Disney's Frozen - Grading and Discussion

How far are you guys?

 

So I finally got around to asking my sister, who watches OUAT faithfully, how she feels about all these Frozen characters invading her show, and she told me she still hasn't seen Frozen yet and is reluctant to do so. And then she told me why:

She doesn't like Idina Menzel's singing. Apparently, Idina schreeches to much when she's hitting high notes.

So...I told her "Okay, watch Frozen, and when you get to the part where Elsa's building her ice castle, just turn down the sound."

 

We're only 6 episodes in, so we know we won't catch up all the way. Figure we'll watch the reruns and new episodes concurrently until we get caught up.

 

There are a couple of recaps, one each for Seasons 1 and 2, and one for the first half of Season 3. They might help you get caught up.

 

I finally got around to seeing the movie. Flawed, but an A+ nonetheless. I really enjoyed it.

 

Flawed?!

No. No.

 

Heh. Yeah, but it still didn't fall below A+. Imagine that.

 

Just curious, in what way was it flawed?

 

OK...

The biggest single problem is probably Hans announcing Anna is dead before she's actually dead. That doesn't even rate as a rookie blunder.

I believe there is also either a problem with how much time elapses while Kristoff is brining Anna back from the trolls or it must be accepted that events happen out of order without the most proper acknowledgement of that. If the King could take the whole family riding straight out to the trolls in a single night to help Anna when she was a child, then how is it that, after Kristoff leaves with Anna to ride back, Hans does all of: arrive at the ice castle, capture Elsa, bring her back, and imprison her, before Kristoff can ride back in a hurry? One way to solve the problem is if events happen out of order, so that by the time Kristoff leaves with Anna to ride back, Hans has already been to the ice castle and is at least at the point of brining back Elsa if not having already brought her back. That's more or less feasible, but it would need to be forgiven that the cut to Hans from Kristoff riding back from the trolls is in answer to Olaf's question of who is Hans, which would ordinarily suggest that arriving at the ice castle is what Hans is doing right then. There are of course other ways to work the problem, involving off-camera layovers, which could work in principle although Kristoff is supposed to be in a hurry.

Other problems exist but get progressively more minor.

Having discussed some of the problems I had, I'll also write some praise. The single most awesome thing in the film for me, at least from the point of view of Elsa, is the message of don't be afraid to be who you really are. I was really blown away by "Let It Go." Aside from the obvious splendor of building the ice castle, Elsa making Olaf almost right off the bat is a beautiful and amazing thing. Very powerful message of love there, and there's a nice measure of adult subtexts throughout the film. I hate to be hasty, but this could easily end up being my favorite Disney film. Again, A+.

 

Aside from its ridiculous plot?

 

ABC to air Special on Making of Disney’s ‘Frozen’ on September 2 at 8PM

This Tuesday. I wonder if this was meant to be included with the bonus features on the video release, but was taken out at the last moment?

 

Those damn trolls. Cut them out and the movie is practically perfect.

 

I believe this special was just recently produced, as it will include a sneak peek of OUaT's Frozen-related Season 4 storyline and information about the future of the property.

 

I loved those trolls.

 

Me too. Plus, they're one of the things that Anna and Kristoff have in common, even though apparently no troll besides Grand Pabbie recognized Anna as the princess (though the troll about to marry them knew her name by then, at least) and Anna only remembered them in her dreams (however inaccurately).

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A further comment about the timing of Kristoff's and Anna's trip back from the trolls in relation to when Hans arrives at the ice castle that I discussed here: Sven rides away from the trolls into a dawn sky, which looks to be the same dawn that's breaking when Hans arrives at the ice castle. That also supports the idea that those two events happen at the same time.

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A related issue is how long it takes Elsa to get from the Arendelle castle to the North Mountain, when she's running away on foot. Did she arrive on the same night she left? Of course Elsa has the aid of magic, too.

We get at least some sense of scale when Anna and Kristoff can look down and see both Arendelle castle on the fjord and the North Mountain in the other direction. By then, it was at least the second morning since Anna had left, and she still wasn't at the North Mountain, though obviously Anna had been traveling at various rates of speed and gone through some detours.

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Another thought: Anna and Kristoff's return trip from the trolls could have taken somewhat to significantly longer than when the King and Queen had ridden out with Anna and Elsa as children, due to Elsa having turned the whole land to winter. Maybe some of the way had become impassable and needed to be detoured around.

 

REVIEW: ‘The Story of Frozen: Making An Animated Classic’

 

Wyoming?

 

TV Review: ‘The Story of Frozen: Making a Disney Animated Classic’

 

Got it...

 

‘Frozen’ New Animated Short, ‘Frozen Fever’ on Horizon

I'm really excited that Frozen will be getting a short film! I hope it will be way better than Tangled Ever After. My guess is that the short will be attached to the upcoming Cinderella film.