WesternAnimation Frozen is so overrated it’s underrated
I actually liked Frozen. I don’t think it’s actually one of the greatest movies in the history of WesternAnimation and I honestly prefer the sequel. Neither one of those makes the first one bad. When Queen Elsa shirks her duties to the throne and abandons Arendelle in a time of crisis, that’s honestly par for the course for a Disney movie. But unlike other movies like TheLionKing wherein Nala calls out Simba for not doing his duty to the throne {{Whatthe Hell,Hero}} Elsa never gets a WhattheHellHero at all. That suggests that the film sports a certain level of ProtagonistCenteredMorality or maybe the producers don’t see anything wrong with the behaviour in which case it’s ValuesDissonance. And Princess Anna the next in line decides to leave Arendelle to seek out Queen Elsa instead of doing her job of ruling the kingdom in her absence. The way I see it, that’s bad. That one is probably ValuesDissonance. Of course she leaves Prince Hans in charge {{And That’sBad}} because even accepting that he truly loved her that’s not a qualification to rule an entire country.,Now to address the BaseBreakingCharacter Prince Hans the BigBad of the film. I don’t think Hans is a good plot twist villain. He appears to be genuinely kind and in love with Princess Anna including when neither Elsa nor Anna are there like with the PetTheDog moment he gets with the blanket scene. Or the fact that he is nice and kind to Princess Anna before he knew who she was such that he would have passed a SecretTestOfCharacter. And if he hadn’t chosen to go with Weselton’s men, Weselton would have killed Queen Elsa. And if he hadn’t interceded when Weselton’s men fired a crossbow at her, Queen Elsa would have also died. He could easily have let them kill Queen Elsa and lied to Princess Anna and she would have believed him. Also Love is an Open Door is not a VillainSong.
That said there was a lot to like about the movie. Olaf is a genuinely funny character. And while Kristoff isn’t a particularly stimulating character I don’t dislike him. The songs are pretty good. The idea of celebrating total isolation from all other people with a song like Queen Elsa does in Let it Go is something that I honestly think is disturbing but I think the song is good enough to justify ignoring that. The relationship between Queen Elsa and Princess Anna is pretty well-written. And I like that in the end what’s needed to save the day is a Heroic Sacrifice. I think that Prince Hans as the villain was a good idea though poorly executed. I think that he got off too early at the end. Still, all things considered I think it’s a good movie. I also think that early on it got more hype than it deserved and people responded to it being overrated by fixating on all of its problems {{It’sPopularNowItSucks}}. But I think that they get it wrong and that it’s a much better film than they give it credit for. In short it was overrated and as a result became underrated.
WesternAnimation Overrated - The worst entry in the Disney Animated Canon
I had heard great things about this film. I was left sorely disappointed. This is nothing like a Renaissance film and it's no Magnum Opus of current Disney.
First off, the animation really isn't that good and I've been more impressed by the animation in older movies. Frozen's animation has what is best described as just standard or average, and Anna and Elsa's facial animation appear to be rather doll-like and stiff. While the settings look pretty, there's more to animation than making pretty backgrounds. Speaking of the sisters, both of them are just copies of their mother, who is a copy of Rapunzel, rather than being more distinct considering they are non-identical twins.
The songs don't have that organic unity that Disney is known for and feel forced at times (most notably Fixer Upper). In Summer is meant to establish Olaf as a character, but his dialogue beforehand already did that. Let It Go is meant to be empowering, but in context it's quite the opposite. Elsa forsakes everything she's known, and the sister who repeatedly tried to reach out to her, to stay in her prison of fear with walls made of hopelessness.
Both plot and story are ridden with problems. First off, the Photoshop trolls. They cause there to be too much foreshadowing. Frozen Heart gave all the foreshadowing an opening needed, but those trolls provide too much and give away almost the whole movie. The trolls are presented as benevolent beings, they aren't really developed upon, leaving them very ambiguous.
Elsa's Take That at previous Disney princess movies poorly executed. Besides being blunt and outright mockery, Anna easily destroys it with her rebut, and it's also destroyed when the trolls set Kristoff up with someone they just met. Speaking of the guy, he's treated by the writers as less important tan he actually is. Without him, both Anna and Elsa would be dead. And yet, it never felt like the writers were giving him much to contribute.
For no explicable reason, not only are the castle staff extremely apathetic towards the orphaned sisters, but there is no regent whatsoever. Plot Hole.
Elsa's powers are established in the opening as being able to control the ice and snow, yet later on she inexplicably has clothes-changing powers.
Anna is obnoxious. Elsa comes off as a bitch. Hans is a joke of a Hidden Villain. For all his sneaking and conniving, the ambition just doesn't match up. Plus, that plot twist, in the final film, seems to exist just to lengthen the movie and add dramatic tension. It seems rather outlandish to say that the guy you first fall in love with will try to murder you and take all your stuff. Olaf isn't bad comic relief exactly, but there are better ones. The parents are exceedingly stupid. They never once thought of taking Elsa to the trolls to learn how to control her powers.
Shrek Forever After showed that true love isn't always love at first sight better than this movie did.
WesternAnimation Movie was great! But can we ditch the snowman?
I watched this last night at the theater so I may have forgotten some details, but the movie is more awesome than the tiny description sounds! The first part (exposition) is so sad that even though the movie takes an uplifting turn the sadness still lingers. For 2/3 of the acts, the movie seems dramatic with a touch of humor, until that dumb snowman Olaf comes in. Don't get me wrong; he has some funny moments and isn't a spotlight-stealing jerk. but he didn't really belong in the movie. He was the one using the majority of modern-day slang and taking all the dramatic moments out of everything, although he did play an important role in a later scene (but he could have been replaced by ANY good guy and the scene would have still made sense.) It felt like he was just put in to make the movie appeal to little kids more, which would have made sense at the beginning of the movie or if you were trying to do a complete comedy.
But now that I've complained about one character, let me tell you about the rest of them; they are awesome and layered, have whole personalities and you can't help but like them. The main princess is optimistic and hopeful despite years of her sister being locked away in her room, and still wants to have a relationship with her. There's this guy at the beginning, a (then) kid with a reindeer, who doesn't seem important but I think is one of my favorite guys in a kids movie. He even has a speech about how you shouldn't marry someone you just met and that all guys have something annoying about them. The other characters are great too, but I'm running out of space.
The third act fell a little flat with so much action that it's really confusing to tell what's going on (this is coming from a teen with Aspergers.) Two people are captured (I'm not saying who, because spoilers). Then one person is in the snow and then three people are in the snow and so much stuff is going on that the adults could keep track but I don't think the kids will (especially since the two princesses look similar to each other. For kids, that's an easy thing to get mixed up.) Nevertheless, the ending was decent but the third act could have used a rewrite. But if you like comedy and some drama and animated movies then Frozen is a great movie. I'm getting it when it comes out on DVD, even if I did complain about the ending a lot.
WesternAnimation A stream of conciousness review
Frozen is a good film. But not a great film. I'll go with the positives first: Beautiful animation, well conceptualised characters, a nice plot framework, and some very catchy songs. You've heard it all before. Essentially this is a "it was really good except for" review. There's gonna be spoilers, so if you care, don't read on.
As I said, the animation is great. Traditional animation wouldn't actually help this film, it needs the CGI. This is one the first films that I would say need CGI to work, what with the beautiful reflective snowscapes. The plot takes some pretty big swerves, with a surprise villain that subverts clichés. But this is where the film isn't as great.
Elsa and Anna don't get enough screentime together to build up their relationship. This is an issue. Until, "Let it go", Elsa doesn't show much character. I know that's partly the point, to show her isolation and repression, but still.
The villain, Hans, is introduced as a villain far too late, and horrifyingly (eh) doesn't get a villain song in a film with this good a soundtrack. Most of the time he's in his nice guy persona, which is unfortunate, as for about a minute this guy was threatening. Properly sadistic. Oh well. I like my villains, so next time Disney introduce the real villain earlier.
The climax is a bit weak. Kristoff does nothing, despite being hyped up, and the villain doesn't get much of a comeuppance. and you kind of forget where all the plot strands are going. As I said, the problem is resolved by Elsa, who caused the problem.
I still love this film though. As I said, the songs are great, despite stopping half way through. The protagonists are likeable, and I like the road trip style of the middle of the film. Especially "Let it go", obviously. I had less issues than others with "Fixer upper" just a fun little song.
The middle is the best part. Like a crème egg. If you know what that is. I'm sure you do.
Well that's enough of me rambling. It's good. I like it. Go see it. For all me describing the flaws, that's just because there's not much more to say about the myriad positive aspects that hasn't already been said by everyone else. So I apologise if this review looks negative. It isn't.
Ciao!
WesternAnimation People Need To Let This Movie Go
Everyone says Let It Go is an amazing song and it's wonderful, fantastical and great and what not... I enjoy the song enough, I just don't think it's as great as people make it out to be. Not to mention that it feels like it's giving the terrible message "You messed up majorly and alienated everyone from yourself? Ehhh, who cares, just run away and pretend nothing ever happened!" instead of actually telling someone to take responsibility for what they did.
But overall this movie is being too overhyped by everyone. I don't see why people think it's such an amazing new thing. Granted, it's the first time Disney abandoned the romantic love between man and woman to show that the love (and trust) family members have between each other is just as powerful and important... but just because it took Disney a good 30 years to finally catch up to that message doesn't mean the rest of the world hasn't figured this out themselves.
The story and characters in this movie are terrible. Every conflict could have been prevented, had people properly talked to each other. Your daughter can use magic but that could end up harming someone? Teach her to control it, teach your other daughter to not constantly demand her to "do the magic" and teach your first daughter to damn well say No and not by locking her into a place and telling her what an abomination she is.
Speaking of characters, you might think that Anna would be an interesting character, being a Stepford Smiler who is actually crippingly lonesome and wants to immediately marry a man she meets because then she won't be alone... but the movie seems to not go through with it properly. They try, then forget it for the "Family Love" message.
As for one plot twist in the movie, it feels so painfully shoved in for no good reason. It feels like they did it to prolong the movie for fifteen minutes because they had no idea what else to do or they did it because they realized they have accidently started up a Love Triangle and had to nip it in its bud.
The music in the movie is nice enough, not just Let It Go, but then, it's Disney and I cannot mention one Disney movie that I have seen where I can say I didn't like the music. The music is fine, Let It Go is just being overhyped along with the movie (including the message it seems to convey in my eyes).
WesternAnimation Well...at least the animation is pretty....
I'll be really honest: I didn't see Frozen until May 2014 when it was out of theaters, and I watched it On Demand. And honestly, after hearing all the hype about it, seeing the movie... I was very underwhelmed.
The world-building in this movie is not well-done at all. Elsa's powers are never explained beyond the fact that she was born with them. Yeah, that's it. There is no background, nothing about how common being born with ice powers is in this world, nothing about how people with ice powers are viewed, nothing at all. For that matter, we are given little information about the rock trolls, either, beyond the fact that they can erase memories (which makes their “adoption” of Kristoff even creepier). Even how the kingdom was run could have been explained better (such as who was in charge of the kingdom before Elsa came of age, and how Anna was could leave a stranger in charge of it in her absence). I didn’t care for the characters at all, either. Anna was not very interesting; she seems like just a stock “awkward” girl, and not much else to her than that. Even making her angrier with her sister for shutting her out all those years might have given her more depth (and fixed some of this movie’s morality problems; more on that later). Elsa, despite her Ear Worm of a power anthem, is an ultimately weak and barely realized character, not to mention that she seems far too easily forgiven for her actions at the end. Hans was a character with the potential to be interesting and even somewhat complex, but who was ultimately screwed over by being shoehorned into a Designated Villain role (which, given everything Elsa had done up to that point, seemed just like an Anvilicious attempt to put sympathy back on her). Olaf was completely pointless, and Kristoff was just a second love interest, and not a very good one, considering his condescension toward Anna. And actually, his presence raises another question; if this movie was trying to avoid the "marrying a man you just met"’ cliché, why give Anna a second love interest at all? Hans could have just not been shoehorned into the villain role, and Anna could have had a female traveling companion (perhaps the robber girl, an actual character from The Snow Queen), and the plot could have stayed relatively the same, minus the infamous ‘Fixer Upper’ song, which brings me to… There were far too many pointless songs in this movie. In a musical, songs are meant to move the story along, and most Disney musicals seem to do that fairly well. While I didn’t personally care for the songs in this movie, most of them do move the story, but Olaf’s summer song and ‘Fixer Upper’ do little but stop the movie for 2-3 minutes (not to mention that the latter song happens as the main character is dying; not the best time). The animation was nice and colorful, but that’s far from saving this movie. I know this movie has tons of fans, but I’m just not one of them.
WesternAnimation An Enjoyable Time...But Not My Favorite Disney Movie
I remember first hearing about Frozen and thinking initially I wasn't all that interested in seeing the movie in the cinemas (this was before it exploded in popularity). The trailers came out and I didn't think they looked all that appealing (especially the teaser). Then once my family wanted to go see the movie, I gave in and decided to go see it.
The movie was surprisingly enjoyable to me. Olaf (who I thought would get downright annoying) came off as endearing and cute, Anna was very delightful to watch, I was curious about Elsa's situation and how it could be improved over the course of the movie and I liked watching Kristoff and Anna interact and play off each other. I laughed at a lot of the jokes and I was getting very emotionally invested in what was going on.
The animation I thought was fairly well done. However, the main thing that impressed me was the snow/ ice animation. The scene where Elsa forms the ice castle I thought looked incredible and the snow I thought was also well animated.
The songs I thought were enjoyable and catchy. For example, 'Let It Go' was a particular highlight. The singing, lyrics and animation really were on point and made Elsa a lot more understandable as for how she was feeling at the time.
Now, there are a few things I wasn't too fond of in 'Frozen'. The trolls and their song I didn't like all that much and considering that Anna was in a critical state where she needed some help and they were assuming something about her and Kristoff's relationship that wasn't entirely true, it made the trolls come off as unlikable. Also, Hans and his characterization could have been looked into more as he came off as rather confusing at times.
So in summary, while there were some things I didn't like too much about 'Frozen', I'm glad I watched it but I don't think it's my favorite Disney movie. I would still watch it again.
WesternAnimation A lot of fat to cut off.
I'm not a fan of Frozen. To me, it's a 6/10, with weak songs (Yes, Let it Go was always going to be ruined for me, but I don't remember the rest) and random characters that don't add anything (basically everyone who wasn't Elsa and Anna).
But...
Elsa and Anna were REALLY good together. I would have loved this movie if it had done away with basically every other character and plot point and made the entire film focus on Anna trying to save Elsa, fighting through adversity on her own and their overall relationship.
Real potential, but dulled by the distractions. It's a movie that would have been so much better without love interests.
WesternAnimation Considering all the buzz, I'm glad I saw it
As someone who doesn't often get the opportunity to see movies when they come out in theaters, it poses a challenge when I have to tiptoe around the spoilers of one that piques my curiosity, such was the case for Disney's biggest hit, Frozen. When the opportunity to finally catch the movie presented itself, I was anxious: many loved it, many hated it, and many felt it was just okay, and I wanted to be on the side that loved it. I told myself that nothing gains such acclaim without good reason (Twilight and Fifty Shades of Grey notwithstanding), and true to form, I really enjoyed it.
I'll get it out of the way that the beginning, particularly the Fridge Logic surrounding the decisions made by the trolls and the parents, is indeed the film's biggest flaw. Exposition is a tricky thing, y'know. Really, how forgiving you are of that flaw is a major factor in how likely you are to enjoy the movie. Another big factor is the songs, particularly "Do You Wanna Build a Snowman", "For the first Time In Forever", and "Let It Go". Looking back, they are a bit on the nose in what they're trying to convey to the viewer, so I can see how they'd be hit-or-miss (especially given the attention they've been getting), but the catchy melodies and talented singers make them some of my favorite Disney songs. Unfortunately, they factor into the film's flawed pacing; not even halfway in, and all the best songs are out the door! After that, all your left with is "In Summer" and "Fixer Upper", the latter of which, considering the above grievances, is another noted weak point.
The character dynamics were very well done. I understand Anna getting flak for being a carbon copy of Rapunzel and Elsa being eerily similar to Elphaba, but on their own, the two are enjoyable characters who have a great complement and contrast in their dynamic, and make a fantastic Moe Couplet in the end. Kristoff is a slobbish yet dependable and true ally who also makes a great foil to Anna. Olaf is a fresh take on the goofy sidekick; he's not an in-your-face Ink Suit for the celebrity of the week, and he actually contributes to the character and theme development. I can see how Hans being the twist villain would seem out-of-the-blue to some (you'd have to be pretty Genre Savvy to catch the Foreshadowing), but he does contribute well to the story's themes. Speaking of which, the movie's messages (Don't judge a book by its cover, what is True Love and where can it come from?) are also a very strong point.
While there might be some things that could have been improved somehow, I feel Frozen overall does well enough to have earned its spotlight. Every creative work has merit and flaw, both subjective and objective, and it all hinges on how that merit and flaw resonates with a viewer's individual tastes. As for me, it left me with that warm and fuzzy satisfaction I've come to expect from a good movie.
WesternAnimation Tries Too Hard To Do Too Much
Disney wants you to know that it's in the modern era. With modern sensibilities and modern theme and modern merchandising.
Hence - Frozen. Which is a classic Disney movie, as well as a subversion of the typical Disney tropes, and all the characters are conveniently created to perfectly match their toy line counterparts.
I actually went in with high hopes. I loved how Tangled told both a fairy tale and also carried themes like subtle emotional abuse and still held on to humor and felt lighthearted (mostly). And... I was massively, massively disappointed.
Frozen's main problem is that it just has too much going on at once. You have Anna's "romance" with Hans and UST with Kristoph which is also completely downplayed come the end because the writers wanted to make sure young girls understood to wait for *~true love*~. Which makes the "fixer upper" number (you know, the obvious romance bait one) completely unnecessary.
You also have Anna's desire to go bring her sister back and return the warm weather by doing so except it doesn't quite work out that way because of Elsa's sudden emotional outburst almost killing Anna and causing her to give up. So it's only convenience that the two end up back together and they forgive each other on the spot.
You have Elsa's awkwardly handled freakout over her all-powerful powers that were conveniently fixed and forgiven by the very end. I assume they were going for some kind of social anxiety but they couldn't spend too much time on it because why build deep emotional conflict when you have to zip to the next plot point?
Oh, you also have Hans's plot to take over the kingdom. Except that's not really focused on at all until the Wham Line, where any other antagonists in the movie are promptly downgraded.
And Kristoph... is there, to be a romantic interest and hang a lampshade on Disney romances (except not), along with Olaf to handle all the humorous moments.
At least one or two of these should have been cut out to make more room for the other plotlines. Everything ties together like a chewed-up jigsaw puzzle in the end but it feels like many of the stories were completely unnecessary and simply existed to lampshade previous established Disney tropes. Could have been worse, but could have been so, so much better.
WesternAnimation Disney, you can do better [but it's still not that bad]
It seems that Disney is slipping back down from the very high point that The Princess and the Frog had reached. Tangled was nowhere as good as "Princess and the Frog", for the very simple reason that it was CGI. Good CGI, I'll admit, but I'd trade even good CGI for any traditional animation, anytime. It's simply not as charming and simply good-looking; characters either look like they're made of plastic, which is disagreeable, or if the animators put lots of details, they look like they were real (which is bad too, because I don't watch a cartoon to see real people; if I want to see real peoples I'll simply watch live-action, for goodness sake ! stop trying to get "realistic" !). However, Tangled still had rather good songs, a very good plot, and a lot of funny moments (though there are a few gags with Flynn that I didn't like).
Now comes Frozen. The CGI children look worse than they ever did, but at least, I'll admit, they did a fantastic job on the ice palace and on the storm in the iced fjord. In fact, the sceneries seem to be the only thing CGI can be really convincing at. Then there is the story, which is pretty good too, though there are also a few gags I didn't like (mainly with the trolls). But then, oh boy… the music is just awful. Now alright, it's a matter of taste, but the music I like to hear in Disney movies is of the "classical/jazz/fifties Broadway" style. The one you hear in most of their classical movies up to "The Great mouse detective"). NOT pop music like this awful "Let it go" ! Shew ! And in the end what grieves me with Frozen (hence the title) is that Disney could definitely have improved the thing in a few simple steps. 1° Cut those songs and hire Alan Menken instead. 2° Make it traditionally animated, though perhaps with the ice castle in CGI, like what they did on "Treasure Planet" and "Tarzan". 3° Undelete some of the funny deleted scenes they cut for no reasons, like the "pie, pig, pole" scene with Anna. Was it that hard ? With that in mind it could have made a very good and respectful Disney classic.
PS: Apparently, they keep slipping down. Video games ? Aaah. SUPERHEROES ? PLEASE MY GOD TELL ME IT'S NOT TRUE !
WesternAnimation Hype? Expectations? Better let 'em go!
Ain't seen nothing become this culturally ubiquitous since way back in the '90s... even cave-dwelling religious fundamentalists have probably heard of it, probably as a default ringtone for paid-for cell phones or something. Does it live up to the hype? Of course it doesn't! Does anything ever? Nope! So let's do it the sensible way and judge it on its own merits.
Building on the good foundations set by its two immediate predecessors in the canon, Frozen is pretty much the archetypal classic Disney film. That's not at all saying it reaches the dizzying heights of their Golden Age masterpieces, but it just may qualify as being Disney's best stab at it so far during this millennium. It's got all the hallmarks and ingredients found in some of the D's best work, but how you combine those ingredients is what determines whether you've got a masterpiece on your hand or not.
The characters are likeable and inoffensive, and have the emotional depth you'd come to expect from D. Most of the humor is derived from characters and situations rather than the hackneyed brainlessness of the non-stop pop-cultural reference usage of—ahem—others. Add in some nice catchy songs, and even the odd refreshing subversion of typical Disney tropes, and you've got a recipe for a pretty crackin' good time, if not necessarily a film that will change your life in any meaningful way.
Even if some trope usage feels maybe a bit too overly familiar and sentimental, at least they're continuing that grand Disney tradition of empathy, tolerance and understanding, and God only knows that's in short supply these days. Disney are well and truly back on the right path as compared to the mess they were in about a decade ago, and while they've still got a while to go (and they may never get there), beginning an age of new greatness seems increasingly more like a true possibility. Disney's still more than worthy of the responsibility of being given your children's precious time, and hey, you might even have some fun yourself while you're at it!
WesternAnimation The epitome of So Cool, It's Awesome
Can I say right off the bat, no, Frozen isn't perfect. It's got plotholes, yessirree. Things you just don't understand with the plot. Like, why didn't the frost troll tell Elsa's parents that love was a simple counter to Elsa's magic instead of going along with their well-intentioned but admittedly hasty plan? Or what did Elsa eat in her castle? Those are just two of a few plotholes I've seen.
But honestly, I love the movie so much that I can either easily ignore the plotholes, or apply some reason to them, the way that I ignore Jurassic Park's flaws because I adore what they do right. This movie's setup isn't as good as, say, that of Tangled, but it's still pretty good.
I love the songs for being amazingly catchy. Yeah, they're all over the place, I can't fault people for getting a little sick of them for that reason. Personally I just made sure to avoid them unless I actually wanted to listen to them, and I enjoy them just as much as I always did.
I love the characters. They're likable, reasonably developed for an hour and a half, and a strange reason I like them is because they're not perfect. When they make a hasty decision, it'll usually come back to bite them in the ass and they'll try to make up for it. You really get the feeling Anna did her best to protect Elsa from her own mistakes, and I personally felt that if Elsa wasn't in such emotional turmoil she'd have helped Anna out more after a certain event at the end of the second act. Kristoff and Sven are also pretty likable, for that matter. I'm not a huge fan of Olaf, I did feel his humor was based too much on falling apart, but he never annoyed me.
The first plot twist of the third act is divisive for some, and I fully understand why, but I really liked it. Avoiding spoilers, it didn't feel forced to me. I also loved the second twist soon after.
Overall, I absolutely love this movie. It's actually become my favorite, to be honest. I personally feel it earns almost (so close) every shred of the praise it gets.
My end rating of the film is a solid 9.5/10. But as for you, if you haven't seen it yet: set a, say, 7 or 8 out of 10 expectation when you go to see it.
WesternAnimation Certainly Could've Been Done Better
I watched Frozen, and I liked it, I thought it was a good movie. But as I looked back on it, I realized, it could've been done better. Let me explain: If Frozen didn't have the song, 'Let It Go' it would've fall flat. C'mon, imagine the movie without that musical number. Yeah, it wouldn't get all of the hype without it. As for the others songs in Frozen, they unmemorable or out of place, aside from Do You Wanna Build a Snowman and Let It Go. Unlike other Disney movies that have certain themes through their songs like Aladdin (having a bold broadway style) or Beauty and the Beast (having that old French feeling), Frozen...you can't pin that theme to their songs, because they don't match up with each other in the first place.
Moving on to characters, they are bland. Elsa is a reserved and fear driven character, Anna the optimistic, Kristoff the snarky loner, and Hans the heroic prince charming guy. Looking at those deleted songs like, "Life's Too Short" or "More Than Just a Spare" gave dimension to the characters. Sure, it would've changed the movie drastically and the tone, but it would've made them seem more developed. As for the villain of Frozen, well, though it was quite the twist that Prince Charming Hans was the bad guy, it was way too late into the movie. It kinda smacks the audience in the face like, "HEY PEOPLE, THIS GUY WAS EVIL ALL ALONG, BETCHA WEREN'T EXPECTING THAT!!"
He didn't NEEDED to be a bad guy, in fact, there was no need for a villain at all. I'm not saying that the twist is bad, it is genius, subverting everything about Disney, but face it. It felt rushed. It felt forced. In the Big Reveal, all he was missing was a mustache to twirl and that evil villain cackle. If there was more foreshadowing, we would've suspected him and felt fear for Anna, fear about his real motive and who he really is. But no, I think the creators were so excited about the twist, they neglected to actually slowly reveal his nature as the movie goes on. For example, when he was alone with Elsa. No one was watching - Hans could've been doing a Batman Gambit or just straight up telling Elsa what he was going to do so that there can be some epic battle between them. But no, that doesn't happen.
Rating: 3/5. Average and a little overhyped. But enjoyable in the end.
WesternAnimation Sociopaths Kick Ass
I don't care what the Hans-Fans say. I loved the twist. Loved it. And there were clues. Not big, but just enough to make me feel a little perturbed even on the first viewing. Like, "Man that's fast even for Disney; usually it takes three days." and "Hmmm. The love song is kind of off". And "His personality isn't exactly stable, is it?" And "Hmmm. The thirteenth brother?" And then "Well, he sure enjoys being in control, doesn't he?" And even "The Duke isn't much of a villain, is he?" But that Hans is the Big Bad? WHAM. Loved it.
First, Hans appears and WHAT. Anna/Hans. Yawn. Cute, but ultimately, yawn.
Then Elsa says no! What?! Well, she's sensible, but since when did common sense factor in a Disney romance? You cold-hearted trollop.
Then adult Kristoff comes along. Rough, rugged mountain guy whom we saw in the prologue with no family to speak of. Well OF COURSE he's going to catch a break, but we've already hooked up the two brunettes. Hey, he loves ice! Yup, he's gonna hook up with Elsa. But he hardly talks to her! He just gets Anna out of the castle.
And what about Olaf? He's pretty rational and wise and deeply emotional for a comic relief character. Is HE gonna get somebody? Maybe Sven. I'm not kidding that that came to mind.
Then the song "Fixer-Upper". And Hans captures Elsa. And Kristoff gives you that look when the gates close in his face. Hmmm. They're gonna trade, right? But not before Anna kisses Hans only to find out it doesn't work.
Except they don't even do that. Because HANS IS A SOCIOPATHIC GOLD-DIGGER.
And then, ride, Kristoff! RIDE LIKE THE RATHER PUNGENT REINDEER-SCENTED WIND!
Except... he doesn't get there in time. He neither saves Anna nor Elsa. I'm actually disappointed he didn't do more to save somebody. What would have been cool would be him stopping Hans from picking up the remains of his sword and stabbing the princesses. I would have sold a kidney to see him punch that royal twit out. But he and Anna start dating anyway to teach girls that you don't need to search all your life for a knight in shining armour when you've got a good, honest, loving man right in front of you.
WesternAnimation Disney's Frozen: Pros/Cons
The Pros and Cons of Disney's Frozen. "Pros" are the highlights of the film and "Cons" are the things that could've been added into the film.
1.PROS:
- The complex character of Elsa. It not only made her understanding to the viewers, but beloved by them.
- The loving, sisterly bond between Elsa and Anna.
- Kristoff and Anna not marrying at the end. And still happy.
- Elsa's ice powers.
- "Let It Go". Definitely. Which unlike most Disney Princess songs is about being free to express herself.
- The accuracy of the Norwegian customs in the film.
- The villain of the story: Hans. Why? Because he taught an important lesson: Sometimes Prince Charming is really Prince Asshole.
- The fact that Hans was taken out by the heroine and not the male hero.
- The detailed animation.
- Olaf. Just Olaf's character and appearance.
- The Duke's guards being quite competent and skilled with taking on Elsa and her ice powers.
- Something about Kristoff and Sven being raised by trolls is very special.
- The trolls. They were just precious.
2. CONS:
- Elsa's character was somewhat understated in the story. Maybe could've seen her in her "new life", running away from the castle, or what she was doing in the end before "icing" the castle.
- The wasted opportunity of not using a chubbier Anna and not making the two princesses accurately sized weight. Anna could've been the chubby one and teach girls about body positivity.
- The missing character development: We don't really see a moment where Anna or Elsa mature into a different person.
- More backstory onto Kirtsoff and Sven as children.
- A dark reprisal of "Love Is An Open Door" by Hans. Revealing his true nature.
- Keeping the original title, "The Snow Queen".
- Making Elsa the protagonist instead of Anna.
- Kristoff being of mixed race. I do like the Kristoff given, but I can't help but wonder if he could've been this.
- Interactions between Elsa with Kristoff, Sven, and Olaf. Elsa and Kristoff could have been Platonic Life Partners and taught kids that a friendship can be between an attractive male and female.
- A scene with Hans's brothers coming to pick up their brother.
- Anna meeting Kristoof's family before they went up to Elsa.
- Elsa going full-on Mama Bear when Hans lied about Anna's condition.
WesternAnimation Overrated And Mediocre By Disney Standards
I know I'm going to get harassed for this, but this movie really pisses me off. How could a movie be this successful and this beloved when it has such a broken plot, mostly lackluster songs, and inane execution and direction, even with the occasional highlight? As a movie, it's decent family entertainment, but compared to EVERYTHING Disney has done in the past, this is pretty mediocre. If I didn't have a 400 word limit, I could REALLY get into my issues with this movie, but let's get all I can out of the way:
The story is so flawed when you really look at it that you'd be surprised that it managed to get past pre-production. I won't go into all the problems, but suffice it to say, the first act is weak, it gets better by the second act, it hits rock bottom by the beginning of the third act, and then builds up to a strong finish by the second half of the third act. It's a movie that tries way too hard way too often, but at the same time doesn't try hard enough, and you can tell because of how much is thrown at us that isn't properly fleshed out. Elsa's not that strong, the trolls are annoying, the animation's hit and miss, and I don't even think it works as a proper musical, since most of the songs are crammed into the first act.
The twist involving Hans is one of the single worst moments in ANY Disney movie, because despite what detractors may claim, there's no subtlety at all. There is nothing resembling build up and foreshadowing, and nothing about it makes sense, it's just lazy and phoned in, and I actually feel it's a spit in the face to Disney's legacy with Snow White and all that. I don't care what anyone else says about it, it's just terrible and it really hurts the movie for me.
That said, there are things I like about it, like some of the characters, ESPECIALLY Olaf, some gorgeous effects animation, some good musical score, and a few decent songs, including the overhyped but still endearing "Let It Go". I also give them credit for what they're trying to do, even if it doesn't always work. Aside from that, I feel this is among the studio's weaker efforts, and I've seen Chicken Little. Personally, I'd stick with the original Snow Queen story or the 1957 Russian animated adaptation of said story, because even with the good moments, this movie will most likely leave you feeling kinda cold.
WesternAnimation The most disappointing film I have ever seen.
The hype for the 2013 Disney film Frozen is gargantuan. Many reviews have been positive, and it won "Best Animated Film" at the Oscars. It's become an international mega-hit. In my opinion, it didn't deserve so much praise. At all. When I sat down to watch Frozen with my parents and brother I was expecting something truly big. A huge movie, something filled with constant joy, adventure, beauty and Pixar-level ingenuity. I didn't get any of this. This is easily one of the most depressing animated films I've ever watched, and also one of the most annoying.
It's a very frustrating movie for me to watch. There are dozens of plot holes, several annoying songs which come out of nowhere (including the dreadful and tacked-on "Fixer Upper"), bland characters and loads of angst. In my eyes, it's Twilight meets Glee meets the icy landscape of Narnia. The journey to find Elsa isn't exciting enough, and when she is found, she promptly kicks them out of her ice castle. Elsa, in fact, is a character who comes off as miserable through so much of the movie, all because of a mild accident during their childhood. The whole "I don't want to hurt you" thing really bugs me. She isn't a werewolf.
And to support my statement on the dozens of plot holes, look no further than the Headscratchers page for this film. It's one of the largest I've ever seen and stuffed with debates, which pretty much proves the fact that the plot needed major improvement for it to work. And sadly, in my honest opinion, hardly anything works. It just isn't fun, and when it tries to be fun (Fixer Upper) it fails at it. It's a weepy soap opera full of clichés. Sure, Olaf's kinda cute, the animation's solid, there a few laughs. But everything else really disappointed me. I'd only recommend this to young and teenage girls, personally, because I can only see this as a princess movie. I hated it, my brother hated it, my father hated it... hell, even my own mother wasn't big on it, though she liked it more than we did. In all honesty, I think it's a million miles behind the excellence of so many other computer-animated films, for example the underrated "Arthur Christmas", a magnificent winter movie which deserves way more attention in my opinion.
WesternAnimation A subversion of Disney Princess Films
SPOILERS AHOY!
Okay, that sounds pretty pretentious, but let me explain myself, what I loved about this movie is not the story, the visuals or the music, but the Aesop. The film sets itself up as a classic Disney movie, with love at first sight, a fair princess, a charming prince and a jerkass big bad who is blatantly evil. But then it subverts all these tropes masterfully, starting with Elsa disapproving their marriage and going off from there, with Kristoff calling Anna out, the Duke being just a jerk, and the big bad being the prince.
This is isn't the subversion.
The subversion I love comes in the climax, and I think the spoiler warning bears repeating here, but it's about the whole way the damsel in distress and true love kiss tropes are set up quite effectively, Anna is never a true damsell in distress, but she seems to fit the spirit of the trope until the climax, in particular the part where Kristoff runs towards her, Prince Charming-style. Up until this point she needs a man to solve her problems, like a classic Disney princess. But then she makes the heroic sacrifice and saves herself in the process. The point here is, Anna doesn't depend on a prince to save her, she saves herself through sacrifice. She then proceeds to not marry Kristoff, and punch Hans in the face. She becomes a strong female protagonist with a healthy relationship, which Disney princesses have a long history of not having. Therein, for me, lies the true beauty of this movie.
WesternAnimation The Best Architect In the LAND! (Beware! There Be Crazy Ahead)
I wasn't particularly expecting anything from Frozen. Weird right? No? Oh... Anyways, I went in with a clean slate. And, hoo boy, did that help.
So it's about two girls. One has Power Incontinence, and the other is a hyperactive dork...or something. They're both cute though.
Their parents die right off the bat. No surprises there, Disney.
Elsa is effectively a prisoner in a Gilded Cage. Poor thing. Her powers are just too unpredictable. Her sister pretends to be a prisoner in a Gilded Cage; she can literally leave the castle doors at any time. But instead she acts like she can't. Also, the castle is like a Ghost Town. It's just big and has little staff. Very depressive. Nice interior design though. All of this, plus Anna's mania leads me to believe that she's off her rocker a little. Poor thing...
On Elsa's coronation day, things go to shit when her powers explode. So she leaves to live in the mountains like a real mountain man. Well...if a mountain man was an incredible architect who could sing "Let It Goooooo!!!!" and was also a fashion designer who could weave fabric from snow and create life. Wait, what?
So Elsa decides to live in a freaking stunning castle she just shoots out of her hands.
◊ It's not as stunning as any rayonant
◊ gothic architecture I've seen, however (work harder Elsa, jeez). Two questions: where will she go to the bathroom? And just what is she going to eat?
Anna goes searching for her sis, and meets a cute boy, a gay shop owner, a dog-horse-moose, a talking snow-goblin...er snowman, and a community of singing trolls. Actually, forget I said anything about the trolls.
The message is that you should be yourself as long as you don't kill anybody. I think.
It was a great movie. Elsa was the best because she was really pretty and so was the castle and the dress she made. But I really like sparkly, icy, blue and teal stuff, so I might be a tad biased there.
Um what else... still got about fifty words left... There was the stereotypical evil guy at first. He was too obvious. So the real evil guy came right out of left field. That was neat. Anna's hair gets cooler, but then nah.
So yeah, it was good.
WesternAnimation A potentially deep story straightjacketed by rushed production
Firstly, I want to say that thankfully, it was better than Tangled. The story was much better, characters weren’t as blatantly reused, had a touch more depth, and were easier to sympathise with. The story is more interesting, has considerably better attempt at Grey and Grey Morality (though it’s still no Watchmen) and besides the expected message about not denying your true self, also had a welcome Aesop against Strangled by the Red String, a message to accept each other’s flaws in a relationship (though those needed '' much' 'finer handling than Fixer Upper). The eye candy here is also staggering, with visually unprecedented frozen water on display amongst other things.
Unfortunately, it's not quite as good as it could have been. It seems that Disney had invested a lot of time into the icy CGI and had to choose between releasing it next year or cutting corners. While I’m glad they didn’t reuse character designs as much this time, entire scenes were re-used instead: the bit where Anna slides down the ladder railing is identical to one in Tangled. The songs are welcome, but hit-and-miss: some are pretty great and fit well, others are either grating and/or blatantly reworked from popular culture. The labourers’ song in the opening took quite a few hints from the Hobbit dwarf song, but it worked, even if the whole scene seemed more of an excuse to show off hyper-realistic ice. Worse, I genuinely considered leaving the cinema when “Let it Go” hit: reworking today’s "greats" like Rolling in the Deep is tantamount to longevity suicide and its Best Song Oscar win is the greatest Academy mistake since Forrest Gump Best Picture win.
The story also needed more development. The death of princesses’ parents is shown so quickly, it barely has any impact. The reveal of true villain is poorly handled: sure, it was predictable due to the Law of Conversation of Characters, but there are absolutely no hints of him having a darker side until the revelation, so it feels forced. The Westleton envoy is sadly underdeveloped as well; with more screentime and better characterisation, Disney could have conveyed a good allegory of British colonialism, whereas here he’s little more than comic relief, and a rather stupid one at that (seriously, shout Burn the Witch! at someone this strong?)
In all, it’s an enjoyable, mostly well-made film, but not a classic.
WesternAnimation It Was OK
SPOILERS
I don't like the changes to the source material. There, I said it.
I don't like that the main character is the same stock character used in Tangled: adorably clumsy, socially awkward, naive, and sporting literally the same character model with a different palette and outfit.
The music was almost exactly the same song over and over again, being peppy and upbeat no matter what the circumstances. As for "Let it Go" which is hailed as the best song in the movie...I don't like it. I don't like that it sounds very produced (now that Elsa has run miles away from civilization she has single-handedly discovered layering and voice correction!)
The film also has some issues with pacing, starting off slowly with an unnecessary amount of exposition and ending very abruptly, with an almost Deus Ex Machina-level epiphany kicking off the inevitable thaw.
The humor was decent, although Disney has really got to stop it with turning horses (and reindeer) into dogs. Seriously, this was the perfect opportunity to give the male lead an actual dog and they opted for a reindeer/dog hybrid instead. The humor did get a little repetitive, which I guess was solved by the very abrupt ending removing space for it to repeat more than twice.
The conflict I found weak in some areas, but am willing to accept for good relationship building. (What I got was decent but typical; the slobbier guy gets the girl because the well-mannered guy is actually an evil mastermind, and the sisters loved each other all along!)
I hate the implications of the song "Fixer Upper" and am a little concerned that they put this in a movie which featured a manipulative romantic relationship and is aimed at young girls. (It also reeeeally messed up the pacing of that scene.)
The voice actors did an AMAZING job bringing life to some fairly dull characters.
The animators never let the female characters make an ugly face if it wasn't for a joke, which bothered me. A lot. Especially remembering the head animator's gaffe about keeping female characters pretty.
Visually the film was stunning. But on an emotional and intellectual level I'm disappointed. So watch it, or don't. Rewatch it or don't. While I didn't find the film stimulating I did find it entertaining. So what have you.
WesternAnimation Frozen, almost there
I very much enjoyed this movie, though not to the same extent as other people. Personally I think it may be a case of going all Movie critic/Tv Tropes Ruined My Life. Still a fantastic movie with lots of characters with character. Some parts of the movie seemed slightly strange, though these could be whisked away by the fairy of Suspended Disbelief (Olaf not being completely destroyed by the first fall he has due to being made of snow, Hans blade not shattering Anna's frozen body and sending him careening off screen and knocking himself unconscious, leaving the blade shattered.) The big complaint I have towards this movie is probably the character development. I'd have to say that while the morals imparted by the movie are very well brought across and the characters do have some good development, it still feels like everything got resolved in with everyone staying mostly the same afterwards.
All in all I don't think that the majority of the complaints I have, don't affect my overall enjoyment of the film and it's certainly worthy of praise for its fantastic art and music
WesternAnimation Disney Pixar, you won me back.
Wow. Just WOW. Neither am I a fan of musicals nor am I a fan of princesses. And I actually am no fan of American animation anymore. But this here... Wow. I gave in to a friends recommondation while we were talking about great film music and he was going on and on about "Let it go". I listened to it and saw the scene on YT's Disney channel and I was like "I HAVE to see this movie". Was it worth the hundred minutes? It could've been worth three or four hours. At first I thought it to be just a citchy musical (well, citchy it was a bit, but hey, it's Disney that's to be expected). But then, when I started to see it, It and the characters really grew to me. And I genuinely felt sorry for the Elsanna. They are about as fleshed out as characters can be in a 100 minute movie. I also really liked the fact that the big bad was not whom you expect to be. But what really took the crown in this movie for me, more than the really good and likeable characters, the jokes and comedy was the excellent music and the visuals. Dear god, the visuals were beyond perfect. The reflexions on the ice alone were absolutely stunning. The animations of the movement, water and actually overall were masterfull to the max. Maddest props to Pixar's animators. I'm leaning out of the windows now and say that Frozen is on the best way to become a new Disney Classic that's going to be watched in 20,30 years as well. I used to root for The Wind Rises for the upcoming Oscars, but now, I'll change my vote to Frozen. 9.5 (don't like the "love solves" everything that's usual for Disney)/10
WesternAnimation OH MY GOD IT IS MAGNIFICENT
I absolutely loved the film. Anna is a little too "Rapunzel II" at times, but she's quirky and funny to watch, and Kristoff is lovably grumpy most of the time, but this is really Elsa's film. Elsa is the most amazing character Disney ahs created in years, and is so fascinating to watch. Idina Menzel plays her with a perfect combination of vulnerability, grace and power, and it's combined with the great character design and animation.
Elsa is sort of the film's antagonist, but you can see why she did everything that she did, and feel sorry for her at the same time. Those scenes where she's grieving for her parents but unable to go to her sister for their mutual comfort is heart-breaking, and "Let It Go" is the most bittersweet, yet amazing song Disney has created in years. The only flaw I could find is perhaps her lack of screen-time (or how easily her control over her powers came to her in the end), but in the end, a hermit outsider can't really get too much focus. But that song is easily the film's highlight, and a triumphant moment. It's really an anthem to lonely people and outsiders everywhere, and will connect with so many people.
Aside from "Let It Go", many of the songs are forgettable (and a bit front-loaded into the early part of the film), but some are still a bit amusing. The neat thing about many of the characters is that you can see multiple sides of most of them, and understand them better as people. They're a very well-rounded cast, and even the Love Story is decently well-done (though much of the Villain Reveal is full of some pretty sad dialogue and villain stupidity). The recurring metaphor about "doors" is quite well-done too, since they don't make too much of a point of it. And shockingly, the wacky "Kid Focus" Snowman isn't that annoying — many fans were fearing another Jar-Jar Binks, but instead he's really quite funny, breaks the drama of some situations, and never interrupts things or gets too much screen-time.
I think the movie fits easily in with some of the Disney Renaissance, though isn't on the level of Beauty and the Beast or anything. Elsa is really a dominant, fascinating character, but aside from her, much of the film is pretty pedestrian Disney-esque stuff.
WesternAnimation 2 Reasons To See It
Well, it's no Beauty and the Beast, but I'm glad I saw it. I like the Road Trip Romance much better than the one from Tangled (it feels less forced, seems to flow more smoothly). The animation, from the characters to the costumes to the scenery, is just beautiful, magnificent, and truly stellar — the film is a feast for the eyes, if nothing else, and I hardly ever think that about 3D animation. Kristoff is my favorite character, and I really like his reindeer sidekick, too (I couldn't stand Maximus), and their friendship. I find Olaf annoying and out of place (like Timon and Pumbaa, he ruins dramatic moments), but it sounded like all the kids in the theater loved him, so that's probably a demographic thing. I also like both the sisters, but Elsa's character really seemed wasted. I was worried she was going to be another Loki or Scar, getting undue attention and sympathy, but it turned out to be the opposite. They didn't explore or develop her story enough for me; they just establish it and torture her and then rush to make everything okay in a split second.
On that note, somebody forgot the climax. All four of the main characters are running through this wild, raging snow storm, looking for each other, building up to something big, and the pay off is disappointing. Yes, Anna's great act is both awesome and sweet, but I wanted a real climax like in Sleeping Beauty or The Little Mermaid. After Anna said, "You're no match for Elsa!", I thought for sure we were going to get to see Elsa fight the villain in a grand showdown (so that both the sisters save each other), but we got... nothing. Big let down.
So, why is this movie worth checking out? First: the "Let It Go" scene — yes, it is awesome and beautiful enough to justify going to see the film purely to see That Scene (I should mention it's the only song in the film I like at all). Second: The Twist — just like on Avatar: The Last Airbender, they trick you into thinking they're building up to one predictable twist (the same one from Enchanted, in this case), only to pull a completely different one instead, and it worked!
Altogether, a fun cross between Sense and Sensibility and Wicked.
WesternAnimation A Classic
Spoilers Ahoy!
I only saw this yesterday (late, I know), after waiting for all the hype to die down and to see it with an open mind. I loved it. I went into the film expecting the standard Disney princess/musical theme, and was very happy to have those expectations to subverted. While the intro isn't as emotionally devastating as that of Up!, it's powerfully sad in its own way; how Elsa is forced to isolate herself from Anna, and how the eventual loss of their parents serves as the final blow to the wedge driving the girls apart.
The songs are a mixed bag to me, "In summer" seems horribly out of place, but it works somehow—probably due to Olaf's cloudcuckoolander nature. "Fixer Upper" is hilariously awkward. "Let it Go" is a tour de force of emotion and passion, and is very powerful in its own right. To me, however, the best song was in fact the very first song, the folk/work song "Frozen Heart"—it helps set the tone for the entire movie, and is Manly enough that even the barest of chests will suddenly grow virile mats of hair.
The plot was a little weak in places, but I expect that from Disney in the modern age, as too much subtlety just won't work in what is ostensibly a kid's movie. My favourite plot point however, has to be that "True Love" doesn't have to be that of a Lover or that of a friend; it can be love for family. That was/is a great message for these days. True love has more than one form.
The animation… my god, the animation. Beautiful. Disney's animators have a come a long way in just a few short years. The level of detail in the ice is simply astounding. If it wasn't for the slightly stylized visuals, I could have easily believed the opening sequence was a documentary on ice-harvesting.
My final thought as to just why this movie is so amazing comes down to three things: Animation styling taken from Tangled. Story cues taken from Beauty and the Beast. Musical cues taken from The Lion King.
But don't let me be your judge. Go see the movie and decide for yourself.
WesternAnimation Wow. Just... Wow.
HERE BE SPOILERS!
For the first time in forever (well, since first really getting into TV Tropes), I have finally been able to watch a movie without talking in somewhere in it, and just be awed by the beauty of it all. TV Tropes, you nearly ruined my life, but this movie saved it!
But enough gushing, let's get into the Review itself.
I have to commend the animators for the brilliant job they did with the ice, with trying to not make it look like plastic, with all of the details of the refraction and the structure of the ice itself. And even though they had to flub the animation of Elsa's hair at one point, I couldn't tell. In fact, I wouldn't have known if for the fact I read it here, and I've re-watched the scene at least a dozen times, and I've given up trying to spot the exact moment it happens.
The music is hauntingly beautiful (excepting of course, the comic relief upbeat songs, In Summer and Fixer Upper), and I cannot say enough how amazing the songs are. And I'm not just talking about the songs sung by the characters, but the soundtrack behind it fits in, subtly heightening all of the drama and tension. Now, the songs sung by the characters are something in and of themselves. Seriously, Let It Go, the most powerful song in the piece, also hints at the turmoil inside Elsa's heart, while the clashing Minor and Major chords in First Time in Forever (Reprise) give such power to the scene, and the hopelessness of Elsa's Isolation not being enough to save Arrandelle from her contrasting with Anna's hope that Elsa will be able to fix the problem and return to Arrandelle really sells the scene.
Onto the story, and this is one thing that I absolutely have to praise Disney for (other than the songs atleast): the plot twist, which is still too much of a spoiler to put even in this pre-warned review, yet you know exactly what I'm talking about if you've seen the movie, is one of the most cruel twists I've ever seen, and that I barely saw coming (seriously, the moment that Anna entered the room just before The Reveal, I knew that it wasn't gonna work out, but not in THAT way), but the follow up with one of the most heart-wrenching scenes I have ever seen in ANY film, with familial love replacing romantic love as "True Love", wow.
Oh, enough already. Just go see it. 11/10
WesternAnimation Good, but not great
It's a worthy addition to Disney's line of fairytale movies, no doubt about that, although it doesn't quite outdo Tangled. While that one had its flaws as well, I felt it overall had better narrative, comedy and music. Frozen has a strong narrative the first half which weakens a bit the second half, the comedy feels a bit repetitive and the songs have their ups and downs. Contrary to what most others do, I really like "Do you want to build a snowman", while I'm kinda indifferent to "Let it go". While I DO think it's a beautiful song, it also sounds a bit too modernized and like the songs they sing on Eurovision today. However, being Norwegian I loved seeing the fjords and mountain-filled landscapes as well as the gorgeously animated snow, and the small references such as to "lutefisk", "gløgg" and Kristoff being a sami were all things I laughed at (in a good sense). Hans is also a great villain, though I agree it can feel a bit out of nowhere when he reveals himself, and his defeat is pretty standard "stupid villain" defeat like someone else pointed out. Elsa is a good character too, although I felt her personality and struggles wasn't really explored that much, and the entire third act with her felt kinda rushed. The climax with Anna sacrificing herself for her is touching, no doubt, but it didn't really feel like the epic payoff it should have been. At least to me personally, that stemmed from the said slight rushedness I felt the latter half suffered from. I really like Anna however, even if she does remind of Rapunzel, I still felt she's the funniest Disney princess in a long time and I liked her better than the latter, mostly for her clumsiness mixed with her touching devotion to find her sister. Her relationship with Kristoff is also adorable, as well as funny (I felt they had more of a natural contrast to them than Flynn and Rapunzel did), and their kiss serving as more of an aftermath than a climax was also a nice touch. Overall, I give Frozen a 7/10 star rating.
WesternAnimation This really is a return to old Disney
Frozen should've been called The Snow Queen, because we're going to be talking about this film for a long time and it deserves to have a name that stands the test of time. It's absolutely back to old Disney, you can make comparisons to Aladdin or the Lion King or Mulan without feeling hyperbolic and out of place.
It's an absolutely beautiful film with a really strong central relationship between the two female leads that drives everything else. It has that air of magic and wonder. For the most part it feels timeless, a story that makes sense throughout history and connects with very pure ideas and emotions. Some of Anna's personality feels a bit more modern, but not distractingly so.
Curiously, this is much more a film about teenagers and young adults than children. It's about going out into the world, dealing with the change around you and the way relationships grow and change but most of all it's about embracing the world and the bond you have with other people in, even if it can be scary and you might get hurt.
It has lots of problems, don't expect it to be flawless, but they aren't problems that diminish the film. In particular the time spent with Anna and Cristof felt like it was getting away from what made the film so good. It led to the middle section feeling long and like it was going no-where. There's a character who goes through a personality change in a very cliched way and it's so abrupt that the two figures don't match up at all. None of their later actions make sense in the context of their earlier actions and it felt they shoved them into the villain slot instead of having a nice character but with flaws.
Finally Disney still hasn't completely gotten over itself. Like in the Princess And The Frog they're constantly obsessing over Disney's place and Disney ideas. If you're not going to have a story about True Love then you don't need to talk about it all the time. You can have it and then just go for it, or you can have the characters have different feelings and different things to happen to them. You should be sincere and focused on the emotions present and give them their rightful place in the centre of the story instead of saying 'look we're not doing this' and putting it in other context.
But this is a seriously good film and it makes me excited for Disney going forward telling pure good stories again.
WesternAnimation Ignore the Hype
I was really excited for this movie, due to the people who worked on Wreck-It Ralph and all the positive reviews I've read about it. This was not worthy of all the hype it has been receiving.
First off, the story is ok. The first act takes a long time to get off the ground and it doesn't really take itself seriously and nothing really major is at stake until the third act. Until then the plot is exactly weighty with the consequences of a full out winter in the middle of summer except of one quick scene. Pretty much any of the scenes with Elsa are guaranteed to be more mature than the main plot.
Second, the songs don't work too well. They pretty long and the plot pretty much stops when they start singing. Not to mention all the songs are pretty peppy sounding and don't have too much variety.
Third, the characters aren't really up to par. Anna is a generically quirky, clumsy and energetic. We're supposed to see her as a sad figure that was trapped in the castle like Elsa but I did not find her interesting. Kristoff had this problem too with him being antisocial for one scene and that trait dropped. Olaf I liked alot because his comedy was the only one that worked naturally for me. Elsa is such a tragic figure that I love her too. I absolutely hated the Trolls. They're annoying, obnoxious and the way they're so overly close to Kristoff that they wanted Anna to dump her fiance for him is pretty creepy.
The visuals are amazing but it doesn't save the movie from a "B" grade. The Mickey Mouse short preceding the movie is pretty amazing too.
WesternAnimation Disney, producing magic since forever ago
I was really excited to see Frozen. I loved both Tangled and Wreck-It Ralph (Wreck-It Ralph more) and the critical praise got me really hyped. It didn't dissapoint. In fact I firmly believe this is a better film than some of the most beloved Disney classics. At the very least, it's in their class.
The story is expertly done, grabbing you from the very beginning of the film. It also turns out to be surprisingly mature for a children's film, further proving we don't need to treat kids like idiots to entertain them. It's a refreshing subversion of the typical Disney Princess story, even more so than Tangled was, and I guarantee there is at least one story twist you won't see coming.
Also, yes, this is a Disney musical, and the songs. Are. Fantastic. Besides the one in the absolute beginning, which I still liked, there wasn't one I didn't love and pretty much all of them have proven to be stuck in my head. I would usually say don't go if you hate musicals, since this movie has ALOT of music, but my friend who despises musicals who came with me had absolutely no problems with it, so I guess the songs are good enough to transcend that barrier.
The humor is done right without being overdone, the characters are all great (though Olaf the Snowman steals the show with his GENIUS comedic timing), and the animation is beautiful. I've even heard some people say it beats The Lion King (not sure I'd agree, but if that isn't high praise, I don't know what is). I would recommend it to everyone. So get up and go see it....as in now. Well? What are you doing still reading this review?? GO!!!!
WesternAnimation Brilliant. (spoilers)
This movie is brilliant. The songs are brilliant. The animation is brilliant. The story is brilliant. The characters are brilliant. Everything about it is just phenomenal.
The music is memorable, emotional, and most importantly, varied. We get a cool, chant-like opening number in "Frozen Heart," a poppy duet in "Love Is an Open Door," a Broadway-style showstopper in "Let It Go," and a great melody-countermelody balance in "For the First Time in Forever." With the exception of one (see below), none of them fall flat, and every last one not only does what it sets out to do, but blows it away.
The animation is stunning. From the colors and backgrounds to the expressions on the characters' faces, everything is done in delightfully excruciating detail. The scene where Elsa builds her ice palace stands out as some of the most spectacular visuals ever seen in any animated movie.
And the movie doesn't slack on its story or characters either. Our heroines are both wonderful characters in their own right, but what makes them stand out most is their chemistry with each other. Kristoff is also very likeable and he has some great lines, especially when he's having his "conversations" with his reindeer. And the villain, Hans, not only pulls off one of the best cons in modern film, but his reveal is marvelously set up and executed, and his plan makes him one of the most cold-hearted, diabolical villains Disney's ever created. The story subverts itself at every turn, and does it without pulling ever a Shocking Swerve or coming out of left field. And the ways it subverts itself, from the "act (from Anna) of true (sisterly) love" to the villain's reveal (a great Deconstruction of Fourth Date Marriage), are just great.
All that said, I do have a couple criticisms. One is the trolls' song "Fixer Upper" which just...doesn't fit. It's entertaining and everything, but it just comes out of nowhere and it doesn't really serve a purpose. The other is the ending. It seems rushed, Kristoff doesn't do anything, and Hans not only goes down way too easy, but he gets a disappointing "Ha ha stupid villain" ending rather than the epic death a guy like him deserved. Unlike some people, though, I didn't find the reveal very cliched, other than the one "Oh, but I already have!" line.
All in all, easy 95%. Go see it, and be amazed.
WesternAnimation Another Great Addition To The Revival Era
With Disney releasing The Princess and the Frog, Tangled and Wreck-It Ralph, I had little doubt that Frozen wouldn't live up to my expectations. I was right to ignore the naysayers prior to this film's release. Frozen is a delightful, enjoyable movie that people of all ages will be entertained by. (WARNING! Spoilers!)
What makes the film great is its cast of characters. Anna is wonderfully awkward, but she is so full of determination, energy and kindness that it's hard not to love her. Kristoff seems rough around the edges at first, but he gradually shows a very sweet, tender side to him. Plus, his design, with his stockiness and big nose, is unique compared to the other pretty boy Disney Princes. Hans makes for a refreshing Disney villain since he IS the typical pretty boy prince. Contrary to what a lot of people said about Olaf before the movie was released, he is a useful, non-annoying addition to the group. Elsa, however, steals the spotlight since she is easily one of Disney's most complex characters. Emotionally distant as she is, she has nothing but love and concern for her sister. She truly just wants her sister to be happy and safe from her powers, making the scene where Anna turns into ice all the more heartbreaking. Plus, she is one of the very rare positive portrayals of a queen in Disney, AND the writers don't feel the need to give her a love interest. How great is that?
The visuals are stunning. Elsa's ice palace is breathtaking, plus the setting is very culturally grounded in Norway with the architecture, rosemailing, geography and outfits. I absolutely love all of the songs; "Let It Go" is definitely one of the film's high points. One criticism that I sorta agree with is that, like, six songs are crammed together in the span of 45-50 minutes. Another criticism is that the dialogue for Hans' reveal was so cliche with the typical "You'll never get away with this!" "But I already have!" Another complaint is that the designs for Anna and Elsa are too similar to Rapunzel/each other. To Rapunzel? Maybe, but to each other? Gee, if only they were related, like, sisters or something.
While it's not without it's detractors, I thought Frozen was downright excellent. Bravo Disney.
p.s. can we please stop comparing revival era films to renaissance era films to gauge success?
WesternAnimation A cool movie that will warm your hearts
Frozen, based off Andersen's "The Snow Queen". Was it a great movie? HECK YEAH.
Story: Revolves around two (Yes, TWO) princess characters, siblings Anna and Elsa. Elsa is gifted/cursed with magical ice powers, so when she runs away after unknowingly causing a catastrophic blizzard, Anna joins with ice deliverer Kristoff and snowman Olaf to bring her back. The story later goes in unexpected places with plenty of plot twists, making for a satisfying conclusion to the movie.
Themes: It's hard to go into this without spoiling, and you should find the themes yourself. When you do find out the theme of the movie, you'll definitely appreciate it more and like how it went down a different path than what you were expecting.
Music: I really liked the songs in these movies. Some more than others, but they all stood out and none of them are bad in the general sense. There are enough songs to remember and hum to yourself while there aren't too many songs that it becomes dragging. The best song in the movie in my opinion is a tossup between "For the First Time in Forever" and "Let it Go".
Animation:I don't usually pay much attention to animation styles because what matters to me is if I'm entertained by everything else. But I got to give praise to the animation. It looks GORGEOUS. All the snow, ice and scenery make for great images. Even if you traditionally do not like CGI movies, this follows the same style of Tangled in that it does remind you of traditional animation.
All around this was just amazing and definitely one of my movie highlights this year. Out of 5, I give it a perfect 5. There was nothing I particularly disliked, and there was so much I liked. I give it a recommendation for everyone to watch, be they your kids, your significant other, or your family.
WesternAnimation Frozen stinks on ice.
I will never understand why Frozen was such a big success, because it's objectively a very flawed movie. Predictable, by the numbers, and unimaginative.
And that's just scratching the surface.
It's not only my least favorite Disney movie, but my least favorite animated movie as well, and might even be my least favorite movie I've seen.
Just so mind-numbingly awful in my opinion. And it goes way beyond just being bland and predictable.
Frozen actively angers me with its painful musical numbers, and basically insulting my intelligence by making it seem like I don't know what'll happen next despite how predictable it is and every Disney movie cliche coming from a mile away (Hans being the villain, just to name one).
It's basically the cinematic equivalent of someone pulling a long, wet fart right in your face. And I cannot forgive Frozen for that.
I seriously can't comprehend how they thought such a painfully paint-by-numbers movie would be okay to release as part of the Disney animated canon, let alone it getting a sequel that really isn't much better.