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Frozen
Way behind the times as usual, I finally got around to watching the Disney movie Frozen. Spoilers below...
While not my all-time Disney favorite (that would be Beauty and the Beast), I thought it was a good movie and liked it a lot. I liked the way it subverted the usual Disney/fairy tale tropes: love at first sight turns out not to be true love after all, and the sympathetic portrayal of a villain who isn't really a villain, but just a frightened and misunderstood teenage girl. (Elsa's character is obviously based on the Snow Queen.)
Somehow I had managed to get the impression beforehand that the protagonist of the movie was Elsa, but it was really her sister Anna, who goes off in search of Elsa after she loses control of her magic and flees the kingdom. The beginning of the movie was surprisingly dark for a Disney movie, with the parents dying early on, and the girls growing up in lonely isolation. Then again, on second thought, Bambi's mother was shot in the beginning of that movie, and Maleficent-as-dragon in Sleeping Beauty was pretty darn scary to me as a little kid.
I had read a spoiler that Anna's supposed love-at-first-sight Prince Hans was more in love with getting close to the throne than he was with her, which maybe I might have suspected even without the spoiler, given that he's got a dozen older brothers and presumably not much of an inheritance, and I think it was pretty obvious that Kristoff was going to be the endgame love interest. Still, Hans did a such a convincing job of being a nice guy that I wasn't sure if he was merely opportunistic and a decent guy otherwise or if he was really a villain right up until the reveal. I kinda would have liked to have seen a more morally grey Hans, but I did like that marrying a guy you've just met was proven not to be such a good idea.
And I absolutely loved that what saved Anna was not the kiss of some guy, be it Hans or Kristoff, but the bond of love between the two sisters. Which makes perfect sense if you think about it...Kristoff is a great guy and he does care about her, but Anna hasn't known him very long either, so it's logical that Elsa's love for her (and vice versa) would be strongest.
I also like that the movie doesn't end with Anna and Kristoff getting together. Don't get me wrong--I think it's pretty strongly implied that they will get together sometime in the future, but for now, it seems like they have a great friendship and will take the time to get to know each other before settling down. Which fits in with Kristoff's initial reaction of incredulous disbelief when he and Anna first meet, and she tells him that she's going to marry a guy that she just met.
Olaf the snowman was cute, but I thought it was Sven (Kristoff's reindeer) who really stole the show! He was so adorable, and I loved the way he acted like a pet puppy!
The ice magic animation was beautiful, and the music was nice enough, but I don't really get the viral appeal of "Let It Go". To me, it doesn't seem quite up to the same level as the classic Ashman/Menken Disney songs for Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast. Then again, I suppose I'm not really the target audience.
I saw a brief review over on author Sherwood Smith's journal that said she thought Frozen was delightful, though it "could have used fewer songs and more character development, especially of Elsa," which I think about sums it up for me, too. I liked Anna, but I really wish we could have seen more of Elsa--in fact, I would have loved seeing the story told from her POV. I don't think this movie has quite the same depth as Beauty and the Beast, but still very good overall, and one I wouldn't mind watching again.
While not my all-time Disney favorite (that would be Beauty and the Beast), I thought it was a good movie and liked it a lot. I liked the way it subverted the usual Disney/fairy tale tropes: love at first sight turns out not to be true love after all, and the sympathetic portrayal of a villain who isn't really a villain, but just a frightened and misunderstood teenage girl. (Elsa's character is obviously based on the Snow Queen.)
Somehow I had managed to get the impression beforehand that the protagonist of the movie was Elsa, but it was really her sister Anna, who goes off in search of Elsa after she loses control of her magic and flees the kingdom. The beginning of the movie was surprisingly dark for a Disney movie, with the parents dying early on, and the girls growing up in lonely isolation. Then again, on second thought, Bambi's mother was shot in the beginning of that movie, and Maleficent-as-dragon in Sleeping Beauty was pretty darn scary to me as a little kid.
I had read a spoiler that Anna's supposed love-at-first-sight Prince Hans was more in love with getting close to the throne than he was with her, which maybe I might have suspected even without the spoiler, given that he's got a dozen older brothers and presumably not much of an inheritance, and I think it was pretty obvious that Kristoff was going to be the endgame love interest. Still, Hans did a such a convincing job of being a nice guy that I wasn't sure if he was merely opportunistic and a decent guy otherwise or if he was really a villain right up until the reveal. I kinda would have liked to have seen a more morally grey Hans, but I did like that marrying a guy you've just met was proven not to be such a good idea.
And I absolutely loved that what saved Anna was not the kiss of some guy, be it Hans or Kristoff, but the bond of love between the two sisters. Which makes perfect sense if you think about it...Kristoff is a great guy and he does care about her, but Anna hasn't known him very long either, so it's logical that Elsa's love for her (and vice versa) would be strongest.
I also like that the movie doesn't end with Anna and Kristoff getting together. Don't get me wrong--I think it's pretty strongly implied that they will get together sometime in the future, but for now, it seems like they have a great friendship and will take the time to get to know each other before settling down. Which fits in with Kristoff's initial reaction of incredulous disbelief when he and Anna first meet, and she tells him that she's going to marry a guy that she just met.
Olaf the snowman was cute, but I thought it was Sven (Kristoff's reindeer) who really stole the show! He was so adorable, and I loved the way he acted like a pet puppy!
The ice magic animation was beautiful, and the music was nice enough, but I don't really get the viral appeal of "Let It Go". To me, it doesn't seem quite up to the same level as the classic Ashman/Menken Disney songs for Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast. Then again, I suppose I'm not really the target audience.
I saw a brief review over on author Sherwood Smith's journal that said she thought Frozen was delightful, though it "could have used fewer songs and more character development, especially of Elsa," which I think about sums it up for me, too. I liked Anna, but I really wish we could have seen more of Elsa--in fact, I would have loved seeing the story told from her POV. I don't think this movie has quite the same depth as Beauty and the Beast, but still very good overall, and one I wouldn't mind watching again.