Viewed in
2014 (2)
Formats
Movie theater, HDTV
Premise
A Disney musical about two royal sisters (one with icy powers), and trouble arises when one is crowned queen and the other falls in love.
Loved
"Let It Go", "Do You Want to Build a Snowman?", wintery visuals.
Liked
Themes of sisterhood, coming of age, twists on Disney princess tropes.
Thoughts
This movie definitely took me by surprise, even with all the hype from my friends.
It's been a long time since I've seen a Disney musical with memorable songs, and this had two that gave me goosebumps and feelings. "Let It Go" and "Do You Want to Build a Snowman?" were catchy, haunting, and great character reveals. The former a powerful, multi-layered celebration of self-love and womanhood. The latter a bittersweet allegory of unspoken sibling relationships.
Meanwhile, the illustrators, animators, computer graphics created a beauteous wonderland. I thought snow would be boring, but these artists proved me wrong, sculpting ice and snow as glittery, fluffy, aged, majestic, oppressive, and threatening.
The heart of the movie belonged to the two sisters. Not only was it cool that the two leads were females, but both were fleshed-out characters, with fully-realized needs, flaws, fears, and complexity. Despite the fantasy universe they inhabited, their relationship was universal.
I was definitely transported to a magical place in the first third. The rest of the film was pretty strong, especially as the plot eventually turned more cliches upside-down, and Olaf happened. In a vacuum, I find Josh Gad's voice annoying. But as the talking snowman, his earnest performance, and morbidly hilarious cluelessness of bodily harm and melting quickly won me over. Also, the rock trolls were super-cute.
After wracking my brain, I don't know why I didn't love the last two-thirds of the movie, even though it was still very funny, full of heart, contained surprising writing, and was aesthetically dazzling. Maybe the first third was so magical, it just couldn't sustain itself.
Another nitpick: I thought Idina Menzel's performance of "Let It Go" was underwhelming. Shocking because it was goosebumpy, and she clearly has the chops. The song had such a strong theme of liberation, that it really needed to belted out, and instead, her voice was surprising restraint. I don't know if it was more director or actor's fault.
It was shocking how poor the marketing was for Frozen. It was non-existent, and the movie poster was confusing (Really? A decapitated Olaf as your centerpiece?!). I was glad word-of-mouth convinced me to watch this gorgeous, thoughtful, creative, well-paced, haunting, empowering, near-masterpiece.
Random
I loved the "boogers disclaimer" in the credits. But what the heck was the credit for "Caffeination"?
People have pointed out the similarities between Marshmallow and Star Wars Rancor. My sister pointed out the similarities between Sven and Chewbacca, including their grunts.
