Frozen Week: Frozen

Hello  & welcome back to Frozen Week.  It's  time to build a snowman as we take a look at Frozen. So, let's go bring back the review.

Trailer

Yeah,  this trailer tells me nothing about the film.  It's a cute short with Olaf and Sven, to be sure but  there is no mention of Anna or Elsa anywhere in this trailer.    That's  a big problem,   I mean I knew about the sister before this trailer as I'd been following the development of Frozen but this trailer is just disappointing.  This  is indicative of a problem with marketing at Disney in general,  I mean yeah, the poster I used up top is great and gorgeous but that's not the one that was often used.  No, it was usually this one.

Again, what do you notice here?  Olaf is front and center, as if he is the star of the movie and that is not the case at all.  I mean sure, people love Olaf and I get it but  Anna and Elsa should've been  the most prominent characters featured in marketing and that really didn't happen   until after the movie came out.  Take a look at this trailer for the sing along.

You notice a difference here,   the focus was shifted to Let It Go.   Which yeah, by the time the sing along came out that makes sense but  unlike the teaser,  the sing along trailer focused on one of the main characters of the movie and that is what the marketing should've done from the get go.  This  isn't  a fault  of the movie but rather a fault of the marketing  and Disney's marketing of their films as of late has stunk.

The Plot

The important thing to keep in mind about this film is the relationship.  The focus is squarely  put on the sibling relationship between Elsa and Anna.  Now, let's begin.   We open  the film  on an 8 year old Kristoff  as we see him with Sven harvesting  ice.  Interestingly,   Jennifer  Lee  mentioned  that sequence, Frozen Heart is  meant to tribute  to  Song  of The Roustabouts from Dumbo.   Y'know,  I'm honestly surprised anyone at Disney in this day and age even remembered that song. As it is one of the   more forgotten Disney songs, so it's nice to see someone pay tribute to that.

And  what's really interesting is when I saw this scene in theaters,  it made me think of Roustabouts but to learn that it was actually meant as a tribute to that song.  That's awesome.  A new Disney movie paying respect to my all time favorite movie in such a subtle way. Hmm,  how can I not love this number.    Later that night,  we cut to the palace, where we meet  Anna,  (who at this point is 5) and her big sister, Elsa (Who is 8) as the sky is awake, so Anna's awake, so she must play.   Makes sense to me.   

 

At first,  Elsa tells her little sis to go back to sleep but Anna knows how to get her big sister to have fun asking "Do you wanna build a snowman?"   and that  does the trick.  And then we cut to the girls playing as Anna  wants her big sister to do the magic, do the magic.  And at first,  the girls are having fun, they even build a new friend that likes warm hugs.

But things do not stay happy and joyous for long as Anna is hurt as she is moving faster than Elsa can aim her powers.

At this,  Elsa calls out for her parents and they see what has happened and  the king knows that they must go to the trolls, where  the head of the trolls,  where the head of the trolls, Pabbie is able to remove the magic as it was only the head and to protect Anna, he removes the memories but not the fun and shows Elsa that as if gets older,  her powers will become more unstable.

Which,  I gotta be honest and say that while I do understand what Pabbie was doing, that is a lot for an 8 year old to take in and her parents decide that until she can learn to control her powers, that Elsa needs to be cut off from the rest of the world including Anna and that is when we notice the drift that has formed between the two sisters and we get a line that stuck with Elsa through all of her life.

Conceal, don't feel

And while it's clear her father meant well,   I firmly believe that this was not the right message to send to Elsa at such a young age.  As yes,  it was referring to her powers but when you look closely at the line, one can read it as meaning not to show any emotions and that is exactly what Elsa does,  and that is part of the reason, why she can't open up to her little sister.   And just  as Pabbie  predicted, Elsa's powers did get worse as we witness  Elsa starting to fear her powers even more and over time,  Anna  just wants her sister, so she can have someone to play with as it's getting kinda lonely talking to the pictures on the walls.

 

Years pass and as the girls grow older, they've grown even more apart.  Which is heightened after the death of their parents in a shipwreck and no, I am not covering that theory that connects this film to Tangled and Mermaid, today.   We both see the sisters mourning the death of their parents in their own ways.   And   I really want to draw your attention to Elsa in her room for a minute here.  Look at how, she has let powers take over in this scene.  It pretty much is showing that Elsa is letting her powers control her and not controlling her powers.  Something, she didn't yet know how to do.

Three years pass and it is now time for Elsa's coronation and Anna  couldn't be more excited as people from all around the world,  including the princess of Corona.  Hi  Rapunzel.

Yeah,  I paused the movie on this cameo and stayed on it for at least 10 seconds.   This may be my favorite Disney cameo to date and we all know why.   Also, there is this little interesting bit of trivia from  Rapunzel's Disney Wiki page.

 Rapunzel's cameo with Flynn in Frozen, which is set in 1840 (confirmed in The Art of Frozen), places Tangled in or around the same era. Fashion historians point that the style of clothing worn by men and women is more compatible with an early-to mid 19th century than the late 18th century.

Which is neat but the only issue is that Tangled is set in 1780  according to it's creators.  So,  again don't look to deep into it and just enjoy the cameo for what it is.  And  I loved it.   Anyways, let's move on.   However, we learn that Elsa is is still trying to control her power and is worried as she puts on the gloves after we see her freeze  an orb and a candlestick.

Anna  then   bumps into the horse  of Prince Hans of The Southern Isles.    Also, small tangent but  I have to say that it was kinda nice to not have a horse as the animal sidekick in this movie  and we get a rather funny meet cute between Hans and Anna in the boat.

 We  will be getting to my issue with Hans down the line. We later see the coronation and it seems to go off with a hitch, even as Elsa has to remove her gloves.  That night at the party,  things  start off going well and the sisters even  seem to be enjoying themselves as the Duke of Weaselton  comes to ask Queen Elsa for a dance but she comments that she doesn't dance but her sister does and he tries to get  information from the younger sister on why the gates were closed.     Later  on,  Anna  runs into Hans and  they sneak off to spend the night together.

Prince   Hans later proposes and Anna says something crazy as she says yes. The news doesn't go over well with Elsa and as we went over yesterday, she told her little sister that you can't marry a  man, you've just met.   This  then causes a confrontation between the sisters as Elsa's powers are finally revealed as she declares the party over.

Elsa  runs off after seeing what she has done as she becomes more stressed and panicked, Arendelle becomes colder and the start of the eternal winter.  And we see Elsa  let it go.  There is so much that I want to cover here, so let's begin.  First notice,  how Elsa  gets rid of the glove and her cape.   The glove is really important here

As with the glove, she was trapped and could not be her true self but by getting rid of the glove, she is opening  herself up to be free.  In many respects, this line from the cut song,  Life's Too Short sums up how Elsa feels about the glove.

So that’s been your plan to force me back in a cage!

In many respects,   the glove  kept Elsa caged in and could not allow her to be who she wanted to be.   Also,   look at the line about  a kingdom of isolation and it looks like I'm the queen.   Elsa is simply stating here that the only way for her to be who she is to cut off from the rest of the world as they view it as a monster because of her powers.    Now,  what does the releasing of the cape represent?  Well,  I look at both her getting rid of the cape and her tiara as ways of abandoning her old life.

But  not fully because as we see during this number, she builds Olaf again.

This right here shows that even though she says that the past is in the past, Elsa does yearn for a simpler time like when her and Anna were kids.   Finally,  the dress transformation.   This is perhaps one of the most crucial moments as Elsa's dress changing from what she was wearing at the coronation to her ice dress signifies the biggest change as we see Elsa fully embrace and accept her new life.

Also, when Elsa says.

The cold never bothered me anyway

It  is so clear that she is basically telling everyone that ostracized or labelled her as monster,  off.  Okay, let's not  say too much as I need to save some thoughts on this song for the music section.  Anyways,  this number ends with a gorgeous shot of Elsa's ice palace.

The next morning , Anna sets off to find her big sister and while  the cold may not bother Elsa,  just look.

Sorry,  I just really wanted to work that into the review.   She heads out to find  Elsa to mend their relationship and end the eternal winter.   That is when she makes it Wandering Oaken's   Trading Post and Sauna and there she meets Kristoff.   

This image right here was actually the first one released from D23 and  unlike that trailer,  this image did pique my interest in  the film.   Also,  I loved the joke with Oaken with how he was a lot taller, than he looked.

Yeah,  that may not the smartest thing on Kristoff's part to call Oaken, a crook.    But things work out as Anna gets him gear and has him take Anna to where Elsa is.   Things at first, seems to go well until they are attacked by wolves.

What's interesting is that the Disney Wiki suggests that these wolves have similarities with the wolves from Beauty and The Beast in how they attack and you know what, I can actually see that. It's  after this attack and on a new day,  they come across Olaf and not first, they are freaked out by him but than Anna remembers him from her youth and Anna asks if Elsa made him.    Yeah, why?  And then Anna gives him a carrot nose.   It's like a little baby unicorn.

Uhm,  no.   More like this.

Sorry,  I just  really wanted to make that joke.  But I'd say it looks even better this way and  I love it even more.

The gang makes it to the castle  and the sisters  reunite and at first are happy to see each other but Elsa still will not go back and does not know how  to  lift the curse  and  Anna  again causes Elsa to get angry.

This causes  Elsa to  strike  Anna in the heart.   Uh-oh,   that's  not good.

Even at this,  Anna  does not want to leave without her big sister.

"I'm not leaving without you, Elsa!"

But alas that does not work as instead,  it causes  Elsa to create Marshmallow,  a giant snow monster that throws them out and as Anna points out, it's not nice to throw people and this causes Anna to throw a snowball at him.

Also,   just look at Elsa and her ice palace in how it changes colors as she feels regrets over what she did to her little sister.

And  just look at  how the ice responds to  Elsa's feelings by getting sharper.

Such a nice touch.  Anyways,  after the attack,  Kristoff notices that Anna's  hair is starting to whiten and because of this realizes that she needs help.

So,  Kristoff takes Anna to his family, the trolls and at first and  at first, they want to wed Anna and Kristoff.

But  before things can go any further,  Anna collapses and Pabbie from the beginning says that he cannot fix it because only an act of true love can fix this.

Meanwhile,  Hans  out on a search for Anna  comes across Elsa's  ice palace  and Marshmallow and a battle ensues.

Meanwhile,  the Duke's  men  attack Elsa  and that is when, we get this really cool  image of her stopping the arrow.

What's great about this shot is that you can see the fear in Elsa and that she doesn't want to hurt anyone.  Yes, she is defending herself but her goal was never to hurt anyone.   Alas, it is all for not as Elsa is knocked unconscious by her chandelier and when we next see her, she has been imprisoned.

 











Meanwhile,  Kristoff is trying to get Anna back to Arendelle believing that only a kiss from Hans will save Anna but nope, that isn't the case as Hans never truly loved Anna and was only using her.

"Oh Anna, if only there was someone out there who loved you"

Okay,  I gotta be honest and say  that the first time I saw this movie,  I didn't like this twist and  I'm still not the biggest fan of it in the world because Frozen didn't need a villain.   I  may be in the minority here but I was enjoying the film, the way it was going and this reveal, while it didn't ruin my enjoyment of the movie, just felt shoehorned in.   Maybe I didn't pick up on it but I really didn't notice any  hints  that suggested  that Hans was the bad guy.  Maybe,  Love Is An Open Door but  other then that, every scene with Hans such as  taking care of the citizens of Arendelle suggested that he was a good guy.

Now, what I'm about to suggest  is basically  a love triangle  but  honestly,   I think it would've been okay if   Hans  had remained a good guy  and Anna had to choose between Kristoff and Hans.  And honestly,  the film had already set up it's conflict. The rift between Anna and Elsa and Hans still could've  played a part with the proposal.   I don't hate the character of Hans as he is okay but  I'm  just  not a fan of him being the villain and  no,  you can't compare him to Gaston like so many people have  because   in Beauty and The Beast, it was made clear throughout the entire movie, that Gaston was the bad guy.  Frozen didn't reveal to us that Hans was the villain until the third act.   Now this is one area, where I will give the marketing credit as they kept the villain twist a secret and promoted The  Duke  of Weselton  as the main antagonist.

This  is perhaps the only thing that bugs about this otherwise fantastic film and when  the Broadway adaption  opens,  I hope they do something about this.   In the grand scheme of things, it's minor.   I will give Hans credit that  he puts  on a convincing act of caring  such as pleading with Elsa to stop the winter or when he tells the other dignitaries that Princess Anna is dead.  

 

But honestly,  Hans is probably my least favorite Disney villain out of the new batch of villains.   My current ranking stands as.

1. Mother Gothel
2. Dr. Facilier
3. King Candy
4. Hans

Let's  not dwell  on this too much and get back to the plot.   In  a cool moment,  Elsa breaks free from her imprisonment as she realizes that Hans is about to have her executed for treason.

Meanwhile,  Anna  is getting colder as Olaf helps her realize that Kristoff is her true love and they make their way into the blizzard to find him, just as he  is returning to reunite with Anna. Elsa  in then informed that her little sister is dead because of her actions.  But that is not the case and  Hans is about to take a sword to Elsa but Anna throws herself in front of Anna,  and than she freezes completely.

Seeing  Anna frozen  and presumably dead, Elsa embraces her little sister and for the first time in years is finally able to show her little sister that  she never stopped loving her.

This in turn  causes to thaw Anna  and Elsa than realizes that her love for  Anna will lift the eternal winter and it works as the two embrace in  a hug.

Oh  and after,   the winter lifts,  we get a great moment where Anna decks Hans.

Love it.  And everything works out in the end as Kristoff gets a new sleigh  to make up for the one that he lost and  is made official Ice Master of Arendelle and Olaf gets to enjoy summer as he gets his own personal flurry.  And the film ends with the sisters enjoying each other's company as they skate and Elsa has learned to accept her powers and control them and not let her powers control her.

Yeah,   I really liked this film.  This film is just so go great.  It  had great characters,  a beautiful sibling relationship and some of the best songs, I've ever heard in a Disney movie.   Now  let's  move onto the characters.


Characters


Main Characters


Anna voiced by Kristen Bell,  Animators:   Becky Breese,  Mark  Henn

Okay before I talk about  Anna,  I need to talk about something that has been bugging me.   Namely, the comparison of Anna to another princess.

I cannot tell you how many times,  I've seen Anna compared to Rapunzel.    Let's clear the air.  Yes, Anna and Rapunzel are similar, they're both quirky, outgoing and enthusiastic but  Anna is not as so many people want to say, a Rapunzel clone.   I'd  actually argue that Anna is quirkier than Rapunzel  and maybe even more outgoing.   And their wants are really different.  Rapunzel wants freedom, whereas Anna  just wants the love of her big sister. I don't want to go too much into this but suffice to say I do not but the claim that Anna is a Rapunzel clone for a minute.  Now  as for Anna,  herself, she's a fun character that I love watching develop and grow  over the course of the movie and you really get to understand that all she ever wanted was the relationship that she had with Elsa as little kids.  Now, there was something that I paid close attention when re-watching this movie.   Namely,  Anna's hair.  I'm sure most of you picked up on this but the incident at the beginning of the movie left a white strand in Anna's hair.

I think  that I didn't pick up on this because so many marketing images of Anna tend to leave this feature out.  In reality,  it's serves as a reminder of what happened, when Anna was stuck.  At least as visual reminder to the audience.


Elsa  voiced by Indina Menzel, Animator:  Tony Smeed

What can I say about Elsa?    Seriously,  everyone has said everything can about Elsa.  She is one  of the most forward thinking characters to ever come from Disney. When she's  scared,  you can understand her fear and you know why she is distancing herself and  in many respects,  Elsa reminds me of another character played  by  Ms. Menzel.

Yeah,  let's not get too much into this as I'm saving this discussion for a future article.  Anyways,   I honestly believe that so many people related with Elsa because   they can recognize the fear that she has as we've all been  there.  Ice powers aside and all



Supporting Characters


Olaf  voiced by  Josh Gad,   Animators:  Hyrum Osmond,  &  Mark Henn

I  gotta be honest and say that marketing made me want to hate Olaf. I remember each time,  I saw the trailers,  and they showed Olaf,  I would recite  "Please, don't be in the movie much"  and luckily, Olaf wasn't annoying. He's a funny little oblivious snowman that has no idea what heat  will do to him.  And he's  also a great symbol of the relationship between Elsa and Anna from when they were kids.


Kristoff  voiced  by Johnathan Groff,  Animator:   Jin Kim

  










Kristoff is a character that has grown on me over time.  He's  not my favorite character in the film but he's a good character.    And   unlike  Anna,  it's hard not to mention that he is a bit like Flynn.  Yeah, he's  a lot like Flynn Rider but in my opinion,  just not as interesting.  To be honest,  if you asked me to describe the characters of Frozen just on the street and out of the blue,  I'd probably struggle with Kristoff the most as there are really no discerning features that make him stand out.  Oh before I forget,  I gotta mention this funny little thing.   both Menzel and Groff were  on the first season of Glee and on the show, Groff dated the daughter of Menzel's character.   I find that kinda funny because here he is now  playing a character that ends up with the younger sister of a character that Menzel played. 

Sven

 Again,  Sven is a character that I could take or leave.  While  I won't claim that's he a clone of Maximus.    I just again don't find anything memorable about him and just view him as a tag along character and while  the relationship between Sven and Kristoff is cute,  I HATED Kristoff talking for Sven.  Honestly,   that little thing made me hate Kristoff for quite a while.  It wasn't funny,  it wasn't cute,  it was ANNOYING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!    I hated it.  I've been over this before, if you want your animal to talk hire a voice actor, otherwise let him stay silent. Gah,  it was just so annoying.



Music


Frozen Heart


I gotta say that I really like this song.   It does a great job of setting the mood and if you listen closely, it actually foreshadows the entire movie.  And  to know that it was meant to tribute Roustabouts is  perhaps one of my favorite pieces of Disney trivia and it makes me like the song even more.



Do  You Want To Build A Snowman


Little Anna  there at the beginning is actually the daughter of the Lopezes.   Little Anna in the beginning is being voiced by Katie Lopez but she is not the only child of a staff member to voice as she is also voiced  by Agatha Lee Monn,  the daughter of Jennifer Lee.   In my opinion,  this is perhaps one of the most important songs in the film as it establishes the relationship between Elsa and Anna and how they have drifted apart over the years and how all Anna is just that relationship back and she doesn't know the truth.


For The First Time In Forever


This is easily my second favorite song from the film.  It's  just so much fun and I love hearing the joy in Anna's voice as she is just so excited and also maybe it's just me but I kinda felt like Elsa's part was building up to Let It Go.   This  song is just so adorkable.   Everything from  Anna saying that she doesn't know if she's elated or gassy to trying to act sophisticated is just so cute.  Also,  did any of you catch the Sugar Rush reference during this number.   I'll give you a hint, it's when Anna wants to stuff some chocolate in her face.

 













Love  Is  An Open Door


I think that this is the only love song that also acts as a villain song and I believe that Cartoon Hero mentioned in his quick review of Frozen that he think for the stage production, Hans should get a more sinister and twisted reprisal of this song after he reveals his true colors and I can totally get behind that.  This song is just so much fun with cute and funny lyrics.  Also,  fun fact, there's a very subtle reference to Donny Osmond with Hans' arm gesture as his nephew was one of the animators on Frozen.


Let It Go

Geese,  I don't  know what else I can say about this song other than I love it.  It's my favorite song from the movie as it  is just so brilliant and  as I've mentioned many a time before,  I get chills each time, I hear it  This song is just pure gold.  Oh,  I could listen to this song all day long and never tire of it.



Reindeer(s) Are Better Than People

Hate Hate Hate this number.  It's  just so pointless and serves no purpose in the grand scheme of things and seriously,  you guys couldn't give the talented Johnathon Groff, a real song.  This  sums up  my feelings  on  that.

In  Summer

Th is such  a funny and cute song as Olaf is so oblivious to what will happen.  And I love the style of it as it reminds of  one of those  big show stopping numbers that you'd hear on stage.   And  Olaf is just one happy yet oblivious snowman.



For  The First Time In Forever (Reprise)


The thing that I take away most from this number is when Anna asks Elsa not to slam the door.  I didn't bring this up but the idea of doors separating one another is such a key theme in this film and also  the chemistry between Indina Menzel and Kristin Bell is top notch and also,  I love how Anna breaks the news to her big sister as it just done in a cute fashion.   This is such a great number for the both of them as they finally come face to face with one another after years.


Fixer Upper


I have to say that I'm not really the biggest fan of the trolls or this song in general. It's not bad but I don't really care for it.  It's kinda jarring to go from something so serious as the previous song to this. I mean, it's not bad but it's  just feels a bit out of place, where it is in the film.








Villains

The Duke of Weselton  voiced by Alan  Tudyk , Designer:   Shiyoon Kim

I must say that Tudyk  did a great job playing The Duke as  until  I looked up the voice cast,  I had no idea that it was Tudyk, as he changed his voice so much to where if you compare it to King Candy,  you won't be able to tell that it's the same person doing the same voice for both characters.   I wouldn't be too surprised if Tudyk becomes a staple for Disney villain voices.  I wouldn't be too shocked if he shows up in Giants as a villain.   And The Duke was such a fun over the top and silly and served as a great red herring making you believe that he was the real villain.


Hans  voiced by Santino  Fontana,  Animators:   Lino DiSalvo,  Hyrum  Osmond

As  I discussed  when talking about  the plot,  this reveal just frustrates me because I don't feel that the film needed a villain but at the same time,  I find myself in an odd position as Hans was actually a decent villain.  Very cold and calculating and manipulative and  the way, he lead Anna on was brilliant but  I guess I'm  just not a fan of how the film duped the audience as well as Anna.  I don't know but I think some hints throughout leading up to his reveal would've been nice.   Don't get me wrong,  I get his motivation is out of jealously of his older brothers.  It has to be tough to be the youngest of 13 brothers and knowing that you won't get to rule, so I get his motivation.  It was smart and well thought out but again,  I just have to ask, "Did Frozen need a bad guy?"  And in my opinion, no.  

My  Final Thoughts

Other than my minor minor complaints,  I love this movie.  It is simply a wonderful film that having re watched and listening to the music, reminds me why I'm a fan of Disney.  Because films like this, Tangled, and The Princess and The Frog show what Disney is capable of doing.  Telling a great with fantastic characters and memorable songs that people will come to love for ages.   This is simply put one of the greatest Disney films of all time.  Join me tomorrow as I continue Frozen as I give you a Double Article as I go over My Thoughts on Adapting Froze To Broadway and My Idea For A Frozen Attraction.