Disney's Frozen - Grading and Discussion

It certainly was unexpected. I think the marketing helped. By playing up the Olaf/Sven humor in the trailers, I was completely unaware about the main story. And I imagine I wasn't alone. So when that story turned out to be so good, the positive word-of-mouth created the kind of buzz that has helped the film keep its legs for as long as it has.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_in_film

Frozen will have to make another 57 million before it beats Despicable Me 2. It's all about the international gross nowadays!

 

It hasn't opened in China or Japan yet, so another 57 million is very likely.

 

I loved this movie. One of the best films I've seen all year. I thought Kristen Bell was amazing voicing the main character.

 

Idina Menzel will perform nominated song 'Let it Go' at the Oscars

Oh, yeah! This is awesome.

 

Also likely is the fact that the film could earn an additional $10-15M here in North America - especially if it wins any Academy Awards.

 

This maybe my favorite cover of Let it Go...

[yt]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAJYk1jOhzk[/yt]

 

That was pretty good. Thanks for sharing it.

 

I FINALLY saw this last weekend. (I know, I'm way late to the party. ) I thought it was beautiful. I started weeping during "Do You Want to Build a Snowman?" and got myself under control just in time to do it again during "The First Time in Forever" so that by the time "Let It Go" came along, I was a mess.

If you love the music, do yourself a favor and check out the deluxe 2-disc soundtrack. It includes several songs that were cut that are also pretty great. I can see why they were cut, but they're a lot of fun and add character depth.

I was shocked and sad that Hans ended up being EEEEEVIL. I would have liked it better if he had been a decent guy and just wrong for Anna. The fact that he's so horrible casts a shadow over "Love Is an Open Door", which I really love.

And I admit I find Idina Menzel a little distracting, especially during "Let It Go", because all I hear is Elphaba. It doesn't help that the characters are so close in motivation. I mean, "Let It Go" is basically "Defying Gravity, Disney Version."

But yeah, I haven't thought about much else since seeing the movie. There's a whole lot of interesting trivia in the IMDB entry. The guy who voiced Olaf ad-libbed a lot of the funny lines. OH, and I can't believe no one mentioned the post-credits easter egg! Marshmallow finds Elsa's discarded crown and puts it on himself, then grins at the "camera." It's adorable!

ETA: Oh, and to the point that Anna has freckles, if you look close, Elsa does too, although they are more subtle.

 

I wouldn't say Hans was evil but more opportunistic.

 

I'd say he was a bastard ... but I feel a bit strange doing so in a thread about a Disney Animation movie.

 

He left Anna to die and told everyone she was already dead. I have a hard time seeing that characterization as anything other than evil.

 

I saw this movie about a month ago and I'm still thinking about it. I'm still listening to the soundtrack and I've heard both versions of Let it Go 26 (Idina Menzel) and 17 (Demi Lovato) times. I'm actually considering buying the blu ray when it comes out in March and on a TNG podcast I listen to, they played the "Make it So" parody. I'm ready to put this film in the same echelon of classic Disney films as The Lion King, Beauty and the Beast, and The Little Mermaid. Usually the further I get away from a film, the more I seem to wonder if I really enjoyed it. With Frozen, I'm still surprised how much I enjoyed it, especially after writing it off having seen the first trailer. This was the biggest shock movie I've seen in the last few years.

 

Aye. It's not too often I am this pleasantly surprised by a movie. The original Pirates of the Caribbean and The Mummy did that, as did Finding Nemo. Frozen is right up there - in no small part because of it's songs.

 

Not just the songs, but the overall story. It was a classic disney story with a great ending that you just couldn't help but smile on the way out of the movie theater.

As for Shock movies, it's usually films disguised as kids movies that do it for me, mainly animated films. Three films that come to mind the most are Despicable Me, How To Train Your Dragon, and probably the biggest shock film before Frozen, Toy Story 2, but that was because it came out in a time when Disney was releasing straight to DVD sequels I just didn't expect any Disney sequel to be that good. When they followed it up to Toy Story 3, I declared it the best movie trilogy I've ever seen.

 

As I said, the success of the film is in no small part due to the songs, but, of course, it's much more than that. One example, as I mentioned somewhere upthread, the subversion of the dashing gentleman to save the day (not once, but twice) makes this a truly unique tale from Disney. It's a very powerful direction to take the story.

I hadn't seen that before .... I'm in tears!

[yt]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7h7Mfe8BDw[/yt]

 

I say, just go with the compromise between "evil" and "opportunistic", which is "Asshole." That term fits Hans to a "T".

 

I disagree. I think "tacked on villain at the eleventh hour" is a better title for Hans. Hans' reversal from good guy to bad guy comes out of nowhere and Hans has no development to merit the villain role he was regulated to. The climax of the film was created by Elsa freezing Anna's heart. Tension is created from we the audience being worried about Anna's survival. Remove Hans and his scheme from the film and you lose nothing. I suspect Hans being a villain was added after Disney decided to make Elsa a sympathetic character. As she was originally slated to be the villain for the film. Change the instruments, and tone to "Let It Go" and you have a villain song. Elsa causes an endless winter in Arendale and we see the people suffering from it. When being confronted with this knowledge from Anna, Elsa makes no attempt to fix it. She accidentally freezes Anna's heart in a fit of emotional confusion, and again makes no attempt to help her. Despite the stone trolls telling Elsa and her parents the danger of freezing a person's heart.

I think Frozen could've worked either with Elsa as the villain who is redeemed by love, or as Elsa as a tragic victim of her own powers. The Duke's and his assassination attempt were just fine for a tragic victim Elsa. If Disney had fully gone that route, you wouldn't need a villain (Hans).


The closest characters you can compare Hans to IMO are Gaston and Scar. Gaston was an opportunistic asshole by Beauty and the Beast's climax. We see a progression of his own selfish desires to possess Belle, and how cruel Gaston can be towards his perceived romantic rivals (The Beast/Adam). Shooting Beast in the back with and arrow, stabbing Beast in the back with a knife after the Beast had spared his life.

You have Scar who was also in line for the throne, but was sidelined by the birth of his nephew. Scar plots not once but 3x to kill Simba his nephew. Once in the Elephant Graveyard, then the Stampede, and Hyena's after the stampede. Scar succeeds in murdering his own brother and takes the throne for himself.

Hans just doesn't have the development as these two characters. His reveal comes to late in the film and his scheme is more of a distraction from the real tension in the film. Anybody could've corned Elsa and had a sword above her poised to strike, but have Anna intercept the blow.

 

I think Hans as a character was more supposed to be the guy you don't want your daughter to date rather than an "I want to kill them alllllll!!!!!!" mustache-twirling villain.

He's the flashy manipulative guy a young girl may first be attracted to before realizing that the less flashy guy with the heart of gold (Kristoff) may be the truly good guy.

 

I just watched the Rent movie for the first time since it was in theaters in '05. I had no idea Indina Menzel was in it.