queen just to tear it up beyond recognition to give us
something boring.
Here. Watch this YouTube re-cut Trailer of what it should have been a little more like:
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