(DISCLAIMER: This blog is not for profit. All images and footage used below are property of their respective companies unless stated otherwise. I do not claim ownership of this material. New to the blog? Start at the start with Snow White.)
“Come again?”
“Well…I was wondering if you wanted to come over and destroy me? You know? Like old times?”
“You…want me to destroy you?”
“Yeah, you know. You trap me in some alternate universe and then I escape and…you know?”
“Mouse. What’s this all about?”
“Oh. Well, see I’m supposed to be reviewing Frozen…”
“OH MY GOD SHUT UP YOU’RE AT FROZEN ALREADY?!”
“Yeah!”
“NO WAY!”
“I know!”
“It seems like just yesterday that…”
“I know, right?”
“Well congratulations!”
“Thank you.”
“No, seriously. I mean, you know. You stuck with it through to the end.”
“Well, you know, it was all for the fans…”
“That’s just…go you.”
“See, the thing is, I think people are expecting some kind of big epic climax with all the plotlines of the last two years just being tied up neatly and I just thought that since you’re my arch-nemesis…”
“I’m your arch-nemesis? Really?”
“Well yeah, I mean…amn’t I your arch-nemesis?”
“Oh…of course you are. (Yikes).”
“So…you want to come over?”
“You know Mouse, I’d love to but I don’t really have a lot of time what with this new job…hang on, call on the other line.”
“Okay.”
“Thank you for calling EA customer support, your call is important to us. Please hold. Sorry, where were we?”
“The Frozen review.”
“Right. Right. Listen, Mouse you’re overthinking this. Is this going to be the last review you do?”
“Well, no.”
“Right. Then it’s not an ending. You don’t need a big climax. And besides, if you just try to cram in as many cameos and running jokes as you can it’s just going to turn into a massive circle jerk. Your readers just want to see you review a movie they love. Trust your instincts, do the best job you can and that’ll be enough.”
“Wow. You’re right. Thanks HK.”
“Think nothing of it. Soon I shall destroy you.”
““We honestly could not give two fucks about your little Snow Queen movie.”
“It’s been three hours and he hasn’t punched a single gay, what even the hell?”
Oh, don’t look so smug.
“Logical.”
Elsa at first tells Anna to screw off and let her go back to sleep but then Anna asks her slyly “You wanna build a schnowmaaaaan?”
That, and smoking.
Look, I don’t know how familiar y’all are with Scandinavian folklore so let me just clarify: NOOOOOOOOO…
“It saved our marriage!”
- “Why did they lock Elsa away and not let Anna see her sister?”
- “The way the king makes Elsa control her emotions is so paternalistic.”
- “For the love of Mickey why didn’t they just TELL Anna about Elsa’s powers?”
Johnny Tight-Lips though? He’ll take that shit to his grave.
- “Well for crying out loud, why didn’t Elsa tell Anna when they were both older and more mature?”
“Hang in there, Joan!”
“Thanks kid!”
“COME ON YOU BITCH!”
Relax, relax. I was testing you. You passed.
“So, there’s going to be potatoes at this wedding right?” “Oh yes. And other types of food too.” “OTHER TYPES OF FOOD ARE YOU SHITTING ME?”
Fool me once? Shame on you. Fool me twice? I cut you.
“Ha! It works! VICTORY IS MINE!”
““Are…are you ignoring me? Or did you leave?””
“Damnation! Map of Islamic State!”
“Durr, yeah boss?”
“My accursed brother has escaped! Find him at once!”
“Durr, sure thing boss.”
“Idiot.”
“Whoah whoah whoah! Slow down guys.”
“Young man, what are your intentions towards my crazy person?”
“Besides. You’ve been betrothed to the Duke of Weselton since you were six.”
Well. Now they know.
Subsequent events will not bear this out.
Would…would money make amends?
Oh my God. Disney, you whores!
“Ub! Get the fuck in here!”
“What’s the fucking problem, boss?”
“Have you seen these rushes for Sleeping Fucking Beauty? They look like Sleeping Fucking ASS!”
“Oh fuck me!”
“Tell those overpaid pencil monkeys to crack open a manual and look up “Squash and Stretch” and if they’re still unclear tell them I’ll be happy to demonstrate on their pasty thin fucking necks!”
“Mr Disney? Pamela Fucking Travers to see you sir.”
“This better be fucking important Pam, what do you fucking want?”
“What do I want? See this finger? I want to stick it in your fucking eye.”
But Olaf was eventually reconfigured into Anna’s sidekick. Olaf works, or at least I think he does. But why does he work? I actually put it down to Josh Gadd’s very restrained and low-key performance. Now, that might surprise you since everyone thinks of Olaf as the wacky comedy relief. But next time you watch this movie actually listen to Gadd’s line readings. Oh sure, he gives big reads here and there but he’s actually playing the part very subdued for the most part. And I think that’s what makes him so effective comedically and emotionally, the juxtaposition of that incredibly exaggerated face with this very restrained performance. It’s what makes lines like “I don’t have a skull. Or bones.” so funny. I think what makes Olaf so appealing is that he’s a Disney hero in the body of a Disney comic relief character, and that makes him both hilarious and very affecting. I also like how the movie doesn’t deny the inherent, well, creepiness, of Olaf as a concept. When they see a walking talking snowman Kristof and Anna freak out, as well they might. After they talk with him, Anna explains that they have to find Elsa so that they can bring back summer. Olaf perks up at this, because he’s always dreamed of seeing summer for himself and sings In Summer, a charming little comedic number complete where he obliviously sings about how awesome it would be to catch some rays.
“Oh it’s a jolly holiday with Mary…”
I like the song a lot, but…
Okay, I’m not even sure if I should bring this up because it’s kind of disturbing but at the same time I can’t really pass up an opportunity to show off my animation nerd cred so here it is. This sequence creeps me out a little because the character of Olaf bears a strong but entirely coincidental (no you know what, we need to all caps on this) ENTIRELY COINICIDENTAL resemblance to a snowman character from an old cartoon short called Der Schneerman. Der Schneerman is about a snowman who dreams of leaving winter behind and travelling to the magical land of summer. He gets there and then melts, but he’s happy because it was totally worth it. What makes the short so disturbing is that it’s a German cartoon from 1944, about the time when everyone was realising that “thousand year Reich” might have been a tad overly optimistic. Which kind of puts a new spin on it, dunnit? It’s a short about sacrificing your life for your crazy dream. It’s Nazi propaganda, and it’s also one of the most disturbing fucking things I’ve ever seen.
He won’t stop singing. He won’t stop singing.
Now, again. Let me be perfectly clear. Disney did not know this. Disney did not reference this. Disney are not secretly Nazis. It’s just a very unfortunate coincidence that I wish I wasn’t aware of.
Meanwhile, back in Arrendelle the cold is getting worse, people are getting desperate and disputes over whether the bark should be facing up or down are threatening to spill into violence. Hans is distributing blankets and setting up a food kitchen for the populace (gee, what a nice guy) when Zebra Neck arrives back to tell of the horrors he has witnessed.
“It was awful! There…there…there was a TREE…and…and…and…SNOW!”
Hans calls for volunteers to rescue Anna from the trees and snow and the Duke offers two of his lackeys, telling them to kill Elsa if they get the chance.
Anna, Kristof, Sven and Olaf finally reach Elsa’s incredible ice palace and Anna tries to convince Elsa to come home through a reprise of First Time In Forever. Elsa tells Anna to leave her be so that she’ll be safe and Anna tells her that she’s frozen Arrendelle like next week’s dinner and that the kingdom is now in “deep, deep, deep, deep…snow.”
“And I’m using “snow” as a euphemism.”
Now Idina Menzel and Kirsten Bell go into full on power ballad warfare and it is awesome. Elsa’s panic and desperation rises and rises until finally she loses control and blasts Anna with her ice magic while the soundtrack reminds us to “beware the frozen heart”.
“Yeah…no snow…Sherlock.”
Kristof and Olaf come running and Elsa finally has enough and creates Marshmallow, a massive snow-bouncer to chase them off the mountain. Anna’s hair starts turning white so Kristof says that they need to meet his friends “the love experts”. Olaf says that he considers himself a “love expert” which is interesting when you consider the theory that he’s a manifestation of Elsa’s love for her sister.
Marshmallow, on the other hand, represents the time Anna borrowed her sweater without asking.
Anyway, it turns out that as a child Kristof was taken and raised by trolls (which, okay, THAT is something trolls would totally do). Kristof introduces Anna and Olaf to them but they just pretend to be rocks so that he looks crazy because, y’know, they’re total trolls. I bet they do this whenever he brings friends over. Anyway, they finally acknowledge his presence and instantly try to set up Anna and Kristof which brings us to Fixer-Upper, by far the least popular song in the movie. In fact, a lot of people seem to loathe this song and I gotta ask: what’s the issue guys? Is it the clunky way it rhymes? Or the dumpy way it…rhymes? I actually really like this song, while still thinking that it’s probably the weakest in the film. It’s certainly a lot less polished, but I think it’s catchy and charming and it actually sums up the central theme of the movie very well: “People make bad choices/When they’re scared or hurt or stressed/ But throw a little love their way/And you’ll bring out their best.” I mean, that’s the movie right there. Another reason I think people don’t like this song is because this movie has pretty much the exact same problem as Mulan, that it forgets it’s a musical around halfway through and since Fixer Upper is the final song it leaves a bad taste in people’s earholes. I think we’re missing at least two songs in this movie, a villain song and a big finale number. Hopefully that’ll be addressed if they ever do a stage version. Anyway, Anna passes out and Grandpoppy rolls up and tells them that the only cure for a frozen heart is an act of true love, which everyone assumes is a true love’s kiss because of course they do. This is the Disney universe, true love’s kiss cures everything from death to piles (although finding a kisser for the latter can be quite difficult). So they ride off to find Hans.
Hans, however, is leading a force of men to Elsa’s castle (now THAT’s a man. So take-charge) and shit kicks off with Marshmallow. The Duke’s two lackeys break into the castle and corner Elsa which is a really, really bad idea. This scene is about as close to full-on villain as Elsa gets in this movie, almost impaling one man and almost shoving another out the window to his death.
“Hey asshole! Are you familiar with the expression “Lazy…”
“BASTARD”
“KOOKABURRAS?!”
Hans manages to talk her out of icing them (sorry) but then one of the goons tries to shoot her with his crossbow but Hans blocks the shot (he’s so dashing) and instead the bolt hits Elsa’s big snowflake chandelier…thing causing it to collapse and knock her unconscious.
Elsa wakes up in the castle dungeon wearing the iron mittens of chastisement and Hans begs her to undo the winter. Elsa says that she can’t and begs to be let go but Hans can promise that he’ll do what he can. Kristof brings Anna back to the palace and tells the staff to bring her to Hans. So of course we get the scene where Hans kisses her and cures her frozen heart and wait, wait, wait what the hell is this?!
So yeah. It is at this point that I must throw up my hands and admit that I didn’t actually see this twist coming.
Now don’t get me wrong, I knew that Hans and Anna weren’t going to end up together, that was obvious as soon as they started pointing out how idiotic marrying someone you just met is, but I thought they were going to do an Enchanted style switch, with Kristof pairing up with Anna and Hans and Elsa tying the knot at the end.
They were both voiced by Idina Menzel for chrissakes!
Now, I don’t have a problem with Han’s face-heel turn. I actually think it’s quite brilliant and makes the movie much stronger for it. But I’d be lying if I said that Hans doesn’t disappoint me bitterly as a villain. See, from that very first line “Oh Anna, if only there was someone out there who loved you.” Hans was poised in my mind to join the very, very best Disney villains. I’ve talked about The Moment before, and Hans-as-villain introduces himself with The Moment. But here’s the thing, he doesn’t follow through. His plan is ridiculous. What, you think that you can just claim the throne because you said you married the princess? Yeah. No. Monarchy no worky that way. Hell, marriage, no worky that way. You need witnesses. You need a frickin’ priest. Besides, marrying a princess only gets you the title of Prince Consort. If Elsa and Anna are both dead and have no issue, the throne reverts to Agdar’s oldest living male relative. Oh shut up Mouse, it’s a cartoon. Fine. But it’s still monumentally stupid for him to just leave Anna still alive in the living room where anyone can find her. Dude, you can’t wait five minutes for her to freeze? FIVE MINUTES? And then there’s that bit where Anna says “You’ll never get away with this!” and he answers “I already have.”
Okay, one? Get a writer. Republic Pictures called and they want their stock phrase back.
Two? NO YOU HAVEN’T! YOU HAVE NOT ALREADY GOTTEN AWAY WITH THIS! THE SUCCESS OF YOUR PLAN IS AT A CRUCIAL JUNCTURE!
See, this is why Hans is not ready for the big leagues. And that’s gutting for me, the only really weak point in an otherwise very, very strong movie. This kid could have been a champ. He had such a fantastic start. And he threw it all away.
Broke my heart, you bastard.
Alright, so Hans tells the ambassadors that Anna is dead (five minutes. It would have taken five minutes, but hey, you’re a busy guy whatever) and the Duke says that they have to kill Elsa. Elsa meanwhile, has plans other than dying today, and uses her powers to break out of the dungeon and escape across the frozen fiord fiyord fiiyord inlet and my apologies to Ms Sue Townsend. Olaf finds Anna in the palace (but how? Hans took such precautions!) and lights a fire to keep her alive, even though he’s risking his own life to do it because, as he explains “Some people are worth melting for.” (Olaf, you silver tongued devil.) Olaf sees Kristof and Sven riding back towards Arrendelle as fast as they can and Anna realises that her one true love is not the guy she met three days ago but the guy she met two days ago and Olaf helps her outside to get to Kristof. Meanwhile, Hans has chased Elsa out onto the ice and we’re all set for our big climax. Kristof, Hans, Elsa, Anna, Ice, Storm, GO!
As Anna and Kristof try to reach each other through the storm, Hans catches Elsa and tells her that her sister is dead and that it’s all her fault. Elsa collapses and the storm disappears. Suddenly the way is clear and Anna can see Kristof. But she also sees Hans about to kill her sister and so the throws herself in front of his sword just before she turns into solid ice.
And, no lie, this shot of her last breath escaping is so beautiful that every time I see it I gasp in wonder.
So now we come to the whole point of this movie. The point being that there are many, many kinds of love aside from the “boy meets girl” variety that makes up such a massive part of our fiction. The act of true love that thaws Anna’s heart is her selfless sacrifice to save her sister.
As Elsa weeps for her, Anna transforms back into flesh and blood. Elsa realises that love is the secret to controlling power and draws away all the ice and transforms it into a massive snowflake that flies off and I’m sure will never bother anyone again.
“Damn you Elsa!”
And now, all that’s left is the wrap up. Elsa gives Olaf his own personal flurry so he won’t melt and Anna confronts Hans. He asks her why she’s not dead and she says “The only frozen heart around here is yours” which is a lame comeback and then she punches him in the frickin’ face which is a much better comeback. Kristof is made the royal ice getter guy (which is nice for him, but if there is any royal family in history less in need of ice it’s this one) and he and Anna kiss.
Know what I love about this ending?
Kristof and Anna end up together and that’s fine. Elsa doesn’t end up with anyone and that’s also fine. They go ice-skating, they have fun and then they go off and win a ton of awards and make more money than any other animated movie in history.
The End.
***
Okay, I want you to imagine you had a friend in school. And she was just the sweetest, most good-hearted person you knew. She was, maybe, a little old-fashioned. A little naive, even. But she was just pure sunshine. She just made you feel so happy to be around her. And you grew up and you drifted apart, but you sometimes find yourself wondering about her. Did she ever change? Well, she must have done. The world is a tough place, and you either get tough or it grinds you down. And then, years later, you meet her again. And something absolutely wonderful has happened. She’s still the same. Oh sure, she’s older and wiser now. And she realises that some of the things she held to be true aren’t. But all the important ways, she stayed the same. She’s still the sweetest, most good-hearted person you know. She’s still pure sunshine.
That’s Frozen for me.
Watching this movie for the first time, I was in tears. Tears of pure joy. This is such a beautiful, warm-hearted, wonderful movie and it represents Disney at its finest.
Thank you for the last two years. I wouldn’t have missed a moment of it.
Scoring:
Animation: 18/20
Beautiful, lustrous and with some wonderful character design, but just not quite in the very top tier.
“MENTION THE FABRICS!.”
“Sigh. My wife would like me to make mention of the animation of fabric in this movie which is phenomenal.”
“Which you did not notice.”
“Shut up. Sweetheart.”
Leads: 20/20
Two of the all time greats.
Villain: 14/20
He coulda been a contenda.
Supporting Characters: 18/20
Hey guys, we were just talking about you. All good things, all good things.
Music: 20/20
Phenomenal.
NEXT UPDATE: 16 October 2014
NEXT TIME: DON’T! GO! ANYWHERE! We are not done here! Next week two VERY important updates go up. Firstly, I’ll be announcing my final definitive ranking for the entire canon as well your choices for best canon movie and favourite Unshaved Mouse review. Second, I will be making a couple of very big announcements about the future of the blog. See you then. Mouse out.
unshavedmouse 
No joke, this is my favorite movie. I felt an instant connection to this movie the moment I saw “let it go” on Youtube. Elsa was a character that I had not seen before and who I think really filled a need, both for myself and others. All right, Frozen haters. Come at me and tell me what an idiot I am.
Wow. The comments section looks very civil. Last time I made a Frozen related comment, everyone had to tell me how wrong I was. It’s nice to see that we can let go of those silly arguments and let a movie stand on its own merits. Plus, Disney Animation can be just as good as it used to be. Like you, I don’t think many Disney movies are truly bad. Some are just different and a little less polished than others.
Except for Dinosaur. Dinosaur sucks.
Here comes comment war. Joker, take it away:
YES! Awesome review mouse. Just beautiful.
This movie could have been better only if the villain was better. Hans just didn’t have the ability to pull off what he was trying to do, and that was its major flaw. Also the final reveal? I thought that the Duke of Weselton was going to try something and Hans would have to save Elsa somehow, probably by dying, thereby leaving Anna with Kristoff. But to have Hans himself actually try to take the thrown? Wow. Not a snowball’s chance in Hades.
Also, one thing to mention, ever notice that a person’s true personality only comes out when they take their gloves off? Elsa doesn’t truly let it go until she takes off the other glove. Hans takes his off just before the big reveal. Anna and Kristoff never wear gloves the entire time they are together.
I love this movie so much, even with it’s flaws, but I have to admit that they could have explained the reasons about not telling Anna better. And I believe if I understand the problem of why Grandpobbie removed her memories of Elsa’s ice powers, it was because Anna would always tease Elsa into using them. Once Anna no longer knew, she wouldn’t want Elsa to freeze the Palace in midsummer. It can also be said that through the song “Do You Wanna Build A Snowman,” Anna only asks Elsa during winter, thinking that during the summer there would be no snow to use, making it easier for Elsa to keep saying no.
Can’t believe it’s been two years already. Well done, Mouse. 🙂
Thanks good sir.
I got sad and a bit teary eyed that this is an end of an era for you, and that your initial project is done. You deserve all of the success that you got, and you are one of the things that many successful bloggers aren’t; you are humble, grateful, and take the time to know and care for your commenters and their opinions. You are like a home boy.
Now about the movie……………………….I feel like it suffers from a lot of the flaws that The Princess and the Frog did, but a bit worse. A lot of the film comes off as extremely contrived to me, and it is not as deep, insightful, and as meaningful that it is supposed to be (at least to me). I do find it overly ridiculous that Anna remembers about when her and Elsa were BFFs when she was only 4 (which you barely remember anything form that age), and that for most of her life, Elsa wants nothing to do with her. It is going to have to take more for me to believe that they are so close, and that the 14 year strain is gonna completely disappear or has no impact.
Hans seems like an interesting character in theory, but the execution of him is horrible, like you said. To be honest, it was a bit unnecessary to have an outright villain in the first place, and he felt very shoehorned in there, so they can have an excuse for a villain.
Kristoff’s entire backstory makes little to no fucking sense. There is this little boy literally wandering around by himself, with no adult whatsoever around that cares, and a bunch of trolls raise him, and he acts like a perfectly fine human? He is also not that developed of a character, and his relationship with Anna is one of the most contrived relationships in the canon. It is not like Esmeralda and Phoebus with the fact that they have chemistry, and there are reasons why they like one another. I get it that they wanted to establish that you need to get to know one another before hooking up (which that message being too all up in your face, and handled much better in Tangled and other films), but there needs to be a basis for an attraction, which Kristoff and Anna do not have.
And I do think Elsa’s plot could have been handled better as well. She does nothing to grow and nothing to develop. Anna is the reason why the storm ends, and Anna is the one who constantly tries. Elsa threw Anna out when she knew that she stroke her heart, and the movie acts like Elsa does nothing wrong at all. Their sisterly relationship is just a bit unrealistic for me.
I feel like I should stop now before I give away everything that I typed for my own review for this film in your comments (I am sure you do not want a 4,000 word comment). I honestly think this film is the worst film in this Revival Era, but I do respect your opinion a lot. Despite everything, Frozen is not a bad film, and there is a lot to like about it.
I agree. It was good, but not great. Pretty much everything could have been executed better, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t like it. Lion King had some problems too, and that’s probably why most people compare the two- their high success rates combined with some storytelling problems that are obvious but not so bad as to make them unwatchable. I felt this could have been an all-time contender if they had just done a few more rewrites and polished it a bit.
Also, forgot to mention- Let it Go’s performance by Idina Menzel better than Tony Jay’s Hellfire? NO. Sorry, no to that, Mr. Mouse. Her version was excellent, but nothing in the universe beats Tony Jay’s Hellfire.
Thanks man. That means a lot to. I gotta say, I’m surprised at your comments on Kristof and Anna, I thought they had fantastic chemistry.
No problem. You truly deserve it.
They came across as really good friends, but as a couple, there was no indication (at least to me) that Anna liked Kristoff at all, and it seemed very rushed on her part. I can see how they could be a good couple, but it was very shoe-horned in there from Fixer Upper, and in the third act. The execution was not the best to me.
If you actually listen to Fixer Upper, you will know that the trolls had a pretty good handle on how human beings function. Plus with the wisdom of Grand Pabby, I’m totally not surprised Kristof turned out to be as balanced as he did, reindeer ventriloquism quirk apart.
It’s a little outside of natures laws.
Bravo, now I don’t have to rebuke this review.
I agree w/ EVERYthing you just said.
I’ll end it with this: Although “Frozen” feels technically the weakest of the Revival Era, I certainly ENJOY it more than say, “Tangled”.
See? Don’t call us Haters. We just objectively find faults in an otherwise “enjoyable” movie.
Out.
Oooh, anticipation!
A beautiful and fitting end to this chapter of the blog. Frozen is definitely one of the all-time greats – it’s in my top five for Disney, although factoring in favourites from other studios bumps it out of my top ten for animated films.
I saw this movie with my older-younger sister (a year and a half younger than me) and my brother (nine years younger than me). And for my sister and I, it was exactly as you describe – the same kind of Disney we had growing up in the 90s. It was a glorious nostalgia trip, not to mention a pleasant surprise after that stupid teaser. My brother wasn’t so impressed, but he’ll forgive me when I take him to Big Hero Six.
I have to admit I saw the sibling-love angle coming, but I didn’t enjoy it any less for being able to predict it. In fact, I’m generally more moved by strong non-romantic relationships in fiction – I’m a big fan of the manga Fullmetal Alchemist (hence my handle on this blog) and while there is romantic love involved, the heart of the series comes principally from the hero’s love for his younger brother, and secondarily from the friendships they share with the supporting cast.
Now, where’s my beanie and puffy jacket for the snowball fight?
By the way, you’re an intelligent rodent: can you tell me what Elsa was going to eat in that ice palace? The best theories I’ve heard so far are ‘yeti-milk ice cream’ and ‘snap-frozen birds blasted out of the sky’.
Um…hunger never bothered her anyway?
I read this theory on Tumblr that she could create smaller beings to scavenge berries and what not for her. Marshmallow probably went pheasant hunting for her as well.
With Marshmallow it was probably more “pheasant smashing”.
With her ice-spears, she’d have no trouble heading into the forest and taking down a deer. That much frozen meat would last her a long time.
But how would she cook it?
Don’t hit the mouse! Don’t hit the mouse! One snowball and I automatically start hibernating.
Wow. A really good review. I’m part of “Team Tangled,” and you’ve possibly made me consider switching teams. Maybe.
Anyway, the thing that really stood out to me was the way you evaluated Hans, and I realized that you’re right. I personally loath Hans and I never considered that maybe it was because he wasn’t satisfying enough as a villain.
Now I prefer movies that don’t have villains, instead merely characters who occupy the role of ‘antagonist’ but are not actively evil. That was my initial reasoning for hating Hans, because he became the villain in a movie that didn’t need one.
But, I’m not against actively evil characters. Maleficent, (the original, mind you), Scar, and Frollo are all stone-cold villainous motherfuckers and I love every second of screen time they get. If you have a strong villain that’s just as enjoyable as the main characters (or even more enjoyable), I’m not going to fault the movie for that, I’m going to praise it.
So, I think my distaste for Hans stems from those two ideas. First of all is him becoming an actively nefarious character when none was necessary, and second is him not committing to that nefariousness. If he had been more intimidating, hell, if he had actually DONE something smart as the villain, I wouldn’t hate him nearly as much as I do. Maybe a little… but not as much!
Anyway, thank you for making me re-evaluate a movie, AGAIN!
I look forward to your final ranking. 😀
Yeah, I think (aside from the twist being utterly predictable and badly set up at the same time…and I am still stumped how Disney managed that) my main problem with Hans is that if he really were that good of an actor, I really don’t see him falling out of role for a little bit of gloating. I mean, he goes and tells the servants that Anna already died…and nobody bothers to take care of her body? Totally unlikely and something he should have expected.
And it si not even like they made him be evil in the sense that he is doing the right thing, or it is what needs to be done for the good of the kingdom. They literally could have just made him an arrogant ass instead of an outright villain.
Thanks. I actually take the opposite view. I think Disney movies need really strong diabolical villains otherwise it just doesn’t feel like a Disney movie (see: Bolt)
I think it depends on the story..Pocahontas for example shouldn’t have a villain, because it undermines the message about prejudices if there is a villain who is the cause for it, more or less excusing to characters involved. A lot of Disney movies (Lady and the Tramp, Fox and Hound) have antagonists instead of outright villains. In Frozen we already have the whole “Elsa needs to control her power” issue….do we really need an outright villain? Especially considering that Elsa does more damage than either of them? It is not Hans who nearly kills Anna…it is Elsa. It is not him who freezes the whole Kingdom. It is Elsa. It is not Hans who causes Elsa to panic and flee in the mountains. It is the reaction of everyone who sees the loosing control (and the fear people feel towards her never gets addressed in the end…they are just “oh, well, she rescued her sister, so everything is okay now”).
I think in the early plans Elsa WAS the villain (who got a redemption later on)…then “Let it Go” happened and they more or less tried to write the movie around this song. It shows.
Oh most definitely! I was referring to movies in general when I said that, but when it comes to Disney movies, there are only a few films that I think work without a villain (like Winnie the Pooh or Lilo & Stitch). 🙂
(sobs), it’s so beautiful. I’ve been following you for so long, and you actually did it. You finished.
Until Big Hero Six comes out this year. And Zootopia next year…
Yeah. Not so much an ending as a brief pause.
Great review, Mouse! I rewatched this movie a few days ago and I enjoyed it then as much as I enjoyed back when I first saw it on New Years’ Eve. I see what you’re saying about the Hans twist. Fair enough. And yes……. I kinda like the twist.
*huge booing by just about everybody*
Okay, this is just MY interpretation of the thing. I’m not trying to convince anyone to change their mind on it, just like my mind probably won’t be changed on it either. This is just how I viewed it:
I liked it for one big reason: Hans is a very realistic kind of villain. He represents what a lot of people in real life are like: people who are scheming and manipulative on the inside, but act nice and charming on the outside to get what they want. And Hans has to use those characteristics to get to his goal because, well, he can’t just expect to waltz in and take over the throne of Arendelle just like that. Bad guys aren’t that obvious in their evil deeds in real life, fellas. And this is very refreshing coming from Disney, whose track record of villains always have a big sign over their heads saying “I’m the villain. Don’t trust me”.
I’ve heard a lot of people say “Well, you need to at least give SOME evidence or foreshadowing that Hans is the bad guy. Establish he has an attitude or something behind closed doors”. Well, actually, they DO give some clues that Hans is bad news. It’s just very subtle and requires a very sharp eye and maybe more viewings to catch onto it. Okay, it might be TOO subtle at times, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t there. For example, when he says at the beginning of “Love is An Open Door” (“I’ve been searching my whole life to find my own place”), notice how he says PLACE and not PERSON. Meaning he doesn’t care about Anna or anyone else but himself. Just find a place to rule. Also, notice how he DOESN’T compliment Anna, doesn’t tell her any qualities he likes about her, at all. He just lets Anna continue the conversation and just goes with it, kisses up to here to convince her that she can trust him. Immediately complying when Anna gives control of the kingdom to him and not even questioning if he can do it? Him mentioning he has 12 brothers in line for the throne and he’s number 13? Hmmmmmmmm… Like I said, pehaps a bit too subtle, I’ll admit, but with a sharp eye and more rewatchings, you’ll catch it.
So all in all, in my opinion, the Hans twist takes the notion that a handsome prince will sweep you off your feet and solve all of your troubles, and throws it out the window. It replaces it with a message that there are indeed evil people out there who will act all nice and charming to stab you in the back and do whatever else is necessary to achieve their goal. And that, indeed, “You can’t marry someone you’ve just met”. Good on you, Disney. Doing something different and more realistic than before.
Again, if you disagree with me, that’s okay. This is just my opinion on the matter and why I liked it. Just no flaming, okay?
I mean, I’ll take regular criticism just fine, but just not flaming. Just want to clarify.
I think what makes him less well-written as a villain is his lack of follow-through. Cunning, whether overt or not, is a pretty essential attribute for a villain. Hans loses cred for a) not coming up with a smarter plan and b) not making sure Anna was dead. It just smacks of incompetence and if there’s one thing that undercuts menace, it’s incompetence. I had no trouble at all with his initial apparent niceness though.
You know what would have worked? Anna apparently “dying”, Hans leaving, and Olaf finding her, lighting the fire and that brings her back to life. That way Hans doesn’t look like an idiot.
Oh, we don’t flame here. I, like you, love the twist. I just think it needed to be followed through better.
I do agree that it could have been followed through better, as stated earlier in my comment with the “Fair enough” statement.
Yeah, no flaming around Olaf! 😉
Are you kidding?! That’s EXACTLY why I kind of like the Hans twist for all of the reasons you mentioned.
Me too! 🙂
Oh, wow! It’s the end of an era but I’m so glad it’s not the end of your blog! (Besides, not only do you have the donation/prize ones to do but there are still Disney movies a-comin’ in the future.)
I have a couple quibbles on a couple points but I completely agree with you about Hans and his “plans.” Like, to the point where I left the theater flat-out disappointed because the logistics of it were just so distracting. (Oh, and when Hans calls Elsa a traitor for “murdering” Anna he gets to execute her but when HE tries to kill Elsa he just gets extradited back to the Summer Isles?! That’s just a world of Nope.) Yeah, that’s still a bit of a sore point.
Anyway. Congratulations on this milestone, and may the next two years be even better!
Thanks!
Wow, all the movies in the DAC… done. Congratulations Mouse! I love Frozen, but I still personally hold Wreck-it Ralph as my favorite Disney Movie of recent times.
Aaaand now I’m gonna have to go back and read all your reviews to decide which one’s the best, that’s gonna be hard.
On a completely unrelated note, have we convinced you to check out Gravity Falls yet?
I will when I have a second to call my own.
Ah, yep, I understand.
Congrats on finally finishing the Canon! I didn’t show up until you reviewed The Emperor’s New Groove, but this blog quickly became something I look forward to every two weeks. I organize my time so I can read each new review the day it comes out. Cuz I love ya…. non-creepily, that is!
Anyways, I’m on Team Tangled, but I think both Tangled and Frozen are great movies. In my ranking of the Canon, they’re only two or three spots apart. As for Frozen, my only gripe with it is that they kind of rushed all the songs out in the first have of the movie, then remembered they were doing a musical and tossed in Fixer-Upper. For the record, I don’t think that song is that bad. Certainly not as awful and pace-breaking the gargoyles song was in The Hunchback of Notre Dame. I’ll say that even though I prefer Tangled as a whole, Frozen has much better songs.
But I want the creepy love! Thanks for all the support.
You know, the question of Frozen is good or not has for me nothing to do with Tangled. Also nothing with box office. Frozen was successful for more or less the same reason Aladdin and Lion King were more successful than The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast: It could ride on the momentum Tangled created, had an impressive song to go with it and was literally the only remarkable animated movies this year…everything else were either more or less mediocre sequels or just plain shit.
But I guess, to explain why I have a problem with Frozen, I should explain how I experienced this movie. First of all, I was very excited about this one. I love HCA stories. And I spend the whole year leading up to it defending the damn thing. When other people said that Anna looked like Rapunzel, I pointed out that Disney has a house style, and that she might be a totally different character. When other people complained about possible changes to the original story, I pointed out that Disney always reinterprets them, but is usually pretty good in either preserving the core of a story or picking a new angle which is good in its own right. When people complained about Olav I said that sidekicks are normal for Disney and are often a lot of fun.
And then I watched it in theatres. And for the first minutes, I was just blown away by the animation.
But then I was all “This makes no sense at all. Okay, the king misunderstood what the troll means. But he also explains the troll what he plans to do. Why the hell doesn’t the troll say “No, don’t do that, this will make things worse”? What is the point of shutting Elsa AND Anna away in the castle? Anna is no danger for anyone, why should she suffer from isolation? And why is she acting as if she has never any human contact at all when there are still servants in the castle?”
Then “First time in Forever” and “love is an open door” rolled around and I was all “I have never seen a Disney movie which has so many songs in the first few minutes. And why the hell is Anna singing about wanting to be with a man? I thought we were past that since the 1950s? They didn’t seriously turn one of the most proactive fairy tale heroines into a ditz who only wants to find loooooove? That is freaking insulting!”
Then the whole discussion around Hans came and I literally prayed the whole movie that they wouldn’t make Hans the villain in order to make a point about arranged marriages, because if they would do this twist, it would come out of freaking nowhere. And they did. But at this point, it was only the insult added to the injury. Partly because the plot is contrived (was there no regent who took over for Elsa until she could take over business? Am I seriously supposed to believe that they would just allow Anna to ride into the snow in her freaking ball gown?) but mostly because it feels like the script needed at least two addition rewrites.
For example: I really like the songs on their own (and I adore the “Let it go” scene). But they sound like they belong to three different soundtracks, and they simply don’t work with the story. For example “Let it go” is a song about Elsa reclaiming her freedom. But she doesn’t reclaim anything, she just shuts herself away in a different, self-created prison. Olaf’s song makes no sense at all because, well, if he was just created, how is he even supposed to know about beaches and sunshine? The worst offender is Fixer-Upper though. Anna is dying, and they add a cheerful song which is about 1. Forcefully hitching up two people (one of them being in a relationship already…and the trolls can’t know that Hans is bad news) 2. and making suggestions how to “better” the respective partner. The song is wrong on so many levels, but sung at this specific point it is so grating that for the first time ever I was watching a Disney movie thinking “Please, don’t sing”.
So at the end of the movie…I felt empty. I so wanted to like this movie, but couldn’t. But don’t get me wrong, I was nevertheless initially happy with it’s success. I WANTED Disney to make a splash, even if it was with an underserving movie, and I certainly didn’t begrudge Frozen the Acadamie Awards because Frozen really was the best Animated movie that year (due to a lack of better entries, but it was) and Let it go is easily the best song Disney has written in a long time.
But what I can’t let go is the fact that this movie will most likely now be the new template how Disney writes female characters. No longer heroines with their own agendas, who have a goal which is not related to a man and who get the prince along the way the same way the standard male hero will pick a up love interest. Now, we now get insecure characters without any agenda of their own, who spend the whole movie being stupid (mostly because they are forcefully kept that way – and yes, that aspect is also part of Tangled, but in Tangled this is rightfully framed as abusive, while in Frozen it is excused as “protective measure”) and end up in some sort of BS ending in which nothing is really resolved (so Arendel is now suddenly okay with Elsa’s power? And what is the point of doing a movie about not rushing into relationship when Kristof is ultimately presented as “the one” for Anna?)
Frozen is based on a story which is full of interesting female characters. But the movie has exactly two, which barely interact with each other.
And that’s what angers me in the end. Not that it is successful. I am pretty much used to movies which I consider good but not outstanding getting a lot of praise for being supposedly “edgy”, or because there happens to be a good song in it. But that THIS (along with Brave) being praised as Disney’s and Pixars big feminists movies. There is nothing feminist about either of them. They are both huge steps back from characters like Mulan, Tiana (yeah, even her, even though she is a case of Disney trying to hard) and Rapunzel. Those are characters who did have an agenda and who reached their goals because they worked towards them relentlessly, and more important, who did reach their goals using their own wit and abilities. Instead we took with Merida a step back to the “I want mooooooooore” princesses (don’t get me wrong, they are great characters…for their time! I want Disney to develop, not to take a step back) and with Anna we are now on the level of the classic princesses (who were also ahead of their time, but are outdated at this point).
But feminism and the original tale aside, Frozen is full of plot contrivances which rival Princess and the Frog, full of meaningless side characters and it is just not well structured, especially when it comes to the use of songs. Kristof is pretty much a cardboard character whose personality is reduced to having bad manners and habits. The movie is not consistent in tone and jerks the character around however it wants. It is just not that good of a movie. It is okay. The trolls aside, I am not offended by it, and like I said, the animation is gorgeous. But I don’t think that it will ever be in my personal top twenty of the best Disney movie. Nice try, but too much of a mess to really work.
On a different note, what about Big Hero 6? I somehow expected that you would review it as soon as it hits the theatres.
By the way, everyone who ever complained about the healing tear in Tangled and loves the resolution of Frozen is a hypocrite….and there is nothing good about Elsa ending up alone and Anna getting a love interest. If it would be good if it were the other way around, but queens never get married in the end. That is only for princesses. (I wonder if in an early draft Kristof was supposed to be Elsa’s love interest….he seems to be written more for her than for Anna).
Why would Anna sing about seeing Elsa again? Elsa didn’t even come out when the parents DIED despite Anna pleading for her to come out. I’m pretty sure Anna just gave up on her up until they met again at Elsa’s coronation.
The healing tear in Tangled comes out of nowhere, and feels like a total ass-pull.
In Frozen, we’re told well in advance that “only an act of true love can thaw a frozen heart,” along with a bit of misdirection about what that means. It’s hardly the same.
Why is it insulting for Anna to sing a song about wanting love or wanting to be with a man?
View at Medium.com
I don’t agree with every point in this article (the one about the clothes is pretty stupid, it is still a Disney movie after all), but it summons up nicely why this movie rubs me entirely the wrong way.
But basically, it is problematic because to this day there are still mothers which teach their children that the best thing they can do in life is marrying the right guy (and with “right” they mean successful to a degree that you’ll never be forced to work again)….in fact, the Honoring the Heroine article I’ll publish in two weeks will briefly discuss the issue. I was okay with the classic princesses having dreams like this because Cinderella and Snow White were in a situation in which this was the best (only) way of escape and Aurora is simply in the age in which she is thinking about romance. But Anna outright states that he main goal during this feast is to meet someone else…what happened to “do you want to built a snowman”? Shouldn’t “For the first time in forever” not be about her finally seeing Elsa again? But no, suddenly she is all about romance, everything else is forgotten.
Oh, ok I see.
I dunno…I feel the best thing I can do in life is marry a good/right girl. But I don’t define “right” as being “successful to a degree that I don’t need to work again”.
But, I guess I see your point.
What the film means by not rushing into a relationship is that don’t ask for marriage when you first meet someone, just start hanging out and dating which is exactly what Ana and Kristoff do, Kristoff is the counter argument to Hans, in the fact some guys don’t have to be perfect or pretend to be awesome, they can just be themselves and still be awesome.
I don’t necessarily agree that Ana is a step backwards, she’s not Rapunzel, but she’s not supposed to be, both of them may have been isolated daughters, but Rapunzel all her life was led to believe that men were monsters while Ana had a better education of men compared to Rapunzel, and has fond memories of actually having a healthy relationship, so her obsession of getting with a man makes sense as she’s been isolated for a very long time and is desperate to be with someone who can be there for her and spend time with her which is something that her parents failed to accomplish with Elsa, it’s actually kind of heartbreaking and adds a bit of depth to Ana’s character in my eyes, Ana is stupid with how she jumps into Hans just like that, but that’s one of the reasons why I like Ana, she’s flawed and makes mistakes, but she actually learns from her experience and makes a bold, hard decision where she sacrifices herself for her sister. basically Ana is a better written Ariel, in the fact Ana’s obsession makes more sense and the dumb decision she makes makes WAY more sense than it does in The Little Mermaid, so yeah, the “I want more” Disney princess was exactly what the filmmakers going for except actually have it make sense and actually improve on that archetype.
I don’t see how this movie is even more inconsistent with its tone than Tangled is, and I don’t see how Olaf is meaningless outside of giving depth to Elsa’s character and actually helping the main characters. I don’t see how the film is badly structured with the songs, which are used fine,
Another point: “Hi, I’m Olaf, and I like warm hugs.” and it’s a cute joke. Half of the Fixer-Upper song is basically explaining the flaws Kristoff has, and I wouldn’t say they’re assholes, more or less, they just jumped to to the conclusion that Kristoff was engaged to Ana and they’re excited. A few of the plot contrivances you mentioned seem to be more “nitpicky” than actual plot contrivances.
The thing with Anna and Kristoff is that there is literally no attraction that is between either of them, and there is no two sided attraction that has been built up in the film before they decide to kiss and be a couple. There have been many other couples who get together and not marry immediately. Them taking it slow is not an excuse for them to be a rushed couple with no chemistry.
And to be honest, they have been doing the “flawed, ruggish, less than perfect man is better than a typical prince” thing for a few decades now, but it was not so rubbed in like it is with Frozen.
I do agree that Anna is a better written version of Ariel though, and she has a lot more going for her with the “I want more” girls.
Again, I think there’s plenty of chemistry between them.
The isolation in itself makes no sense. Think about it: What if they had written the two sisters in a way that Elsa was the one who isolated herself and Anna the one who went out and was allowed to experience life? What if they had made Anna competent enough that she didn’t need someone who was looking after her when she went for her sister? What if they had made the movie actually about sisterhood, and not about the question how Anna should approach romantic relationships?
Yeah, naturally you can read Anna and Kristof in the end as budding romance…which is EXACTLY the kind of relationship Disney ended the movies with since the 1990s. Mulan for example ends with the start of a romance. Jasmine and Aladdin don’t marry until the third movie. Tangled even outright states that Rapunzel and Eugene waited some time before they decided to marry. So why exactly felt Disney the state “hey, marrying someone you just know is bad” as if this is something Disney has to distance itself from, even though that was never what Disney movies are about. And if they really HAD to make a movie about sisterhood about the “right kind of romance”…why making Hans evil? Why not making Hans attack Elsa because he is honestly grieved about Anna, and Anna realizing later on that Hans might not be Mr. Right after all, not because he is evel, but simply because he is a bad fit? (in Addition…when the movie suddenly claimed that Kristof and Anna were somehow in love I was literally “huh? When did that happen?”…there is no built up whatsoever for it, it just declares that it is now the case).
I already explained was is wrong with the tone and the songs, a more detailed analyse would make the comment even more of a review as it already is.
Nah, I need screencaps so that means waiting for the DVD.
Oh…right, good point.
In any case, I hope you start a new project for your blog. I really enjoyed reading your articles (even if I don’t always agree). My favourite is still the Black Cauldron review.
I don’t see what’s wrong with Anna wanting romance after being separated from her sister. She just wanted companionship. Outside of that, it’s not as if Anna spent all of the film searching for a husband.
what do you mean Anna had no agenda? Anna’s mission throughout the movie was to get her sister back. She did not sit back and just wait for her, she goes up a mountain herself, on a ballgown fit more for summer no less, all on her own! and the only reason why she needed Kristoff’s help in going to Elsa was because Anna obviously had the commonsense that she’ll die if she goes on her own and on foot. there are wolves, extreme temperatures, difficult terrain, and she didn’t bring any supplies with her. this is what I don’t get about accusing Anna of lacking any Agenda because of needing Kristoff’s help; she’s a princess who didn’t get much training , or none at all, for surviving up in the mountains. its not like her parents expected her to climb mountains enough to give her lessons on surviving in the wilderness.
Anna isn’t even stupid, just impulsive and headstrong, and I count them more as character flaws than mere stupidity due to writing. Anna is just so passionate about things that she does things that can count as stupid, but the intent behind those actions was more than mere impulse, there’s a reason behind them.she wanted to marry Hans because she wanted an escape from the loneliness of her life (and because she never met freakishly handsome men before, of course she’d be socially stunted to not know how marriages and relationships work). She rode out to the wilderness on a ballgown because she needed to calm Elsa down (and to even think, that Anna wasn’t even scared of Elsa’s powers) She got shot in the heart by an icy blast because she refuses to give up on Elsa.
what’s funny is that Anna is accused of having no agenda by needing a man to reach her goals but the same thing can be said for Rapunzel; she needed Eugene’s help to see the lights. and it’s not like Rapunzel has to face harsh winter terrain and fauna to get to the lights; all she needed to do is to evade Mother Gothel, and if she even had enough guts, she can just get out the tower herself and see the lights.
If i were here i’d shit myself going up that mountain on my own but Anna impulsively (and yes that counts as a character flaw mind you) goes on her own all for the love of her sister, not for Hans, not even for her Kingdom, just for her sister, and that’s saying something.
about the Kristoff-Anna relationship, the way their relationship concluded with Kristoff kissing Anna is not to show that he is ‘the one’, rather, Anna learned her lesson of not jumping headfirst into marriages and relationships, and get to know the guy first. Anna adventured with Kristoff throughout the movie, and all throughout Kristoff has been kind, selfless, and gentle with her. He is the voice of reason in every situation (since Anna’s impulsiveness can lead her to sticky situations), so you can say that Kristoff compliments Anna. He is logical she is impulsive; He is laid back, she is headtrong; He is no-nonsense, she is quirky; He is an Introvert, Anna is an extrovert, so i think their relationship is sweet and realistic. their kiss was more of a start of a romantic relationship than a full on happily ever after ending with “the one”. in fact, the only definite ‘happily ever after’ in the movie was her relationship with her sister Elsa. Who knows how Kristoff and Anna’s relationship play out after the events of the movie? it’s up to us to decide.
Anna makes exactly three decisions in this movie.
She decides to go after Elsa, which is a decision she made based on the information she had….meaning she doesn’t know that yes, Elsa can hurt her and even did so in the past. Consequently she gets hurt a second time, simply because she was not able to make an informed decision.
She decides to make Hans regent, a decision based on the manipulation he used on her.
And she decides to pick Kristof to show her the way, because he is the only one around and she herself was created to be too incompetent to deal with the icy weather, despite being born in Arendell.
If I am gracious, I can count her decision to jump in front of Elsa at the very end, which, thinking about it, might be the only time she makes an informed decision in the whole movie. She has only a split second to think about it, but, hey, better than nothing.
At the beginning of the movie, her parents control her life. Then Elsa does. Then Hans tries to take control over her. Then there are the trolls, who are the main reason she is left in the dark that often, and try to forcible marry her off. Then Kristof is the one who decides to literally carry her back to the palace for the “true love kiss”. The only times when Anna is able to make her own decisions is when the usual controller of her life are absent, otherwise there are constantly other people who make the decisions for her, and at no point the movie truly portrays that as a bad thing, because the decision Anna does make are freaking stupid. Compare this to, let’s say, Mulan, who does make her own decision, goes to the army, struggles, but ultimately succeeds because she made her own decisions. To Tiana, who worked hard for her restaurant. To Rapunzel, who is also forced to make her decisions based on limited information, but in her case, the movie makes very clear that what was done to her was abusive, and when Rapunzel does break through the web of lies she is living in, not even knowing that this is exactly what she does, it is shown to be a good thing that she is trying to control her own fate. Again, she struggles, but succeeds in the end. Eugene even dies, not to rescue her life but to preserve her freedom from Mother Gothel, her right to make her own decisions.
Anna is the least proactive Princess since Aurora, which is really disappointing…as is the fact that a movie which supposedly is about the relationship between two sisters barely passes the Bechdel test because said sisters barely share screen time with each other, and never have a truly meaningful talk. Disney can do better. They did so in Lilo and Stitch, with Lilo and Nani.
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t hate Frozen. It is, despite it’s problems, a good movie. But to me it is a step back when it comes to portraying female characters, not a step forward.
Mulan of course can do all those stuff because she was trained to do so for Disney knows how long; to be a warrior capable of defending China, so it is a no brainer that Mulan can accomplish more than many other princesses and is more effective in dangerous Terrain and situations on her own than Anna is.
Tiana is a lot more hardworking and diligent because she grew up in a society, in a life where hard work can take you to places, most especially with her status as a black woman in a racially oppressive period in American History. Of course she has more skills and wit BUT she was never trained to be a warrior; she knows nothing of combat, and cannot fathom to battle against an entire army, but does that make her inferior as a female character compared to Mulan? I say no.
Jasmine might even look worse compared to them; She is literally ‘a prize to be won’ for Princes looking to be the heir to the Sultan, but you don’t really expect Jasmine to accomplish the same feats as Mulan, nor be as diligent in work as Tiana (like she even needed to work in the first place), and in the narrative of Aladdin, Jasmine really cannot do much against a powerful wizard like Jafar; she was even trapped and made his servant, but despite her circumstances, she is still clever enough to figure out events happening around her, still aware of her value as a human being instead of a ‘prize’ and still clever enough to distract Jafar for Aladdin to make his move; she wasn’t completely useless or inactive, but understand than in her circumstances, being a pampered princess with no fighting skills, she cannot accomplish as much as, say, Mulan, but she did the best out of her situation.
So with Anna, she was as isolated as her sister, she is royalty who most likely is always pampered and taken care of, she is naïve and ignorant about the world and how real life actually is due to her isolation; Anna grew up in circumstances where she would be incapable of doing feats Mulan could do, or have the same commonsense in life as Tiana, but like Jasmine, Anna made the best of her situation, tried to not let the setbacks out of her circumstances hold her back into trying to save her sister and Arendelle, and that is what counts, not to what degree she can accomplish as a female character, or HOW she should accomplish her goals.
You say that she lets others control her (e.g Kristoff, Trolls, Hans) but like I said, her circumstances (ignorance due to isolation) make her incapable of accomplishing goals without at least a help from other people. Does that automatically invalidate her compared to Mulan when Anna never had training, nor raised to value hardwork as much? No, because she at least tried to defy against her setbacks of an isolated life by willing to face a blizzard on her own with no supplies and no proper gear (on impulse) just for Elsa, but then she found out the hard way how that wasn’t a good idea when her horse left her and she had to trudge through snow and freezing temperatures in a thick ballgown.
By that point Anna knows she would obviously die if she ventures into the mountain alone so she did the most logical thing and ask for his help. With her circumstances It would be unrealistic to let her go up that mountain all on her own all for the sake of her being a strong independent female character. She needed to stay alive and so procured Kristoff’s help not because she is weak and had no agenda but because she needed to be alive to get Elsa back. She didn’t go up that mountain to make a statement of being a female character with agenda; she needed to get her sister! And in order to get her, she needed to do more logical things like staying alive which means she needed help!
Heck, Anna even told Kristoff that he can go off and leave her after his sled crashed and burned; take note, she was ready to face the mountain on her own at that point, not because she is completely stupid, but because she is completely selfless and considerate of other people’s feelings. She knows that she might die, but because of her extreme selflessness (a character flaw but an endearing one) she was ready to shoulder all the burden all by herself. This character flaw would then be the basis of her true love action when she threw herself before the sword all for Elsa’s sake.
The Hans situation was made to show an example of her character flaws: being naïve. Anna thinks that Hans is this Adonis straight from heaven at that time due to her naivete, and when things did get south (the betrayal), she did something about it (the sacrifice). During the betrayal you cannot expect Anna to just fight Hans immediately with her Frozen state; she is severely weakened and so cannot hope to truly stop him. You say Hans tried to control her, but that was the point of his character; he is a villain so of course as a Villain they try to manipulate the protagonists into doing things they shouldn’t do (why make an exception with the Frozen characters?)
But even then, through most of the movie, Hans didn’t ever control her, she was off doing her own thing and he was there doing his own thing. Anna knows that she is the one with the true authority which is why she appointed him in the first place. And when Hans tried to kill Elsa, she sacrificed herself. She even punched him in the face in the end, and if you look carefully, Kristoff was ready to punch him himself for Anna but Anna held him back, because Hans is hers to dole out her justice.
I don’t even get why you count her parents negatively as being in control of her life, along with Elsa; of course they would be since they are her parents. Any parent have authority over their children. Elsa is in charge of her because she is the Queen of the Realm so logically she has authority over Anna both as Queen and as her only living elder relative AKA her guardian. Elsa was only looking out for Anna’s best interests when denying Anna’s marriage proposal so it’s not like Elsa is doing it out of spite but rather for her safety. So in retrospect, Anna wasn’t ever controlled or held back as much as you stated; the only setbacks Anna had to face was the isolationist policy of Arendelle, and the harsh winter due to Elsa.
So no I firmly do not believe that Anna is a step backward for female Disney characters. She is as proactive as the other more modern princesses. They have different capabilities and different situations or circmustances, so you cannot just expect them to accomplish things in the same method or in a specific manner for the sake of being a strong female character. Women do great things in different ways and they are all equal regardless of how they accomplish it.
The point is that Disney CHOOSE to create a character like Anna. They could have made a movie about the character from the actual story who is proactive, in no romantic relationship at all and competent enough to travel alone while still knowing her own limitations and when she has to ask for help. Instead they choose to create Anna, a character held in naivety by some BS excuses (like I said, there is really no reason to shut Anna in anywhere), and who is so helpless that she needs Kristof to practically carry her through the snow and so stupid that she doesn’t even listen to his advice and constantly endangers them both in the process. The choose to entangle said character in a love story, seemingly to make a point, just to let the movie end in exactly the same “we just meet but feel already deeply for each” relationship which most Disney movies end in. There is nothing innovative about it and it has one of the most clueless heroines ever, because Disney choose to make her clueless.
Yeah, Mulan learned to fight. But she did so AGAINST the expectation of society. She decided to go the steps to become a fighter. Yes, Tiana grew up in a society which valued hard work. But she also grew up in one which didn’t believe that she even should try to get her own restaurant instead of working for someone else for the rest of her life. And Rapunzel basically went against years of conditioning because she felt that the lights were calling out to her.
Anna is in a position in which she can wield enough power to order anyone around except Elsa. But she doesn’t use the power she already has wisely at all, because of a combination of apparently not being raised to do so and lacking the foresight to make the right decisions. Does this change during the movie? No, until the very end she leaps from one decision to the next, and the only character development she gets is that she learns not to marry some guy immediately. Which might have even worked it they hadn’t made Hans such an villain. Since he is, the message is not really “make sure that he is really a good fit” but more “make sure that he is not a crazy axe murderer”.
I don’t disagree that Woman can do great things in different ways. I once honoured a heroine who was basically an egoistical money grabber. But it always depends on the way a movie is framed. And I just don’t think that the female character of frozen are as layered as they should be (and since Mulan I expect Disney to write layered characters), nor is the story framed as well as it should be. Which, all in all, would be okay…not every movie can be step in the right direction…but by adding the whole “don’t marry immediately” stuff and claiming that Elsa is the secondary protagonist beside the movie lingering most of the time on Kristof and Anna, Disney successfully managed to pretend that the movie is stronger than it actually is.
^^^^^But there’s a difference between stubbornness and stupidity. Sure, maybe the original protagonist of “The Snow Queen” was more competent, but seeing that Frozen in general is almost NOTHING like the original story, I don’t really fault them. As it is, it’s pretty safe to call Frozen it’s own story.
Outside of that, isn’t Anna using her power commanding people around still an example of a “female character who can’t do anything for themselves”? Anna made the mess, and she left to find Elsa herself. It’s not as if she was looking for a husband the entire course of the film and Anna did not just learn “don’t marry a man you just met.” She also learned about what love really is and how it’s putting yourself before others. At first, she thought that she knew about “true love” and was convinced upon sight that cute guy=true love. Later, she was proven wrong when Hans betrayed her and even said, “I don’t even know what love is.” Sure, Olaf DID tell her, I’m not denying that, but I find it a little dismissive to think that her only character development is “Don’t marry a man you just met.”
@swanpride
What are the BS excuses in Frozen you speak of? The parents keeping her within the castle? How do you know for sure that she never went out with her parents? Who says Anna needed Kristoff to carry her through the snow? Going by your logic, Rapunzel also needed Flynn to carry her through the forest and town. Anna is far from clueless, naive maybe. At the end of the film, she realized she shouldn’t be so trustworthy of strangers and she should not marry someone so quickly. She also learned about the true meaning of love. Her character was well fleshed out, and by the end of the film, Anna is far wiser than she was at the beginning. It’s called a character arc.
You know after reading your blog I find your comments terribly ironic. You come to the defence of many other female characters for being wrongly accused as sexist (Many which I think you are right.) yet here you are using the exact same arguments you seem to so strongly oppose.
It’s a little bit more complicated than that. As I explained my issue with Brave and Frozen and to a lesser degree Moana is that I think that Disney has made a huge step back with them and has replaced the layered characters it offered in Mulan, Princess and the Frog and Tangled with, well, lip service. I wouldn’t say that I am using “exactly the same” arguments, though…what I oppose is when someone takes a glance at a character and judges said character without considering the time it was created, the wider context of the movie (ie that Ariel turns into a human to be with Eric ignores the aspect that she was obsessed with the human world before she ever encountered him) and the story it was based on. When I criticize Frozen, I take all three in account.
Look, even though this is my favorite movie, I agree that it isn’t groundbreaking. I also, like you, hate it when people scream ‘sexism’ at previous Disney Princesses. That’s why I find it so surprising that you think it’s a step backwards! I have no idea how you got that conclusion. What’s even more jarring is how you simplify Anna into only wanting a man,ignoring how she spends the whole movie searching for her sister. You don’t have to like her, but saying she a step backwards makes you no diferent then the people you critize.
I’m sorry if I came off as rude. I know that I can’t change your opinion. But I don’t think that just because characters mae mistakes and have flaws that they learn from makes them have no agency and are steps backwards. That just makes them good characters. Honestly, you just sound like a nitpicker who can’t reconize that there diferent ways to do female characters. Not all of them have to be role-models, not all of them have to be perfect .Sometimes, they just need to be people. And thats why I love this moive, because not only do these princesses have actual well define flaws that they learn from, but they have understandable reasons to have them.
I understand why you don’t like the movie. But you don’t speak for feminism, and neither do I. But if Frozen isn’t a feminist movie, maybe thats fine. Maybe we don’t need feminist movies. Maybe a movie doesn’t need to be feminist in order to still be empowering for girls, because while we are sitting here arging, they’re listening to “Let it go” for the millionth time driving their parents insane. And, maybe, just maybe that’s enough.
Great review, unshavedmouse! I don’t agree with all the points you made about this movie, but you expressed yourself well!
And yep, it’s kinda sad (a happy sort of sad) that you’ve come to the end of your Disney Canon review project of 2 years. I remember when I discovered you (I think it was via TGWTG.com) and I was like hmm…this guy’s funny…a bit too much cursing, but funny and awesome, I’ll keep reading.
Then, I decided, “You know what, I’m gonna make a WordPress account just so I can subscribe to this guy so that I can be updated whenever he posts a new review.”
Then, I decided, “Hmm…you know what…I’ve always wanted to create a blog devoted to the Disney Canon…not reviewing them though, but something different…maybe talking about their forgotten/minor characters.” And that was the beginning of my ‘The Animation Commendation’ blog and my Forgotten/Minor Characters series.
Then, I started thinking, “Hmm…I wish I could review animated movies, but I don’t know how to review or if I’m a good reviewer or not.” That’s when you told me that everybody has a feeling/reaction to any movie he sees and it’s that feeling/reaction that is the essence of a review and even I get feelings/reactions from films, hence I could write reviews too. And then, I started adding animated film reviews to my blog.
Then, I started thinking about reviewing the live-action Disney movies as I’m a Disney fan as well as an animation fan. And I also sought your advice for it and you gave me your advice, hence the start of my Live Action Disney Project blog.
So, all I wanna say is that you’re the one who inspired me to make my two blogs which have a good number of subscribers and commentors that I’m happy with. I’ve made WordPress friends via them and it’s all because of you.
So, this is where I wanna stand up and give you a standing ovation. Actually, I want to go out, get married right now, and have 12 children right now, just so we all can stand up and give you a standing ovation!
Thanks for everything, sir!
He really has inspired a lot of people here (including me), and all for the right reasons. His reviews are insightful, funny, shady, fair, knowledgeable, and goes in depth with every character, plot element, the production, release, and the reception today. It is so rare to find someone who will look at everything about a film in a review nowadays. If it was not for you UnshavedMouse, I would not have met all of these great friends (well, I knew swanpride before coming on here, but nonetheless), would not have created a blog that is doing pretty well, and would not have been so knowledgeable about WDAS.
And I have to say Mark, you are an inspiration as well. You are so friendly, always supporting everyone in the animated film section of WordPress (and a few other sites), always giving encouragement, and providing good quality reviews as well.
It is nice to speak to smart, educated, friendly, but strongly opinionated people that are on this blog, and while we get into disagreements, they are never personal, and always respectful. Amazing commentary.
I personally don’t think Kristoff and Ana’s relationship is rushed, in the fact that there actually is some charming chemistry between them, it’s just not as sparky as Tangled, if they got married right afterwards, then I would agree with you, but they take it slow and that’s why I can live with it.
*blushes*
@J-Man, they are definitely not as sparky as other couples (especially Flynn and Rapunzel), but there are other couples who are pretty downplayed, and it seems like they did the “take it slow” thing without hammering it in, ala Phoebus and Esmeralda. There is like no basis for Anna and Kristoff, It is not like she suddenly asks her on a date, and she says yes. To each their own.
Hi there. This is actually my first-ever comment on Mouse’s reviews (been a big fan of his since the Tangled review, my first exposure to him, but never had the courage to join the party before now), but I was inspired to comment here to say that he too inspired me to make a blog of my own, reviewing all of the Marvel Cinematic Universe movies.
…and then he announces he will be doing the exact same thing! D’oh! I curse you Mouse! Now I must find an alternative hook for my blog! (mine does take heavy inspiration from this one, so I feel if I continue it, it would feel like a very pale imitation. Anyone who wants to look at what I had done for it before now, can check it out here: http://thetatteredcape.wordpress.com/)
But regardless of all that, I do love your reviews, you style, your brilliant comedic voice, and your passion for Disney. I hugely look forward to your future work!
You are, no lie, the fourth person who’s told me they wanted to start reviewing marvel movies before I announced it. Best of luck dude.
Thanks, sir. I’ll try to see if I can rejigger it somehow to be a little more special.
Now THAT is dedication to a standing ovation. And thank you for all the support over the years.
One thing I would like to add. Anna needs to stop being in the bottom three of Disney Princess lists because she wanted to marry Hans. Telling little girls that romantic relationships are wrong is not a solution. It is masking the problem. The problem is telling females (little girls or adult women) that the only thing you really need to be happy is a man, even if you have a life that most people could only wish for. Anna does not have a perfect life. She is isolated and lonely. Anna thinks that marriage will save her from that life because it is an everlasting commitment. The idea of that commitment is what draws her to him, not her actual romantic feelings. That was my interpretation anyway.
Anna ranks lowly?! Really?!
Yeah, there’s one list that rates her as 11th because she wanted to marry Hans. Granted, they mention the “after one day” part, but who can ignore an entire movie’s worth of development and growth because of one thing. The movie repeatedly says that it is bad. I think Pocahontas got like 8th place or something. Process that for a minute.
This is why I don’t like most Disney Princess ranking lists. The criteria is never right. Sometimes it is based on something shallow like “pure hotness” or “beauty” and otherwise it is based solely on who is “more feminist”. In those cases, blander princesses like Pocahontas and Belle end up getting ranked higher than the more appealing ones like Anna and Ariel, despite (especially in Pocahontas’s case), an utter deprivation of personality.
Tell me Snow White was last. I need to know this.
Hehe, this pre-Frozen list by Nerve had Aurora dead last, as she was the least active princess in the canon. http://www.nerve.com/entertainment/ranked/ranked-disney-princesses-from-least-to-most-feminist
Unfortunately, Pocahontas is all the way up at No.2 That sad 2D husk of a “character” has no business being ranked that high on any kind of list. Even a feminist one. I mean, throwing herself on top of a white dude’s body to endanger her own life for his doesn’t exactly scream Malala Yousafzai.
To the person who criticized Pocahontas being number 2 on the “Feminist” list… Uh, the list is based on FEMINIST principles, not on PERSONALITY.
Classic case of blind hatred clouding objective views on a movie. Hate the movie, not the principles…. “Pocahontas” was pretty darn feminist, even if you didn’t like the movie. Yeesh.
Alright, so I’m going to give my two cents on this film before the Frozen hate mongers start marching in.
Is Frozen overrated?
Yeah, it kind of is, and I do sort think this film only really became a hit, because it really had no good competition in 2013.
BUT…this is still a fantastic Disney movie. It’s not a “Dream works Disaster.” nor is it one of Disney’s weakest films like some blog reviewers or some critics make it out to be. It’s got great music, likable and sympathetic characters, good animation, and is alot of fun, it’s got everything people want in a solid animated Disney movie, in my opinion, of course. I didn’t even see this movie when it first came out, I first watched it on TV, and boy was I surprised on how good it was, granted, I wasn’t THAT crazy about it the first time I watched it, but as I started watching it more, it quickly grew on me. Personally though, I don’t think this is Disney’s BEST film for me, (Lion King still remains #1 in my book) but it’s definitely up there with some of the studios strongest works to date, probably top 20 or top 10 in my opinion.
When it comes to Tangled, I would probably just put Frozen and Tangled on the same level with Frozen just a bit more higher, as both films have their strengths and weaknesses. Tangled has this problem of feeling too “Dreamworksy” and the tone is a little inconsistent with how dark the movie gets at the end and the songs are bland and not quite up there with the all time greats, but still good. I do think though that the chemistry between Rapunzel and Eugene has a little bit more spark to it than Kristoff and Ana, even though what’s there in Frozen is perfectly fine, considering they just start dating and don’t get married right after or fall instantly in love, and Frozen (at times) has the problem of feeling a bit “look how progressive we are! ” but I don’t think it’s nearly as bad as some people make it out to be, but Frozen has a few more points considering that it hits home with a message that is very true in the real world as far as relationships go and I like that the film puts more focus on family love rather than romantic love as far as princess fairy tale Disney films go and the songs are really great ( FIXER UPPER IS NOT THAT BAD!) and that awesome twist.
So yeah, I think Tangled and Frozen are both equally solid Disney films that deserve their fans (even if both fans overrate both films) and I’m eagerly excited for what Disney has up their sleeves next, and I’m equally looking forward to Big Hero 6, which seems to get better and better the more trailers I see. 🙂
P.S. When it comes to Disney villains, I do kind of hope that Disney go back to giving us a worthwhile, memorable, awesome villain in this new redemption era, as I am sort of hoping Big hero 6 does that, but I’m not getting TOO excited for that.
Can’t go wrong with a masked ninja leading an army of nanobots. Bring on Big Hero Six!
Yeah, that does sound cool, i just don’t want another Ronan, an extremely boring villain that brings little to no charisma, that’s only made worse by the fact that the heroes are interesting and have a charming personality, this all coming from Guardians of the Galaxy of course.
Oh I love that movie but they really shit on Ronan.
YOU CAN NOT GO WRONG WITH THAT.
The guy looks like a stone cold badass.
I dunno…I thought Ronan works great for that film. He’s intimidating, psychotic, and has a fantastic scene which is crucial to Drax’s character development. Plus, he’s a nice commentary on extremists being jerks who’s egos can’t take a progressing world (his whole vendetta was in reaction to his people making peace with Xandar). I thought he was a bit more interesting than your typical out-for-vengeance baddie.
Then again, I know squat about his comics equivalent, so that helps me appreciate Movie Ronan too…
The only thing “dreamworksy” about Tangled was the advertising. The movie itself embraces classic Disney movie tropes more than any other of the modern Disney movies which are all about forcefully subverting them…you know, like DreamWorks supposedly did with Shrek (but didn’t either because Shrek used exactly the same tropes). And I hate that! I love Wreck it Ralph to dead, but I hate the “I am not a princess” scene because it was a totally unnecessary commentary to add. I hate all this “here, see, someone complained about it, so we pretend to address it” thing they did in more every current CGI movie EXEPT Tangled. Which is therefore still my favourite.
Well, a lot of Flynn’s lines sound like they acme straight from The Road to El Dorado and a lot of other DreamWorks films.
They also sound like Aladdin’s and Kusco’s lines, and nobody claimed that they were “dreamworksy”.
I have mentioned before that the modern jokes in those movies bother me as well. Even Kristoff is somewhat like this. The “ruggish, funny, witty man” is the thing with Disney men nowadays.
The opening with the Horned King really was great to read.
My nomination for best Unsaved Mouse Review will be Pocahontas. Other ones I thought of are Pinochio, Bambi, Lilo and Stitch, Princess and the Frog, an American Tail, Power Rangers, and Peter Pan.
Good to know, thanks!
I did love this movie, but I didn’t think it was something great. I actually like Tangled more because of its brighter colors, more active animation (basically, Tangled has more energy than Frozen) and better characters. I prefer Rapunzel and Flynn far more than Kristoff, Anna and Elsa. I would agree that Let It Go is the best Disney song in decades, though, only rivalled by Friends from the Other Side from The Princess and the Frog (Jazz is simply amazing, and it reminds me of classic cartoons). But I agree the movie isn’t bad, just a bit overrated.
Well, with the amount of praise it’s gotten it could hardly be underrated.
Great review. I never got why anyone disliked Fixer Upper (I like it fine) and though I will say it’s oddly misplaced in the movie, it’s a fine song and is campy and cute. I found myself getting bored of the final stretch of the movie due to lack of songs though, and it just dragged for me. I feel like the songs they deleted would have fit this theme better, but I think that they wanted the movie to be happier than those deleted tracks were. But idk, Life’s Too Short and the Life’s Too Short reprise instead of First Time in Forever reprise and nothing while Elsa was in jail? would have been perfect and built the relationship more between the 2.
Hans as a villan I agree with your sentiments, other than it coming out of left field. There are a lot of cues in Love is an open door, but the one that sticks out to me the most is in verse 2: “Hans: I mean it’s crazy Anna: What? Hans: we finish each others Anna: Sandwiches!! Hans: That’s what I was gonna say!” – he was just agreeing with her to woo her for marrige and snizzy, and he agrees with her and acts all nice until the double cross in the movie. Major red flags, unless you’re really needy and want love (like Anna did). One thing I love about this movie is how realistic it is, and it shows that so well. Yes, Anna is stupid, but wouldn’t a person in her situation act naive and cling to the first semblence of love she got her entire life? Yes, probably. Christoph and Anna’s relationship isn’t a love at first sight relationship, it shows them warming up to each other and they kiss at the end. Does kissing at the end= they fall madly in love and get married? Nope! There is a short coming out next year that just has them as a couple, not married. And honestly, if it were the typical Disney married love at first sight….could you blame them? It’s a Disney staple, I wouldn’t have minded if they did it lol. This movie is flawed, and not one of my favorites, but I don’t hate it either. I’m very..luke warm towards it. Love the soundtrack, though.
and also Mouse! I’ve already seen an announcement for a Frozen Musical 🙂 I am so excited for it because I think it’ll definitely fix the flaws that were in the movie and develop the characters more.
Great end of an era, congrats! Can’t wait to read what’s to come with the blog 🙂
And that day Mouse heard there would be a Frozen musical and cartwheeled on his keyboard for nine hours.
Don’t forget the short sequel!
My favorite hint about Hans’s true nature is his body language while Anna is telling Elsa about the engagement. Watch carefully, especially around the “soup, roast, and ice cream” line.
Awesome Review Mouse, this may not be your last Disney review, but it sure is the end of an era. And although we will all miss it, the future will always have something new for you to talk about while posting weird images about talking maps. 🙂
About the movie: I wasn’t a fan of it when I first bought the TOTALLY NON-PIRATE DVD, but after seeing all the well-thought reviews that some people made and watching it again, I learnt to appreciate it.
Ok, first off congratulations Mouse! It’s been an extremely enjoyable ride for all of us and I’m kind of sad that it’s over but very happy that you found such success and that you’ll continue the blog covering some different topic which I guess we’ll hear about next week.
Now for the movie. As some of you may remember, I was (I believe) the first person in the comments section to have seen it last year, as I saw it at 8 o’clock on opening night. And you may remember that I said it was fantastic and that I really really loved it. Well, I’ve seen it twice more since then. Once again in theaters, and then once just a couple months ago on DVD. When I saw it the second time, I still loved it. When I saw it the third time, well, my opinion changed. I didn’t hate it, far from it, but I was much much more lukewarm about it.
To explain why I think it’s probably best to address some of the key points you hit on as to why you liked it so much. First, the music. On the whole, it is very solid. I adore “Do You Wanna Build a Snowman” and “Let it Go” is very good (though I did kind of find myself starting to hate it a bit after hearing it so much during the year). The rest though range from OK to not bad for me. And one really really ungodly terrible one. Yeah, “Fixer-Upper” may be my least favorite song in the entire canon. And while I’m addressing the trolls’ song, I may as well say that I absolutely hated their role in the film. They could basically be removed from the film entirely and you lose almost nothing. They’re not funny, they’re not interesting, they’re just annoying and have really boring character designs. Back to the songs. “Love is an Open Door” is pretty good, but it gets kind of grating towards the end. “In Summer” bugs me but it has a few clever lines so I give it a pass. I think on the whole, part of the reason I don’t like the music more than I do is because it sounds too Broadway to me. Allow me to sort of clarify why that’s bad. I did theater in high school, either acted or did tech stuff for all the productions we put on while I was there. So a bunch of my friends from high school are serious theater geeks. And they pretty much all loved musicals. As a result, I heard a lot of music from stuff like Spring Awakening and Rent while hanging out with them. And I couldn’t stand it. Absolutely hated almost all of it. The only one I ever heard that I actually liked was Wicked, which I fucking love. It’s all just the same thing over and over and over again. It caters so heavily to the young artist crowd, so much stuff about how no one understands the main character and they just have to learn to love themselves even if society doesn’t and on and on and on and on. And don’t get me wrong, those are fine messages. But I am just absolutely not the target audience for stuff like that and it gets so tiresome. The whole style of modern Broadway musicals is just not something I’m into at all. So that was a pretty major sticking point for me with the music.
Second, Hans. The first two times I saw the movie I was like “Oh man, what a great twist, it totally undermines the love at first sight trope.” Then I saw it the third time and realized just how out of the blue that twist is. It’s not foreshadowed at all and it just makes it seem like they wanted to pull the rug out from under you just because they could. In other words, it felt like a bad Shyamalan twist. And then on top of it, you’re absolutely right about how poorly his character is handled after the reveal. His plan is so stupid and executed so poorly it just makes him look like an idiot rather than a competent threat. I honestly consider the Duke of Weselton to be the big villain of the movie because at least I believe that he could pull off something of serious magnitude with some level of confidence.
Third, Olaf. I am so so neutral on him. Is he annoying? Not really. Is he funny? At times. Mostly I just find his presence unneeded. And seriously, “In Summer” bugs the crap out of me. Like “Fixer-Upper” it basically serves no purpose other than to stop the movie dead in its tracks for a couple minutes while it remembers that it’s a musical. But I guess neutral is better than hate, so that’s good, I guess.
So why do I still like this movie? Well I like the rest of the characters, Anna, Elsa, Kristoff, and Sven are all very likable and interesting. “Do You Wanna Build a Snowman” does so much to elevate the movie just by its mere existence. And the animation is excellent, the construction of the ice palace took my breath away because I just loved how the crystals were formed with so many wonderful geometric patterns. And using the word “fractals” as a lyric in “Let it Go”? Nicely done.
Well I’ve said my piece. Once again, congratulations Mouse and I look forward to seeing where the blog goes from here
Thanks for everything man. Oh God, Rent! Fucking Rent! No! Being an artist does not mean you get a free house! Get a fucking job!
I see you at least somewhat understand my frustrations with that sort of stuff.
“Being an artist does not mean you get a free house! Get a fucking job!”
Oh, Mouse…
From the opening number:
BENNY: This past year’s rent that I let slide!
MARK: Let slide? You said we were golden!
ROGER: When you bought the building…
MARK: When we were roommates!
ROGER: Remember? You lived here.
BENNY: How could I forget? You, me, Collins, and Maureen…
Benny promised Mark and Roger that he would not charge them rent and then RENEGED ON THE PROMISE. Mark and Roger are not layabouts; they were told they could stay for free, and then Benny shows up demanding a years’ worth of rent money that Roger and Mark were not expecting to have to pay. They refuse Benny’s next offer (“You can stay for free in a renovated building if you get Maureen to stop her protest” from the “We’ll See” number) because it means compromising their values, and Benny’s third offer (“Sure I’ll let you back in the building” from “Happy New Year B”) because Benny is using them for publicity, and honestly they have no reason to trust him. They break back in because they are holding Benny to his promise that they could stay for free. And as Joann (who does not live in the building) points out, at that point they have squatter’s rights.
We don’t know whether Mimi kept up with her rent (they turned off her heat, but she could have been paying at least something), but she did have a job. Angel and Joann didn’t live in the building; Collins was coming back from a different state to what he thought was waiting for him (since he had been Benny’s roommate when Benny made his promise), and it reads like Maureen was no longer in the building either; she simply didn’t like Benny, plus she wanted a performance opportunity.
Therefore, this particular criticism of RENT is invalid 😛
(Also, is it ever stated that Roger and Mark *don’t* work? Underemployment causes poverty just as much as unemployment does. Just because Mark couldn’t pay for a tea doesn’t mean he didn’t work; he could have just run out of money before his next paycheck.)
Fair point. It is a snowball, thrown at the oncoming truck of my hate.
Ok, I’m curious. I grew up with RENT…it was always blasting from my sister’s room, and it was probably the first non-Disney musical I was aware of. So it has a special place in my heart. Why the hate?
Couple of reasons. I think Larsen (Larson?) was a good songwriter but not much a of a playwright. I dislike the whole “artists are special snowflakes, people who work for a living are corporate lackies” vibe it gives off, I do not find the scene where the dog is tortured to death as charming as I think I’m supposed to and my experience with the play is based on one bad movie and one REALLY bad amateur production so that probably coloured my perceptions of the play.
“artists are special snowflakes, people who work for a living are corporate lackies”
I can definitely see where you get that vibe but I don’t think it’s what the script is trying to say. Remember that Joann is a lawyer and Collins was a professor of philosophy and later a tutor. Mimi was an erotic dancer, but that was a steady paying job, too. I don’t think the play is trying to say that if you have a high-paying job or steady work that you’re a soulless husk; just that if you DO happen to be(come) a soulless husk AND you have (or get) power/money, you can really, really screw other people without jobs/money over. Mark and Roger didn’t tell Collins to fuck off for going to teach at MIT, after all. Benny is only the villain because he basically disowned his friends after marrying up, and then tried to dick Mark and Roger over on the rent issue.
I think also the play is given to the excesses it possesses because of the very specific community it’s portraying. The 90s were both rather safe and rather dangerous for anyone in the “alternative lifestyle” scene…on the one hand: Matthew Shepherd, AIDS; on the other hand, queer/alt issues were coming to the forefront and more and more people were coming out/joining the lifestyle. (Trying to separate queer from kink from drugs from the arts in this time and place could be a thesis statement on it’s own, so I’m not even going to try) So there were VERY passionate feelings of “Fuck the Man” in this era, which culminated in not only a rejection of more conservative social prejudices (i.e. homophobia/transphobia) but more conservative social mores (i.e. steady office work).
Larson was part of this community when he wrote RENT. He was also super terrified of failing at his own dreams – his earlier work “tick…tick…BOOM” is basically an autobiographical piece about a guy who is afraid that he will never become a successful playwright – so I think he might have chosen to lash out at whoever (a particular person, or his own fear) that was telling him to give up and chose a “safer” career choice. (Though even in TTB he has a sympathetic character, Jon, who holds down a steady office job.)
And you know, even if Mark or Roger or Maureen or whomever makes a witty comment at a steady-job-holder’s expense, it doesn’t necessarily mean we’re supposed to agree with them. The play makes no secret that they are deeply flawed and outrageously self-destructive individuals. (Except, again, Joann…the one with the steady, high-paying job who DOESN’T do drugs, DOESN’T get AIDS, and is completely on point in all her criticisms of Maureen’s narcissistic behavior.) They’re supposed to be sympathetic, not omniscient.
I mean, RENT definitely has its flaws. It’s overly ambitious; it was revolutionary in a lot of ways and I think it’s a bit TOO aware of that fact. Angel torturing Evita to death is something that has never once sat well with me, ever, and I sincerely wish it was not part of the play, or that it was played more as the desperate act of a homeless person who needed that $1000 for life-saving medication and food that it was, rather than as a petty revenge fantasy against an asshole landlord. And I also saw the terrible movie and the “meh” final Broadway performance. But I don’t think “if you have a bank account you’re an awful person” is an actual message of the show that it can be criticized for. It’s more what you do with that money and power that determines if you’re a villain, rather than the act of simply HAVING it.
Hans may not be a traditional villain, but he’s refreshingly realistic, which I haven’t seen since Gaston, and I grin like an idiot every time I watch the movie and he has his (albeit brief) Moment. By giving out blankets and offering hot food and warm shelter at the castle, he strikes me as someone who would be an honest, trustworthy ruler once he has a kingdom of his own, though his way of gaining said kingdom is all wrong. His ambiguous fate is surprisingly very satisfying compared to the finite, violent ends of others. May it stay ambiguous considering all the promised media. I’ve read elsewhere that some people (especially guys) say the dignitaries cheering when Anna punches Hans into the fjord references all men burned by the Prince Charming stereotype; that either they could not live up to the stereotype or women have left them to chase after it.
This is why I’m willing in the end to forgive the writers goofing up Hans’ follow-through. His setup and reveal as a cold sociopathic bastard is GREAT, IMO, to the point it honestly makes him one of the most memorable villains in Disney history, and in a good way (its so awesome when we see Disney going with such a creepily realistic type of villain. Gaston and Frollo similarly go for this, and it makes them all the more disturbing for it).
And heck, even with his idiocy with the details of his plan, you could argue makes him accidentally MORE realistic. Evil people often trip up when their moment of victory is at hand, and their ego and confidence get the better of them.
True.
The biggest problem with Frozen is the fact that it’s clunky. It has a rather solid premise, and lots of parts of it are very clever and catchy and even touching and genuine, but it trips all over itself getting itself together.
I actually don’t think the songs are masterpieces by themselves, if only because there are very noticeable moments when the Anderson-Lopezes wrote themselves into a corner lyrically. Like Anna’s random aside in TFTiF about shoving chocolate in her face, which had nothing to do with anything else in the song and was clearly there because they needed a rhyme. And even some of the lyrics in LIG…
I mean, this is beautiful: “My power swirls into the air in to the ground / My soul is spiraling in frozen fractals all around” ALLITERATION. SAT WORDS. ME GUSTA.
And then there’s this: “It’s funny how some distance / Makes everything seem small.” Um…the only thing I can think of is what Todd in the Shadows said during his review of Kelly Clarkson’s “Stronger”: “Hey, you know what makes me feel better after a heartbreak? CLICHES.” Thanks for that motivational poster moment, movie. It just felt so uninspired. And the clunky moments were paired up with other inspired moments…other lyrics, or stunning animation…so a lot of it felt very uneven.
Also the pacing in this movie is whiplash-speed >.> I think the biggest offense is when Anna is frozen at the end for like ten seconds; the record time in which she unfreezes basically sucks all the dramatic tension out of the scene. (Also Idina Menzel’s fake crying…sounds like fake crying. >.>)
DGMW, I did like this movie and when Frozen is good, it’s good. It’s just that Frozen can’t decide if it wants to be heavy-handed and moralizing, or smooth and subtle, which makes the viewing experience a little disorienting.
w/r/t Jesus-y-ness:
I did like is that there WERE Jesus-y moments. Just very subtle Jesus-y moments. Firstly the Sami chanting is taken from a traditional Christmas song. Secondly the moral of the movie can be summed up as “Perfect love casts out all fear”, since it’s Anna and Elsa’s love for each other that helps Elsa work through her massive insecurities and return Arendelle to it’s normal climate, thereby ending the national panic.
I disagree about the music. But my biggest gripe is the way the story changed its direction a few times.
And it’s not the movie that’s Jesus-y. Sure, you could interpret it that way but Mouse was referring to the story the movie is EXTREMELY loosely based on. The Snow Queen is essentially about childhood friends. They are driven apart when the boy (Kay) has his heart pierced by a piece of an evil mirror and is abducted by the Snow Queen; the girl (Gerda) goes on a quest to save him, encountering witches, thieves and princesses along the way. People complain about the title being changed (from ‘The Snow Queen’ to ‘Frozen’) but I have no objection to it at all. It’s not the same story.
In most country they do use the title of the original tale, though, either straightforward or as subtitle, because “frozen” translated sounds really stupid in many languages.
//Mouse was referring to the story the movie is EXTREMELY loosely based on.//
I’m fully aware of what Mouse was referring to. I was trying to say that I find it interesting that religious references still found their way into the loose adaptation.
Oh okay. Not my preferred reading, I have to say, but my issues with religion are a whole other flame war. I guess the film has the potential to appeal to anyone.
Yes, this was such a great review and I LOVED your summation of the movie at the end! *Sniff*
I also liked that you defended “Fixer Upper”. The song is incredibly cool just because it has the beautifully truthful line, “We’re not saying you can change him, for people don’t really change…” I mean, that is a VERY important message not just for little kids but for everyone from teens to adults, many of whom just don’t get what should be very simple when it comes to relationships. Even a majority of live action romantic comedies shy away from being this honest. Bravo, Disney.
That whole section of the song honestly makes it worth it for me on a plot-relevance level. Because its the movie making abundantly clear its message of tolerating and having compassion for those you love in spite of their flaws, and to be forgiving to them when they make mistakes. This, I think, is the moment that restores Anna’s faith in her sister after being disillusioned when Elsa cast her out. So, on that level, the song is indispensable.
Just…put at the absolute worst time of the story, so it feels like a pace-killer and superfluous.
Still I can’t believe it took them so long to adapt this damn thing and in the end decided that they would use ABSOLUTELY NOTHING of the actual story in the end. That’s not ‘based’ on the story at all, it doesn’t deserved to be called based on the original. I’m quite peeved about that
it’s not ike Disney’s haven’t done that before; they’ve been doing it for years, decades even. Take hunchback for example, Hugo loyalists hate the crap out of that movie for disneyfying it. A nd arguably worse is Pocahontas, who twist and disneyfy the crap out of real people and events.
And don’t forget Chicken Little.
Forgot to mention what I do like about it is that when Anna reveals her intention to marry Hans, more people than not turn around to her and say ‘that’s madness, you barely know him!’ which is what almost everyone in the real world would do. Normally in Disney most people act like it’s cool for people to marry a minute after meeting a person (some of them have a context like princes and princesses never actually had to meet each other or even like each other to marry or if it’s a particular time period) so I do like that realistic reaction from the characters
Well, the Frozen Heart thing and the Snow Queen are taken from the original story. Also, Anna is clearly based on the “Gerda” character and Elsa is an amalgam of The Snow Queen and the “Kay” character. It is loosely based for sure.
Anyways, Frozen is a far superior story than the original tale. Sorry, Hans Christian Andersen.
Ohhhhhkay, I’m just gonna duck and cover while the Anderson fans do their thing.
Forget it Selina. It’s Disneytown.
Well they did say it was “inspired by” instead of “based on,” like it was for The Little Mermaid. They also seem to be leaning away from “based on” and moving towards “inspired by,” which is what they did in the theatrical version of the first Big Hero 6 trailer.” So if anything, Disney is being more honest when it comes to their “adaptations.”
I don’t really understand why there needs to be two such camps (Tangled vs Frozen). Nor why if in one camp means need to hate or thumb down everything about the other movie. Both were great movies. But I still maintain that Frozen is in a league of her own in this era of Disney movies.
Look, Disney really tried, they really did. Look at Princess and the Frog, Tangled, etc. They really tried all out to modernize the Disney princess movie and make it relevant to today’s audience. They knew the old snow white movie just can’t cut it in today’s audience anymore.
But it wasn’t until Frozen when they finally cracked it. This movie blew everything else out of the water box office wise and created a cultural phenomenon all on its own. You can argue about the technical bits, or the some of the plot loop holes and such. Guess what, to most of the general audience as well as the most important one (the kids), its all irrelevant.
The movie was gorgeously rendered. Snow, the ice castle, the individual snow flakes even. They all looked amazing. I am not saying other movies like tangled didn’t look amazing. But there is already something inherently magical about snow, and this movie brings that out. I am sure the golden sheen and individual strands of Rapenzul’s hair was a wonderful work of animation. But its just different. Wonderfully animated snow is an entire atmosphere, which prevades the entire Frozen movie. The whole movie consistently carries through that theme of snow, ice and frozen … magically! From the innocence of two little kids playing around in snow, building a snowman, to when you see Elsa summon up an entire ice palace. Its the scale, its the wonder, its the spectacle!
The other Disney movies this era didn’t carry through the theme quite anywhere near as well, no matter how polished or detailed their animation might be. Rapenzel was thrown into so many settings and situations. You went from stone tower to dingy inns to a boat in a lake ,etc etc etc. There wasn’t a consistent theme throughout other than her hair. Yes great, her wonderful hair. I was wowed the first time I saw and touched actual snow in my life. No matter how awesome another person’s hair is, I am not going to go slack jawed…
Also, arguing and comparing details in animation is missing the big picture. Theme wise, atmosphere wise, the animation for Frozen carries through much more consistently, and hence the end spectacle is so much more memorable and breath taking. I am sure Princess and the frog and tangled were beautifully animated. But they didn’t have the wow factor. They did not have the spectacle to create that kind of lasting memorable moments that Frozen did. Tangled rushed so much from one hectic scene to the other I had problems remembering anything other than the boat scene and the starting part when she was in her tower trying to pass time. Too much of one thing does not automatically make it better.
Frozen took the time, and used amazing music in addition to literally imprint the scenes in your mind. I couldn’t forget the movie after I watched it. So many memorable scenes that just reached out and stayed in your mind for Frozen.
Frozen just had heart. You could tell. Us cynical adults will pick on one small thing, or another. But children are different. They aren’t as jaded as we are. They instinctively recognise the heart that is in Frozen. And because Frozen connects with them, they love it so much. Even adults love it, because Frozen connects with our inner child. Frozen literally brought me back to Disney’s greatest eras of beauty and the beast, little mermaid, Lion King. When I saw Frozen, I myself was transported back again. Back to the first time I saw the past Disney greats and was wowed, was enchanted. The other Disney movies this era didn’t manage to do that, but Frozen did. After I watched this movie, I immediately could stand up and say…. Disney has finally managed to bring back the magic of old to their princess movies.
And guess what, Frozen managed to do this by keeping its charm and magic of the old, yet by modernising itself in many ways. I mean, hey, this Disney princess movie didn’t end with a girl and a guy getting married, or professing eternal love to each other, in fact, the actual prince was a baddie, and in the end true love was also sisterly love. How much Disney has progressed and modernized itself over the ages. No longer is it all about the princess falling in love with the prince who comes in to save the day!
And yet, despite being so modern, Frozen managed to do this without being snarky, cynical or having to make everything into some big parady or joke. (Shrek I am looking at you!). Frozen managed to stay true to being a charming princess movies and managed to charm the socks off even us cynical adults. In fact, many of them were openly willing to embarass themselves by joining in the mania, and joining in the singing!
Show me one other Disney movie that has managed to achieve this. None. There has been no other Disney movie except Frozen whereby Singalongs have actually become a thing! That they were even implemented by itself shows how much Frozen touched its audience. Which other movie had audiences, adult audiences willing to join with the kids to sing the songs in the movie? Not even the Little mermaid, nor Lion King, nor beauty and the beast has managed to achieve that. I mean, you could take a DVD of the past greats, play it and invite the kids and adults to sing along. See how many are going to be willing to join in. Play Frozen, and the kids automatically start singing, and the adults literally don’t mind joining in! Thats how amazing Frozen was. You simply can’t take that away from the movie.
Its easy to focus on one thing, or one aspect, and compare it to another and criticise. But the sum of all parts forms a greater whole. For Frozen, the sum of all its parts came together and created an amazing, memorable experience! One that allowed all the new fans of this generation, and even the past to once again experience the charm and magic of the Disney Princess movies of old. That is no small thing.
In the end, lay aside all the cynism and consider this. Nostalgia and memories made me fond of the magical Disney movies last time (Beauty, Aladdin, Mermaid, Lion King). But Frozen sit right up there amongst them, because Frozen is a movie of this era and yet, managed to recapture the magical atmosphere of the past when you watched the movie and lost yourself in it until it ended. I am incredible happy we had Frozen in this era because now, my kids will have that memory of being charmed by a Disney Princess movie just as I was so many years ago. They didn’t need to live during my time of little mermaid, etc, because they now have their own equivalent…. Frozen.
The Der Schneerman imagery is… unfortunate, especially considering that Josh Gad’s grandparents were survivors of the Holocaust. I think what Disney was trying to pay homage to Hans Christian Andersen’s the Snowman, a story about a snowman the falls love of the stove (the snowman in the story can be interpreted had Andersen’s suppressed love/sexual desires).This is perhaps the reason why Olaf loves warmth and the very fact that there is a stove scene in the movie leads me to believe that it’s more what they were trying to go for.
Okay, that makes sense. The two cartoons may in fact have had the same inspiration.
Oh, there are many tales about a snow being wishing for warmth. I remember reading one called “The Snow Child”, where a couple of siblings create a little girl from snow. She comes to life and wants to stand by the fireplace or something. You can guess how it turned out for her.
She…she got warm?
In Simon and the Witch, the witch brings a snowman to life for Christmas (she calls him Uncle Bob), Simon doesn’t believe she has any relatives coming for Christmas. I think he wants to get closer to the fire and her cat helps him get closer because he doesn’t like him… Melted puddle on the floor.
And I totally forgot to mention how relatable this movie is to so many people because of Elsa. Because there literally is an Elsa in so many of us. There has never quite ever been a Disney princess (Queen actually) like Elsa before. And yet, never has there been a Disney princess so many of us could relate to. Past Disney Princesses were cute, universally beautiful, kind, etc etc … erm generally “perfect”.
Elsa was far from perfect. Probably the most flawed princess/queen ever in Disney’s history. Heck, she is the source of all the troubles and tribulations in the movie! But we absolutely love her, because we can relate to her. Anna was so adorable, so cute, so dorky, so brave, etc etc. Just like the multitude of other Disney princess before. But yet, everyone still loves the flawed, moody Elsa more… go figure. 🙂
Hell yes. For me, this is one of the things that makes Frozen a triumph. I can relate soooooooo strongly to the characters in this one. This and Lilo and Stitch are the Disney films I have the strongest empathy level for, with its characters.
Elsa has strong anxiety, depression, self-doubt and guilt over her past mistakes? Check. Anna wants to connect with people, but has some problems with rash behavior and naivete that’s constantly proven to be unfounded or even dangerous? Yep. Kristoff has some….weird habits, but is overall a nice fellow but sometimes puts on an antisocial face? Uh-huh.
I LOVE this film! But fear not! I’m not some crazy fangirl who can’t see flaws or will Attack people for their critcizim. However, I was actually okay with Anna and Kristoff getting together. It’s not as if they said “I love you” or something on the lines of that. At least Anna seemed to learn her lesson about taking it easy.
Anna/Kristoff works for me. Probably because, to its credit, “Fixer-Upper” goes out of its way to basically tell us “Hans seems perfect, but Kristoff, who has lots of character flaws, is just as worth it for his redeeming values.” I love that message, and I think it shows Anna that Kristoff is a better fit, because she herself has some odd quirks and character defects. She can relate more to him, than to Hans. Hence…I think they are a cute couple, and right for each other.
Come on, Neil! I even told you about it in the Wreck-it Ralph review!
http://disney.wikia.com/wiki/Love_is_an_Open_Door#Trivia
End of an era, huh…well there’s still Big Hero 6 (by the way, what’s your opinion on it so far?), so I was never worried about the blog ending or anything like that. Can’t wait to see what’s next!
Also if you don’t ever review Spirited Away I may cut you.
I am really, really loving what I’ve been seing so far.
Guess Disney realized that the Frozen trailers were terrible and went on to make the Big Hero 6 trailers as awesome as possible just to redeem themselves.
They seemed to have worked though.
go mouse!
I did!
Am I the only one who thought that there was enough good forshadowing or hints for Hans? In addition to what Anonymous said, he seemed a little too good to be true to me. Here is Anna, a girl trapped in a castle for 13 years who wants companionship in the form of “the one,” then SUDDENLY this perfect guy shows up out of nowhere? Also, when Elsa and Kristoff were telling Anna she couldn’t marry a man she just met, Anna was being kind of stubborn about it. As protagonist, it could be expected that Anna’s actions would soon bite her on the butt later after ignoring the warnings. I do still think that the twist could have been better played out mostly because of Hans’ “mustache-twirling monologue” and more time for Hans to do something REALLY bad (maybe cut “Fixer Upper” so there would be more time), though. But for what it is, I actually don’t mind the twist and I like how the princess dated the villain (even if it was for a short time).
Well I think this is a great moment to say thank you. Honestly, your reviews have given me so much enjoyment over the last year and a half. (I found you after the Horned King review) Like another reviewer I looked forward to Thursdays but, I could never remember which Thursday we were on so, would check hopefully. I’ve laughed at slightly negative reviews of films I love and laughed at ones of films you love. I had to share your review of Foodfight with the person sitting next to me and others I’ve tried desperately not to snigger too loudly in the library. But, your reviews have also had a lot of heart and reminded me why I love Disney and brought me to a whole new appreciation of other animated films, old ones like The Lord of the Rings and newer ones like Epic! (which in my view had the makings of a good film).
And thank you, thank you for your top non-Disney films, I had never seen the Secret of Kells and it is beautiful. And there are still so many films to watch! 🙂 ❤ I hope doing these reviews have made you as happy as the rest of us and look forward to what is to come.
You saw Kells?! Oh, I’m so glad you liked it.
It was fantastic. I’d loved the animation and the different styles used at different points. The music is now some of my favourite. And I really like the way it weaved Irish legend and the making of the book together.
Go h-iontach!
OK, now although I accept the idea of love not being a boyfriend-girlfriend thing can be done well it’s being overdone a bit. It was in Aquamarine, Brave (sort of), Frozen, and Maleficent. The gate is open for a fairytale parody with a genre savvy victim of a curse awaiting some show of love from the being that truly loves them. As they lie dying a small dog dashes to their side … “Thanks Bonny I love you too,” croaks the now cured victim.
In fact I think there are now a whole new series of tropes in animated films to poke fun at in a friendly way 🙂
Dance party!
I just adored the argument over whether the wood should be face-up or face-down. I live in Norway, and that is a serious argument that can cause rifts in families. When public broadcasting did their slow-TV program on wood (yes wood, it was basically hours of watching wood burn) people complained quite angrily about the wood being stacked bark-up.
We have a similar thing in Ireland regarding tea.
It’s so weird… Around this time last year is when I found out about this blog and I remember getting to the Fantasia 2000 entry, finishing it, then looking for the next one and realizing I had to wait a week for the next one because I was caught up (it was such an “Oh… Okay…What do I do now…?” moment). And now, you’ve reviewed Frozen and you’re caught up on all of the Disney cannon movies. And when you said “It’s always the last place you look” when talking about how Frozen was the first Disney movie you showed your daughter, that melted my heart. Like, wow, that’s adorable.
Congrats on 2 years and 53 movies. Can’t wait to see what you have in store 🙂
Actually 68! (I got distracted). Thanks so much for sticking with it.
First off, been really enjoying your blogs on all these films. Heck you even inspired me to go on a Disney run as of late just to compare and contrast how we felt about them. So kudos to all your hard work.
….that being said, Team Tangled all the way, baby. ^)^ *cracks knuckles*
Interesting that you praise Princess and the Frog for invoking Charlotte as the Old School Era Disney Princess template and saying “it’s still okay for you to like these kind of movies/characters” while praising Frozen for doing the exact opposite and saying “those old female characters sucked and you’re a dope like Anna for wanting to be like them. HAIL ELSA, THE NEW ALPHA-PRINCESS…QUEEN!” (Congratulations, Disney, you’ve addressed characters from movies of yours from the FIFTIES. How hip and modern you are now. >_>)
Others have given the structural/narrative problems I have with this movie, but the above is what turned it from Didn’t Like It to Full Blown Hate It for me. Anna is completely likeable and understandable and dare I say selfless and heroic (her going up to the mountains to retrieve Elsa IN OF ITSELF is an act of true love. Hans was always going to be second-fiddle to her sister no matter what)…yet the whole movie keeps trying to make her seem all herpy-derpy and dopey and like SHE’S the one that needs to go through the character transformation. Sure, she fell for the only person in a long time that showed something resembling affection toward her, but the way they kept picking at it during that sled scene and how Kristoff keeps talking down to Anna about what she plans to do when she reaches Elsa, that was so incredibly forced and unnecessary. Stop trying to remove blame/accountability over the person who caused the conflict of the movie, ELSA.
Yeah yeah yeah, bad childhood and all, whatever, point is, ELSA is the cause of most of this movie’s problem, period, end of story. But the movie bends over backwards to try and let Elsa off the hook/shift the blame toward Anna (and going by arguments I’ve had on da IMDB, it worked) because they didn’t want the little kiddies questioning the singer of their new favorite “I Will Survive Knockoff #765984930811” pop song (gotsa bank that sweet Insecure Tweenager Girl cash, baby). And in the context of the movie, I don’t see how it’s any better than the supposed lesson they were beating you over the head with with Anna: If you feel bad about yourself kids, be like Elsa and don’t actually face your fears or do anything to overcome them, just run away from One Isolated Place to ANOTHER Isolated Place and sing a Generic Motivational Poster to yourself to convince yourself that you actually accomplished anything. I can’t think of a more unearned song in a musical than Let It Go…in fact I think even the filmmakers figured that at some point since For The First Time In Forever Reprise COMPLETELY UNDERCUTS LET IT GO (compare those lyrics back to back and see what I mean).
The way everything was being built up up to the reveal scene, making Anna the main character was the wrong choice. Anna’s love for Elsa was never a problem. It should have been Elsa because it WAS a problem for her to express it. And it’d be fairly easy to pull off since all you’d have to do is give her Simba’s character arc. It would work much better for her than it did for him (not a big Lion King fan either).
Elsa actually DID do something, she caused the freezeover in Arendelle and took off. She had her own little Hakuna Matata moment with “Let It Go” and decided to hell with Arendelle/The Pride Lands, I’m chillin’ out in the mountains/the oasis from now on. As the movie goes along, Elsa realizes that she had been handling her situation all wrong, and that SHE needs to go “back to who she was” in order to gain control of her powers again, repair the relationship with Anna, and unfreeze Arendelle. THEN you’ve earned the right to belt out Let It Go, Maureen from Rent.
I say it works better for Elsa than Simba because we DO know “who she was” before: she was the open, nurturing, kind-hearted motherly figure to little Anna when they were younger, when she had pretty damn awesome control of her powers. That inciting incident made her withdraw and lose control of her powers, lose who she was & lose everyone she had. Olaf should have been hanging out with Elsa instead to drive home the sister’s former childhood bond that she kept trying to avoid.
Heeey now, that’s hardly fair. I certainly don’t think they were shitting on the characters themselves I think they were just taking the time to make sure everyone was on the same page about marrying someone you hardly know being a tad unwise.
On paper, the whole “Don’t get overly attached to someone you just met” thing is noble and all, and it may have worked if it was actually explored instead of just being periodically referenced to (she and Hans needed to be together a lot more to make that backstabbing mean anything), but it could have and should have been done with a lot more thought and care into it as opposed “Oh welp he’s evil now.” That just completely trivializes whatever message they were going for AND gives the false impression that those kind of manipulative predators like Hans are just going to come out and monologue how EVVVIL they are just like that. In reality you get the Mother Gothels, who keep up the Nice Guy/Gal act and twist your words around until they’re backed into a corner and have no choice BUT to come clean.
I don’t get why he even had to be a bad guy in the first place. It LOWERS the stakes more than raises them, and it could have still been a mature character moment they could have pulled off ala Brother Bear; don’t make Hans another boring mustache-twirler, keep him be a genuinely decent guy that’s desperate to save Anna/Arendelle but is running out of options, so he makes the tough decision to do what he thinks he has to do, with of course keeping the Anna run-in. It might have actually fooled me for a second in believing that they were about to pull off something ballsy….but yeah, Anna sacrifice/come back to life/yadayadayada, and HANS TOO learns what the meaning of true love is and calls off the wedding. Having Hans leave or stick around just to “date” Anna could work either way, but in that way it actually gives realistic character conclusions to everyone AND still sells the message they were going for.
Instead, we get rushed, clunky, heavy-handed nonsense. Blegh. Wasted potential, this movie is.
(first comment was looking pretty long, so I decided to just cut it in two)
I don’t know how you feel about posting links here, but I just want to mention a great point that WhatCulture brings up when comparing how Tangled and Frozen handled “modernizing” the Disney formula: http://whatculture.com/film/10-reasons-frozen-definitely-disneys-best-animated-movie-decade.php/5 (FYI, they’re on Team Tangled as well. BOO YAH!)
And I agree with them; Tangled felt a hell of a lot more like classic Disney than Frozen ever did (Kristoff and Anna’s banter was nothing BUT snark. Rapunzel/Flynn had way more genuine moments of connection. I can’t remember anything in Frozen that I could compare to Tangled’s campfire scene). Tangled respected its past while crafting it’s own identity while Frozen acted like it was too good to be like “those OTHER films”, like it’s ashamed of its heritage and tries way too hard to be something different (yet in the end STILL becoming as cliched as any other flick in its genre….I call it the Man of Steel Sydrome) Frozen just comes off as rushed, pandering, and honestly cynical and mean-spirited for the way it treats Anna.
There are disparate ideas that if key decisions were made differently, this could have been one of their most effective pictures ever made and I too would be here singing its praises. But as it stands, this is easily down there as one of my least favorite Disney films, and it’s kinda bothersome to think what it says about us as a culture that this is the one we embraced so heavily.
I saw that article months ago. Totally biased as far as I’m concerned. Just sounds like some butthurt Tangled fan with rude remarks (that “weird Nordic chanting” is inspired by an actual culture, thanks so much). Anyway, while I respect your opinion, the difference between Elsa and Simba is that all Simba had to do was throw off Scar. Elsa, didn’t know HOW to unfreeze things and save Arendelle. What good would it do if she returned? I also doubt that any of her people would welcome her back with open arms.
It’s also not as if Elsa didn’t pay the consequences for her actions. She was forced to be taken back to Arendelle, and I’d say it’s nobody’s fault why all of these things happened. The parents let fear seem to get the better of them (and no, they didn’t lock Elsa in her room for 13 years) and Elsa was just following what they were saying (“be the good girl you have to be”) It also doesn’t help that Elsa mistook the King’s saying of “Conceal it, don’t feel it. Don’t let it show” to “Conceal, don’t feel. Don’t let them know” showing that she might have been hating her powers and being unable to embrace them and use them properly. I think that Elsa is a good female lead because Elsa has psychological flaws and while her actions of “running away from her problems” weren’t the best, I like how they scored for a RELATABLE character instead of a ROLE MODEL.
Also, what’s wrong with Frozen being different from Disney films of the past? Sure, Tangled “embraced” the tradition, but that doesn’t automatically make the film “better.” I figured Tangled would “embrace” the Disney tradition more because it’s a romance. Frozen is about sisters which Disney has rarely touched on (i.e. Lilo and Stitch), so I figured the tone would be different. As I recall, some people thought Tangled used TOO MANY “classic” Disney references. Rapunzel being trapped in isolation and mentally abused by Mother Gothel was kind of like Quasimodo and Judge Claude Frollo, “I See the Light” seemed too much like “Kiss the Girl” and “A Whole New World” and even Eugene’s death was almost exactly like the Beast’s.
With that token of Frozen “mocking” the tradition, I could probably say that Aladdin didn’t embrace the “Disney tradition” by having pop culture references or Mulan didn’t because the female lead wasn’t a princess, didn’t have romance (except for a little crush on Shang) and went to war. There’s nothing wrong with a Disney film modernizing itself and making the female leads different from “classic” level since unfortunately, it’s a little mainstream, now.
Rushed, pandering, cynical, and mean spirited? Are you sure we watched the same film?
Love this movie so much. I can’t watch Anna’s sacrifice without tearing up.
One thing which I love, and which I only realised on repeat viewings, what about the Act Of True Love. And this ties to your point, Mouse, about how Olaf staying with Anna despite the risk of melting is an act of true love as well.
The act that saves Anna is *her* act. It’s not an act taken upon her. It’s her own love for her sister that thaws her heart. That’s beautiful.
I leave you alone for a few months to take a vacation in Hell, and what do I find when I get back? A forum war. It’s a little like Christmas time, ya know?
Congrats on the second year btw. Wow, has it really been that long since Snow White?
Ps. You wouldn’t happen to have any secondary characters with a heart of gold so I can close this portal with?
Forum war? It’s like a party where everyone politely disagrees…Some more forcefully than others.
MOUSE! I can’t believe you! You didn’t write the total score at the end, so I had to do maths. One simply does not make another do maths at 10:15 at night! MATHS!
Oh fuck me, did I forget to put that in? Sorry. 90% of course.
…..it’s been a crazy two years. I remember coming across this quirky sarcastic review for snow white and thinking…huh. This guys really funny. And then I just kept reading for the next two years. These reviews have been something I make time for so I can read them through with no interruptions. And there have been such lovely people on here in the comments section it’s been a blast and I hope it carries on! Well done friend…bring out the Ale! Frozen is an odd movie for me in that despite the plot problems in the third act (Doug and Robs analysis of that third act is just spot on. At least for me. Contrived even for Disney. ) I actually really like it…like a lot…even Olaf. Although Sven gets overlooked a lot. Poor reindeer. Only good for burgers and pulling santa. Apparently. Sigh. And I really identified with Anna. Elsa is a fantastic character but I can’t say I related to her particularly on a deeper level. And to be honest Anna for me steals the movie. Elsa learns to love properly and become open and sociable and comfortable with herself but so does Anna and she gets overshadowed by her sister in general debates and analysis. Anna learns what it means to be a queen I think much more than Elsa does. Please don’t hate me…I really do like Elsa just Anna is adorkable and socially awkward and a little bizarre and insecure and that was my teenagerhood in a nutshell. So yeah. Loved the review like always and I have a feeling the top one is going to be surprising. I’m pretty sure this isn’t the highest scoring movie although it is up there. But as for your best review. Probably Pocahontas. XD have a lovely time until big hero six. ヾ(*´∀｀*)ﾉ
Anna versus Elsa is one of those questions where there is no wrong answer.
Depends on the forums you wander on to I think XD. But no there keno right princess in the film. Just prefrences.
*There is no right princess.* Predictive text went a bit screwy there.
*There is no .* Predictive text went a bit screwy there.
Skimming through your review, I noticed you gave the villain a low score, and that’s when I read the part about Hans. It beggars belief that such a huge fan of Frozen like you only noticed a single villain in the film, and that being the secondary antagonist. Whatever happened to Elsa’s fear and the Duke of Weselton? There are 3 antagonists in the film, my friend.
And speaking of Hans, you can bet he does his homework before doing anything. No witnesses /priest? No problem, bribe or threaten someone and make them a witness to the marriage. Wait 5 minutes for Anna to die? No can do, for all he knows, it could be 5 hours before Anna is dead. AND, you also conveniently forgot that Anna gave Hans the power to rule. Forget relatives, assume the King and Queen didn’t have any. You see, the monarchy can actually ‘workey’ that way, my friend. Besides that, the other scores you gave are spot-on. Up the villain score and we have a complete agreement. Frozen is indeed Disney’s finest effort in a long time. Flawless plot, stunning animation, real character growth (Anna, Elsa, Kristoff and even Olaf all had character development in different degrees), heavy themes and subtext, what more can you ask for? Lets drink to that!
I was surprised to see your comment on Der Schneemann. It’s as if you can’t entertain people living under a brutal regime without other people somehow reading your work as propaganda. Just like how people criticized Hergé for continuing to write Tintin under Nazi-occupied Belgium.
I think it’s more that the German movie industry was so totally under Nazi control that nothing was released that did not appear to serve their goals in some way.
What’s this about Tintin? Which stories were written then?
Some of the very early ones. Most of the famous ones were written much later.
Also, did anyone think to add that this is the first time in the Disney Canon that a princess became a queen? Sure, many of them got married, but they were still princesses. None became queens during their movies. There is a Disney meme running around the internet somewhere where the Disney princesses asked if “Princess Elsa” and Princess Anna wanted to join them, Elsa looked at them and said, ‘That’s Queen Elsa.’
No like mouse said in the review. Kida from Atlantis gets there first. That film didn’t do very well though so, people forget.
So. Here we are at last, Mouse. The road has been long and strange, but we reached it at last… the destination of THIS journey. Whatever happens next I do not know, but I’ll be interested in following you on it nonetheless.
So anyhow. Frozen. Suffice to say I disagree about plenty, but first and foremost- the music. I think Frozen shoots itself in the foot by starting off with Frozen Heart, because it sounds so interesting! It has a fierce and powerful male choir chanting rhythmically in a way that makes you super pumpaaaand it’s over in less than a minute. And I just feel like I was given ribald promises of a powerful experience and JUST before it truly can take me to wonderful soaring heights then BAM! It grunts, rolls over and falls asleep. Does it set up future themes of the movie in poetic lyrics? Certainly! Is it memorable or hum-worthy or even sing-worthy? Not really, because it ends before it can become either good OR bad. At least the Little Mermaids starting sea chanty is followed by the majestic intro tune AND it didn’t make musical promises the rest of the movie had no intentions to keep. Then we get Do You Want To Build A Snowman.
For starters- This is the first time I even hear Agdars name. So thank you Mouse- now I know the name of the man I will tell to take a long walk of a short ship into a stormy ocean. None of your defenses of Agdar work in my opinion, because… gay in Uganda? EVERYONE LOVES ELSA. She causes an ice age but as soon as she returns and makes an ice skating rink the people and diplomats are all superhappy and a-okay with ice magic with the exception of the count of Wesselton and… are we even pretending that guy is a character? That he is worth taking seriously as an integral part of the movies themes and plot? Don’t do that. Don’t go where I can’t follow. Agdar is a terrible father who makes terrible choices that no one in the movie ever calls him out on (the trollfather even TELLS him straight to his face love is the answer and his answer is “lock her in the room and fish-heads” for crying out loud, he SHOULD know better!) because we wouldn’t have a movie otherwise, and then he and queen Silent Notonelinedaughter goes and dies.
And we’re supposed to feel sorry for Elsa and Anna for being rid of them.
Maybe it’s all just Up’s fault, for showing us how to introduce two characters in a relationship and just make our hearts ACHE for them in a matter of minutes through no dialogue whatsoever. But what Frozen tries to do in this song and the sequence before it… you know, there is truth in what you say about the courage and confidence in being openly sweet and saccharine. But I just cannot see quality writing here. The sisters play and are happy and then their asshole father and non-entity mother appear and ruin their lives. It doesn’t feel heartwarming to me, just hasty (the movies break-neck pace is overall a point of contention for me for reasons I’ll be adressing later on). And then…
Problem nr 2: the song. I was flabbergasted when I first heard it. You sweettalk me with a powerful male choir with a distinctive sound, and then you give me… this? This repetitive anonymous pop-song whose foremost quality is that it’s so repetitive that it earworms itself into your mind? It just sounds so… BLAND. I was instantly turned off when I first saw the movie for feeling so cruelly baited and then getting this, as well as expecting me to feel sad for the parents. As I said before- my reaction to their sudden death was an awkwardly loud gigglesnort at how forced it all felt.
But. I have since rewatched Frozen a couple of times. Tried to view it with experienced, perhaps a bit more balanced eyes. While I still feel utterly numb to the emotions it tries to create and the song itself, I do admit that the final verse is sweet and sad… but it’s still trying to cash emotional checks the story so far is in no way close enough to pay. It just switches so quickly between sweet but strange to sad and then back to peppy again with the next song that I just get tonal whiplash when I TRY to feel what the song is telling me, because I have to actively try or else I just let the songs unimaginative tune in one ear and out the other.
But my rewatches has made me reconsider the next song in line, First Time In Forever. I think the lyrics are a mixed bag between actually doing a good job of quickly introducing us to the differences in character between Anna and Elsa, one needy and eager, one subdued and overtly restrained, and being TOO smarmy and nonsensical, a little too close to what you said about it being “Dreamworksy” (what was even the part about chocolate?). I also don’t understand what in-universe reason the castle staff might have had to keep Anna isolated from the outside world because what PURPOSE does that even serve, why NOT train the princess that CAN go out into the world to be Arendells outside representative? Does the country even have those?
But we do get a little sneak-listen of Let It Go, and more importantly: the song has some power in it’s string-heavy refrain. It feels mighty, like an actual “I Want” song in ways that Rapunzels version didn’t, and yes- Kristen and Idina are awesome at their voice over work. Great performances. I find this far more memorable due to singers and the actual tune than many other things in the movie.
Like say, Love Is An Open door. Yes, it sets up Hans’s villainy. Yes it is probably meant to be chirpy, catchy but also kind of vapid because the love Elsa feels IS shallow and Hans IS being manipulative. But that still means we have a song that feels like a dime a dozen Disney Channel pop song rather than something from a powerful and memorable Disney MUSICAL. No amount of witty lyrical tricks can really save this song from just being forgettable sound-wise.
Also, I’ma talk Hans briefly. You’ve thankfully spared me the need to bemoan his lack of follow-through, because that actually feels like the one thing I dislike about Hans. I will say though that his villainy turn wasn’t surprising to me. I saw a trailer once which from the get-go spoiled that there was going to be a love triangle between Kristoff, Anna and Hans. They wittily said that it was between the “Ice Guy” and the “Nice Guy”… and after two seconds or so a question mark appeared after the Nice Guy text.
Like. I have read enough stories to see the red flags. Hans saying “That’s what I was gonna say” line in the song just cemented it for me- I did not read that as Hans being wacky and funny, I read it as suspicious. The fact that American bloggers and discussions also mentioned there was going to be a twist kiiinda didn’t help either. I still don’t get why Europe didn’t get this until freaking February. If Dreamworks can make it simultaneous, why can’t the House of Mouse? So anyhow, I knew he was a villain and yes, I do think the movie plants it well enough- subtle, but it’s still there. Hans villainy may not be very impressive if one expects a Scar of Frollo, a villain commanding and fearsome. But that isn’t really what he is: Hans is a deceiver, and up until now he’s played the game well. So I can enjoy him as a villain, even if his game significantly drops after this. I won’t complain too much about Disney not getting the rules of royal succession right, this is a part where I will accept simplicity for the sake of moving a story along because it’s not based in human psychology. Flub laws as you wish, not people. Hans passes.
Another note here- I will say that Love Is An Open Door is a delight to watch because it’s the visual high-light. Arendell lit up at night with colors, 19th-century architechture and a clock tower is the most visually interesting sight the movie ever shows us. Is the creation of the ice palace awesome animation? It certainly is, but to be honest? It looks so BLAND and empty once it’s made. There’s no real awe or architechture here, just a bunch of empty space with ice walls. And the rest of the movie is just so WHITE. It’s snow, snow and more snow instead of impressive environments lined with snow, so nothing is really memorable- nothing sticks out, unlike Arendell at night. It’s damn near the highlight of the movie for me, pity it’s just attached to a song I don’t care for.
So then Elsa breaks down and runs. I’ll be back to this. Safe to say that Let It Go deserves ALL the accolades it’s gotten. No criticisms here. It sounds powerful and majestic and memorable, like a Disney Musical song SHOULD sound. She makes an ice palace, belts with power, is not very concerned about the sister she just left with a man she clearly didn’t trust…
Ah well, maybe she was just heady from all her newfound freedom and what-not. And hey- the cold never bothered her anywait a minute. She says that line while looking out through the balcony she almost throws a guy out of later on. Then she looks out through that balcony later in the movie and sees Arendell covered in snow and ice and freaks out. Maybe the cold SHOULD have bothered her a little.
Alas, thus we come to the second act and get Kristoff.
I do not like Kristoff. I find him to be weakly written with no backstory to explain his surly demeanor, and yet we actually SEE him as a kid! The trolls just what, kidnap him and raise him and this is never addressed? Sven is a poor mans Maximus. And then he falls in love with Anna for reasons that baffle me to this day. I do not see it. Flynn and Rapunzel share several moments of awkward bonding and life-threatening situations while on their way to the castle where Rapunzel shows the cynical Flynn that her approach is not to be dismissed and they talk about their past. Anna and Kristoff do little else but throw sarcastic banter at each other then WHOOPS WE’RE IN LOVE NOW FOR REALSIES! For a movie that wanted to attack the love at first sight trope, they do a fine job of undermining themselves. Sure, they’re not getting MARRIED after two days (despite the trolls certainly pushing for it) but I just do not see any credible attraction between them. That both the trolls and Olaf end up pushing this feels condescending, a prime example of telling instead of showing.
Friendship, on the other hand? I can see that. Slightly distanced, but it’s there. Maybe the movie would have been better if Kristoff was a woman. That way Disney could have said that female friendship and sisterly love can defeat any sleazy guy trying to trick you into loving him and be even MORE progressive. And maybe we could get just a brief explanation like, say, young Kristina telling the other ice-breakers (just gonna give you a heads-up in case someone else hasn’t done so yet but do not say Kristoff is a Saami because that is contentious at best) she saw trolls and then they immediately shun her as being under a spell or SOMETHING. Hell, that would possibly even end up strenghtening your tenuous argument of Agdar doing all those terrible things for Elsas sake! And instead of a song about fixing people up, the trolls song could be those of an earnest family thanking Anna for being friends with their grumpy daughter despite her foibles. It would have been so much less condescending. Possibly STILL utterly pointless since all the relevant info in the song is stated directly by the troll-father AFTER it. But less cringe-inducing in how, despite trying to save itself with that line of “throw a little love their way” and “everyone is a fixer-upper”, but it’s STILL mostly about “fixing” someone. And the trolls quite clearly think that True Love is romantic love. Like… I can accept that song sort of if I consider it a red herring meant to build up false expectations, but that still doesn’t change that the trolls are wrong, the song makes the movie stand still, and it’s only real strength is that it’s ear-wormy. I find nothing else of it’s repetition or awkward rhyming endearing or charming.
At any rate- Anna and Kristoff is a boring couple. With that established, Olaf. You nail why I think he works. It would be so easy to do Olaf wrong, and the movie deserves credit for imbuing him with some actual pathos and a wonderful performance. But why does his song have to be even more fluffy weightless cotton candy, more or less, in a movie so full of it? So far I really only have two songs with any musical meat to them. Sure, lyrics are neat and all but if the text was the only memorable part of a song why aren’t you just canning the songs altogether and give them good lines? It doesn’t help that the ice-droplet covered field is the only remotely interesting ice-covered locale in the movie, and they immediately cut away from it for Olafs unimpressive sand-adventures.
So now that I’ve made my thoughts on the music and graphics quite clear (I find it so hard to believe that Rise of the Guardians, for all that movies plot quibbles, got winter environments so wonderfully breathtakingly beautifully right while freaking DISNEY could just do…. this…), I really only have story and the leads left. Anna and Elsa. Elsa. The big one. the one claimed by so many to be so many firsts. First depressed princess, first princess with crippling anxiety, first lesbian princess, first princess to become a queen (please let my death come quick merciful queen Kida). And I… think she’s alright. I also think Anna’s alright. I do in fact like this movie well enough when it’s actually about them. It’s just a pity that doesn’t happen very often, to the point where I mostly feel confused by sisterly love being what thaws Elsas heart when it didn’t really work the last time around. Tell me trolls, what part of Anna braving a mountain and fighting off wolves weren’t acts of love? Yet they didn’t seem very effective now, did they? Annas despair and Elsas stone-walling of her during the ballroom scene, followed by Elsas escape are pretty heart-string tugging. I see Elsas fear for her safety and her secret escaping out into the public in that scene. But what I don’t really see is any sisterly concern for Anna. It could be argued that her refusal to let Hans move in is understandable, but that’s just it- I don’t see care for Anna in that decision, I see self-preservation. Heck, Anna saying you can’t just marry someone you just met doesn’t seem to ring very true when she’s confronted by Anna later on in the movie and pretty much tells her “no it’s okay sis go back to your true love I’m superfine here”. She doesn’t seem to even notice her attacking Anna later on, yet when Anna freezes over and Elsa cries her heart is… thawed? Like, was that the ONLY way her heart could have thawed? Thinking her sister was dead? Was that the only thing to work on her?
We never really see them talk things over. Discuss things, BUILD a relationship. All we see is that saccharine moment, that Anna tirelessly tries to get back and which Elsa rebuffs at every opportunity until it’s time for everything to be peachy keen in time for the finale. Lilo and Stitch showed us ups and downs and talks and reconciliation and made you FEEL for the sisters. This… beyond that first scene, whose impact was so greatly lost to me, what do Anna and Elsa have? What do they share? Would it have killed the budget to include an extra scene of the two of them maybe talking a little about their parents, how they were shaped by them or how they interpreted their words, coming together? When Anna said that nobody wants to be alone, was she simply projecting her own feelings onto Anna and thus critically misunderstanding her sisters feelings, leading to the breakdown of communications and emotions that got her attacked? Or was she right, and when you get hurt by a depressed and frightened person the best solution is to just keep badgering them until their hearts thaw once more?
I… I think there’s a certain power to the scene where Anna sacrifices herself, in theory. She has a choice to either run towards the kiss she thinks can save her life, or run to the aid of the sister that has done nothing but hurt her throughout the movie. But at the same time… nobody is really surprised by her choice? She helps her sister just like always. She even knows that Hans intends to harm her after he spilled the beans, so it’s not like she CAN do anything but help without coming off as deeply unsympathetic. I just don’t know if I can truly say the moment feels dramatic or wonderful or anything, because so much of the outcome seems so very predetermined by easily spotted dramatic conventions, to the point where it takes me out of the movie.
I think this is where I ultimately come down on the movie. If Wreck It Ralph was good old classic Disney heart but with not enough brain, Frozen is too much brain and not enough heart. At many times can I see the intentions behind the choices, but I am never truly vowed by them. I keep seeing the puppeteers threads and I keep thinking of it as a performance, not a story. Not real. The graphics are only impressive in the first half and I really could not care any less about fabrics with such a fabric-thin romance (que the Statler and Waldorf laugh), far too many of the songs are just meh, merry ditties that lack the presence to be truly memorable save First Time and of course Let It Go, and the princess-sisters relationship and the princely villain are novel twists on very old Disney tropes, but lack real follow-through that would make them really resonate me.
And still. And still… the people love it. The people buy it in the millions, billions. They proclaim it as a classic. They wish to emblazon it among the all-time greats. And I just don’t know why… but I do have a theory. Observe if you will, this clip from recent hit anime Kill la Kill.
https://www.youtube.com/embed/RHRDEVe4XPE?version=3&rel=1&fs=1&showsearch=0&showinfo=1&iv_load_policy=1&wmode=transparent
So. What does this rubbery scantily clad- action party have to do with Frozen? A little something I’d like to call “saviour syndrome”. For a very long time now in anime fandom, fans have bemoaned the omnipresence of shows that have very low dramatic stakes, have very soft artstyles where everyone mostly look like blank-faced blobs, nothing of importance ever really happens and all is safe. All is relaxed. It’s like the Japanese animation industry hit a big ol’ mother-load of valium and just didn’t do anything that could risk exciting people.
Kill la Kill said bollocks to that and overloaded itself with action, an artstyle that was deliberately “drawn” with a bunch of weird camera angles and tricks, the screwier animation the better, LOUD NOISES, story that dug deep into teenage rebellion and sex and performances and lord knows what else. That the story itself didn’t really explore many of it’s themes but turned out to be a pretty safe and unchallenging story that took few chances or risks and didn’t really have consistent themes from one episode to the next was of less importance than the fact that it MOVED. It moved all over the screen, and it moved with gusto. It was PROUD of devolving into utter nonsense because at least that meant it was never quiet or cutesy. People said that anime was saved, because story-flaws aside, AT LEAST IT HAD ENERGY.
Now look at Frozen. Look at it’s themes seem progressive, even if they ended up somewhat mishandled. Look at how it had ONE truly great and memorable song in all regards. One for the ages, one to remember. Never mind that the female characters are, well, I think the first 20 seconds of this clip says it best:
https://www.youtube.com/embed/gx9O6q0pDAU?version=3&rel=1&fs=1&showsearch=0&showinfo=1&iv_load_policy=1&wmode=transparent
Or that so much of the move takes place in almost completely empty, snowcovered environments. Never mind that the sisters barely have any meaningful conversations or that the romance is weak. It has some of the SIGNS of a Disney classic. And people… people want a saviour. People want Disney back. As you say, people want saccharine sometimes. People want the experiences they once had again, and they want a musical like the ones they used to play. They want to see their old friend again, even if a critical eye might tell them that their old friend, in changing, has hit upon a whole new slew of troubles.
But Frozen is good enough. Close enough. Close enough to be “modern and progressive”, though I would personally not praise Disney for a “first lesbian princess” when the ground those claims stand on are shaky at best, and if she is their first “depressed princess” then she spends most of her time being destructive and needing Anna to save her soul and mind, for all the power and supposed freedom and independence she’s claimed to have. Not sure how flattering a depiction that is, but it’s good enough for a lot of people.
I realize what an asshole I’m coming off as here. That this arguments sounds like I’m saying that the reasons for why people love it aren’t legitimate, that people just WANT it to be good when it isn’t. But I reiterate that I find the movie enjoyable enough, a seven out of ten for the craftmanship on display and desire to test new twists on old tropes, regardless of the outcome. But as time moves on, I dare say that it will move on from Frozen. People will grow up as they feel “safe” in Disney being great again, and may think more critically. Frozen will be seen in a new light, and I think that light will be significantly less rose-colored. Because I truly, honestly, really so not see a movie that has earned the score you’ve given it. I just don’t.
But. We will simply have to leave such judgment to history. For now though… for now there is but a mouse and his works, of which he can surely be proud of. I remember back when I used to be the one commenter on your TGWTG posts. Fun times. Simpler times. I don’t even recall which movie was the first one I commented on, but I am grateful I saw it and checked it out. You’ve woven a silly symphony of your own here with map-characters, evil kings, smart-ass Disney and not to forget- a bang up job pushing out reviews week after double-week. You’ve made me relive memories and fill in the blanks that I’ve missed in Disney history- the whole Lost Age was practically unknown to me until you spurred me into action. You are the reason I watched Tarzan, Treasure Planet, Atlantis and Lilo and Stitch- services I can’t be anything but grateful for. So who cares about disagreements on the end of the ride- sometimes you reach Disneyland after a topsy-turvy road trip full of memorable wackiness, and some people react by puking when they go on the rides and hate all the crowds while others feel like all their childhood dreams have come true. We still had an amazing ride, and I regret nothing save for one thing.
That having to wait the two weeks it’ll take for the next ride to start, with all the possibilities and unknown turns it will take, will be sweet torture.
Well, that’s the beauty of an opinion, my friend, nobody has the same taste and if people still love Frozen then it’s fine, I don’t think Frozen is a masterpiece either, but it’s pretty damn good, and I think kids will fondly remember just as I fondly remember Aladdin, Lion King, and a collection of other Disney films from my youth.
“remember it.”
^^^^^THIS. ☺️
Fair enough. I don’t really have a problem with kids loving it either- it’s the adults that name it the greatest thing since sliced bread, yet never really seem to have any explanation for why or argument against my complaints that I have a problem with. The people who seem to praise Frozen more because they seem to WANT it to be a classic, rather than for it’s actual qualities, of which there are sadly very many. This movies fandom can be RABID, in the not so good way.
As an aside:
Congratulations on the two years, my friend :3 I too know what it’s like to bring a long-running review project to a close (it was four years, but I went to college in the middle of it so there was quite a bit of a hiatus). *clinks glasses with you*
*Downs in one go, smashes glass on floor* ANOTHER!
I love This film
Barely started the review and laughed already at the “And smoking” joke. New glitch for us printer-outers: the embedded links – pics and plain links – print out with the full link address, interrupting the article, esp. for the picture jokes. Wanted to bring it to your attention. Onward with the review…
Idina Menzel practically just confirmed there will be a Frozen 2