Review-Frozen

I already know that I will (and already have) get flak for this review, but I stand by what I say. Maybe someone will have a point I missed, but that really doesn't change much about my feelings about the movie. I must say that much of the issue stems from people over-praising it before I saw it, so that may have had an impact on my feelings, but the more I think about the movie, the more firm I am about said opinion.

Here we go.

Summary from IMDB:

"Fearless optimist Anna teams up with Kristoff in an epic journey, encountering Everest-like conditions, and a hilarious snowman named Olaf in a race to find Anna's sister Elsa, whose icy powers have trapped the kingdom in eternal winter."

Frozen (2013)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2294629/?ref_=nv_sr_1

Technical (4) - A beautiful film. I will absolutely give it that. With touches that echo the time and area the film is supposed to be in without going too overly ornate and overblown, the backgrounds and costumes are really well done. The textures are amazing with leather looking like real leather and metallics having a realistic sheen (and the lighting moves realistic as well). Character's skin looks the most natural I've ever seen with real looking freckles and flushing from the cold and embarrassment looks natural as well. Of course the ice and particle effects are done flawlessly (as they better be in a movie called Frozen).

I found it interesting that in the special features that they make reference to one of the original Disney animators pushing for this story ("The Snow Queen" from Hans Christian Anderson) to be made into a movie AND feature at Disneyland, but that the makers of the film obviously didn't use any of his work because they didn't know about it until after the fact. Some stuff coincidentally looks similar, but that's about as far as that goes. I kinda wish they'd done some research and pilfered some of it, because it was AMAZING.

The music, which is a main feature of the film, is decent if not particularly memorable. I did find it a little disappointing that there was just so damn much of the singing and, with the exception of 2 songs (which I will discuss in the script part more), are mostly forgettable songs (more on that in script as well).

Script/Dialogue (1) - Here's where it all just falls apart for me. And here be the spoilers. There are lots of plot holes (and yes I realize this is a kid's movie, so this is all a moot point). Where to start. I guess at the beginning. I was kinda disappointed in the establishment of the sisters at the beginning. You can just say that they short-handed them as sisters, but you don't really get why Anna holds Elsa in such regard. They didn't show much of their relationship before "the incident" and they didn't interact much after that except for Elsa saying "no" to the quick engagement. So why would Anna be so quick to defend Elsa? She has no real reason to do so.

There's no real "villain" of the movie in the Disney sense, but basically Elsa takes on the role. Sure there's Hans (which we will get to in a minute), but she is the main antagonist here. I get the whole "misunderstood" part, but here's the thing: they don't establish very well the whole premise that she shouldn't stifle and hide who she is because the big song that everyone loves highlights when she runs away and hides. "Let It Go" is not a bad song, just placed in the wrong part of the movie. It highlights her running from the problems and shutting herself away. Great message for kids. And speaking of bad messages for kids during songs, the only other song in the movie that is memorable is "Fixer Upper" which gives little girls the impression that he's not perfect, but you can change him (or her). Overlook those glaring flaws, because he's gonna be so capable of change. I get that they're referring to smaller flaws, but is a kid really going to distinguish?

And lastly, Hans. Hans, Hans, Hans. His motivations just don't quite gel with his actions. Why did he go after Elsa at all? She was gone and her reputation was completely shattered. What did he gain by going after her? The whole thing is a little secondary as well. It serves only one decent point: don't rush into anything too quickly.

Oh, and one more thing. Poor Sven is horribly under-utilized, as was Kristoff.

There's probably more, but I'm tired of writing.

Acting (5) - All the voice acting is pretty damn good especially for most of them being relative unknowns (except on Broadway and "Glee"). I was really surprised how well Kristen Bell can sing! I'm also glad Idina Menzel is getting some recognition, because she is really good. I really don't have much else to say on this front because there isn't much more to say.

Tilt (3) - Despite me railing against it quite a bit here, I didn't HATE it. I just think it isn't nearly as good as everyone made it out to be ("Brave" was a helluva lot better). I'm sure the hype around the movie really colored my perceptions, but it still wasn't that great. An average movie at best, but watch "Despicable Me", "Tangled", or "Wreck-It Ralph" instead. LOL.

Total Score - 3.25