Now, after all of the talk and hype about the movie, I had very high expectations for Frozen. And while the movie didn't quite live up to them, it was still very good. Let's get to it!
The Good
There was a lot to like about Frozen. First of all, the plot was amazing in both conception and execution. Princess Anna has to leave on a dangerous quest to find her estranged sister, who has accidentally placed the Kingdom under eternal winter. Okay, well that explanation doesn't sound that great, but believe me, it is!
Many of the songs in the movie were fantastic as well. I loved all of the duets between Elsa and Anna, the opening song set the tone for the movie perfectly, and "Let it Go" might be one of my new favorite tunes. Now, not all of the songs worked (we'll get to that later) but for the most part they were a welcome addition to the movie.
The movie had great character development for the two main characters as well. Elsa and Anna are given great backstories and the viewer can understand their motivations and desires which enables them to feel a connection to the characters. Also, Olaf the Snowman was an absolutely hilarious character, probably the funniest animation has seen since Eddie Murphy voiced Donkey in Shrek.
Another great thing about the movie was that it was extremely self-aware. Unlike some films in which ridiculous things happen and the characters ignore them, Frozen was willing to fess up. The most obvious instance of this was when Anna got engaged to Hans the very day that she met him. At first, I thought it was completely stupid. But I felt a lot better when Elsa and Kristof thought that it was completely stupid as well.
The Bad
While many of the songs were great, some didn't quite work. The danger of doing a musical movie like this is that the songs can interrupt the flow and story of the movie with needless digressions. As funny as it was, I didn't need to hear Olaf sing about what he would do in the Summer. Also, I could have done without the Trolls singing about love to Kristof and Anna.
Also, as much as I loved Elsa and Anna, I wasn't sold on a lot of the other characters. For instance, Kristof seemed pretty one-dimensional. Besides the fact that he didn't like people and had conversations with his reindeer, there was nothing else to him. Hans, the Prince that Anna got engaged to, turned evil out of nowhere. There was absolutely no foreshadowing from his actions as to the fact that he would turn evil. And if he wanted to rule the Kingdom, why did he tell his soldiers not to kill the Queen when they went to the Ice Palace? Also, the Duke of Weasltown didn't serve a purpose either.
And who was running the Kingdom in the three years in between the death of the King and Queen and Elsa coming of age?
The Ugly
My biggest problem with Frozen was the beginning. It completely rushed through the opening with the reveal of Elsa's powers and the death of the King and Queen. Basically, it felt as though the first twenty minutes were a montage, merely connected by songs.
It's ironic, that in an age of Hollywood doing whatever they can to squeeze cash out of viewers pockets by needlessly splitting stories into multiple movies (Hobbit, Mockingjay, Twilight, etc.) that they have a movie here in Frozen that, in my opinion, could have easily been split into multiple parts. Now, I understand why they wouldn't want to do that as the beginning likely worked for it's intended audience of children, but I was still disappointed by it.
I think it would be interesting if someone was to make an adult version of Frozen and expand the story into something like Game of Thrones or Lord of the Rings. I would definitely pay to see that!
Despite the fact that I had a number of qualms about Frozen, because it was movie aimed more towards a younger audience I'm willing to let it go (see what I did there???) and give the movie a positive review.
Verdict: 8 out of 10
And I'm sure this "Honest Trailer" will cover anything I missed. These guys are great!
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