Frozen

In mid-2013, I began to see trailers and art work for this film. When it finally was released and I saw it, I had a great time watching it but I had no reason to suspect that it would become the highest grossing animated film of all time. Nevertheless, I am very happy that it achieved that success. Disney has adapted the stories of Hans Christian Andersen’s before. “The Ugly Duckling” was made into a short cartoon twice, “The Steadfast Tin Soldier” was a segment in “Fantasia 2000” and of course there is “The Little Mermaid”. In the case of “The Snow Queen” though, it serves only as inspiration for “Frozen”. I was glad that the film had a good story with good characters as is traditional with Disney animated features. The use of technology was impressive as well. The movie has a specific target audience instead of appealing to everyone but the good news is that the film is better the second time you watch it. In comparision, I may not be able to relate to the story of "The Little Mermaid" but I do not ignore its importance in animation history. Attempts were made during production of "Frozen" to avoid comparisons with "Tangled" but with only three years separating the two fairy-tale Disney films, it is hard for me not to compare.

The filmmakers created a story that was unique as opposed to using a traditional story pattern. This has both good and bad consequences. Doing something original is bolder than going the safe route and can bring success because of the hard work put into it. On the other hand, if you can use a traditional story pattern and make it original enough, the end product can be even more powerful. That was the case with “Tangled”. The story of “Frozen” is relatable and so that is great but I enjoy traditional story patterns a little more. Also, this movie speaks mostly to sisters and while I enjoyed myself watching the show a lot, "Frozen" is a little tough for me to relate to just like Pixar’s "Brave". I also was hoping for a tad more humor but the movie is funny every time so that is no big deal. I enjoyed the drama (some of the performance animation was powerful). The characters were entertaining but the hardest character to develop for this movie was the Snow Queen herself, Elsa. It shows because it is more difficult to connect her on an emotional level than Anna. As a film audience, we can bond with characters by way of other characters in the movie. Because Elsa is isolated from her sister and the rest of the kingdom, we don’t get the interaction needed to become emotionally invested in her. Still, she can speak to a lot of audience members on an emotional level. The romantic relationship between Anna and Kristoff could have used more scenes to make it stronger as well as a song with just them singing but then again, most of the attention was the Anna and Elsa’s relationship as it should have been. No surprise that “Frozen” is a musical and many of the songs worked well to support the story being told. As I watched opening of the film for the first time, "Do You Want To Build a Snowman" gave me hope that I was in for a good movie. It almost didn't make it into the finished film and was included at the last possible moment. Its presence shows the importance of putting the story first in the making of any movie. Now that the song is forever a part of "Frozen", can you imagine it not in the film? The whole story doesn't work without it. For the sake of the audience, this song is vital to establishing the relationship between Anna and Elsa after their accident. It makes the montage more memorable and moves the story forward. This can be likened unto what happened with "Part Of Your World" during the making of "The Little Mermaid" because it was almost cut from that show. The two little girls that sing most of "Do You Want To Build a Snowman" are not professional singers and they had me fooled. The youngest is the daughter of the songwriters and the subsequent girl is the daughter of co-director Jennifer Lee. I will say though that not all the songs were needed. A few of them felt forced upon us such as “Fixer Upper”. By the end of the movie, "Love Is an Open Door" didn't need to be there and that is tough for me to say because it is one of my favorites in the show. The song had a purpose in the movie but it did its job too well for its own good. All the songs seemed operetta in nature which was an interesting choice. I like it when story twists take me by surprise. That was the best aspect of “Frozen” because the filmmakers were able to deceive everyone. I was thinking the story had a romantic triangle similar to the one on "Enchanted". On another note, I enjoy hopeless climatic moments like the ending of "Tangled". In "Frozen", there is less of a sense of hopelessness when Anna makes her sacrifice and more of a feeling of resolution. You can tell that everything will be made right. The technology seen in this film is neat. I liked the building of the ice palace during “Let It Go” and that song seems to get better every time I hear it. It even caused the whole movie to be re-written. Elsa at first was supposed to be your classic Disney female villain. Kristen-Anderson Lopez and Robert Lopez then created this wonderful song and the movie was sent into a different direction. I avoided watching spoof videos of "Let It Go" because I don't want the original to be ruined and that paid off. I really wanted this song to win the Academy Award and thankfully, it did.

Adaptation of "The Snow Queen” at Disney started back in the 40's but Walt and his team couldn't find a way to modernize the story. The studio tried again in the 90's during the Disney Renaissance but once again failed. Then came "Tangled" and the studio took another crack at co-director Chris Buck's version, which he had pitched in 2008. Executive producer John Lasseter was able to see that the problem the story team had to overcome was with the characters, particularly the Snow Queen herself. He wanted to be able to sympathize with Elsa, taking inspiration from his son who has diabetes. After "Let It Go" was written, the filmmakers knew they had to change Elsa so the song would make sense as part of the movie. The solution that finally worked was to make sisters out of the protagonist and the Queen. Though none of the filmmakers take credit for this idea, it nevertheless made the film register with an audience. Lasseter to me is the next Walt Disney. One enjoyable fun fact about this movie is that Lasseter provided animation reference for Olaf's "He's crazy" scene. No wonder it was one of my favorite gags. I am glad Kristen Bell does her own singing. I love her take of a Disney female character because Anna seems relatable and very unique all at the same time. It was a long time before I found out that Idina Menzel, who plays Elsa, was on "Enchanted". I quite easily recognized the names of Alan Tudyk and Josh Gad but the rest of the cast members are new to me. Still, the characters were able to carry the story. This is further proof that you don’t need big stars to voice animated characters to achieve success. Buck was co-director on “Tarzan” and he once again shares the director’s chair. Jennifer Lee, despite her co-director status on “Frozen”, is the first woman to direct a full-length Disney animated feature. She was in charge from a screenplay standpoint and I can see that because the film has some noteworthy drama. The Lopez’s were the songwritters on "Winnie the Pooh" and they had their moments in "Frozen", earning an Oscar as mentioned for their work on this show. Robert Lopez as a result has a EGOT, meaning he has won an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar and a Tony (I feel uncomfortable talking about his Tony win though). Christophe Beck creates the musical score (he did the score for the Oscar-winning short “Paperman”). Just in passing, I can't believe that I saw this movie twice in theaters and didn't see Rapunzel and Eugene during "For the First Time in Forever".

I was amazed that over a month after the release of "Frozen", it was the highest grossing film of Christmas. During most of December 2013, this movie was doing well in making money but there was no indication that it was going to be a mega-hit. Then, it made more money on holiday week than the second Hobbit film and the other movies that were released closer to Christmas Day. For January and February of 2014, North America experienced colder weather than usual. This indirectly added to the success of "Frozen" because the cold brought more people inside to the movie theatres. Four months after its November release, the film came out on Blu-ray but was still on the list of the ten highest grossing films of the week in theaters! Nine months since its release, parents were still lining up outside the Disney Store in order to buy dresses from the movie for their daughters. Viral videos based on the film are more than plentiful on YouTube. For more than a decade since the Oscar for Best Animated Feature was created, the Walt Disney Animation Studio hadn't won. Being the studio that released the first ever feature animated film, their win for "Frozen" was long overdue. The film also won the same award at the Golden Globes. History is repeating itself with this "Disney Resurgence". Just like during the Disney Renaissance, each film is building on the success of the previous film. "Frozen" is the "Lion King" of this decade with one difference: I don't think that "Frozen" appeals to all audience members. I am not the only one who thinks that "Tangled" is better than "Frozen". Being a fan of Disney however, I tend to be overcritical. I wasn't surprized when this film was better the second time. The story has drama that is sure to touch many people who see it. The characters were unique to this film and were genuine to the story being told. I like many of the special effects and some of the songs were quite beautiful. I may not be able to relate to "Frozen" as much as others who saw this show but I am so happy for its success because it has ensured that Walt Disney Animation will continue to make animated musicals that have the potential to change the world.

4 Stars