The Media Man Reviews: Frozen

How has it been TWELVE YEARS since this movie came out already?! I still remember watching it when it was brand new in cinemas back in 2013!!!

Yes people, believe it or not, this year marks the 12th anniversary of Disney's biggest pop culture giant of the 2010's. That movie is none other than Frozen.

Based on the Hans Christian Anderson fairy tale The Snow Queen, Frozen was a movie that had been in the works for decades at the Walt Disney Company. And when I say decades, I literally mean DECADES. No joke, Disney were trying to adapt The Snow Queen into a movie even during the times when Walt Disney himself was alive! Talk about a long time coming! It finally got made and released in 2013, and boy did it take the world by storm! If you were living in or growing up during the 2010's, you were surrounded by Frozen merchandise and hearing people sing the songs over and over. If you wanted to function in our society back in the 2010's, you had to have seen this movie. I like to think of Frozen is the 2010's equivalent of the The Lion King. I mean that in the sense it was a huge hit at the box office, critics and audiences loved it and then it became a huge pop-culture juggernaut that was everywhere during the decade of its release. It really is funny how history repeats itself, eh?

Sadly, Frozen also got a lot of backlash from people who either find it "overrated" or found it annoying because they were sick of hearing "Let It Go" all the time (which is more understandable). There are even people making video essays discussing if Frozen is even good in the first place. This is NOT one of those discussion pieces.

What you're getting here is my straight-up honest thoughts and opinions about Frozen. Besides, you should go into this review already knowing I don't hate it since I put it on my favourite Disney films list a while back. So why is this among my favourite Disney movies? Why did the cold never bother me with this movie? Read along and see for yourself...

Section 1: The Story

Frozen is a story of two sisters named Anna and Elsa who were once close, but are now divided thanks to Elsa having to hide her ice powers from the world. But she can't keep her powers hidden forever and come coronation day, Elsa's powers are exposed to the kingdom of Arendelle and she accidentally causes an eternal winter to befall everybody. Anna now has to track down her runaway sister and get her to put a stop to this winter the the help of Kristoff, his faithful reindeer Sven and a comical snowman named Olaf.

I haven't read the original Snow Queen fairy tale, so I have no idea how closely (or how loosely) this movie follows the original source material. Considering this is Disney, I imagine it's not that closely. The most I DO know is that the titular Snow Queen was the villain in the original story, whereas here Elsa is considerably less villainous and infinitely more sympathetic. Was this is a necessary change? Debatable, but I don't mind it since I honestly think making Elsa not the villain works to this story's strengths. Mainly how it tackles a kind of love that Disney movies very rarely ever touch upon: sibling love. As anyone can tell you when it comes to love, love doesn't just come in the form of "a man loves a woman" or two guys or two girls loving each other. This movie is all about love between two sisters and how even sibling love can be just as emotionally powerful and investing as a typical romance. This also gives Frozen more of its own identity and makes it stand out more from previous Disney films, but as Chris Sanders ever so kindly reminded us all, let's not forget that Lilo & Stitch did it first, so don't give Frozen too much credit, OK?

Another thing Frozen deserves a lot of praise for is the fact it contains very relevant and very important lessons that we could all do with taking onboard in this day and age, mainly the important of how open we should be to others. We both sides of one coin here in where Elsa shows why it's important to be more open to others and not to keep to ourselves so much. Being too sheltered and keeping secrets only caused the very problems Elsa was trying to prevent in the first place and that if she'd been more open to others, she might've been able to find the help she so desperately needed. Also being too closed off leads to struggling in a social environment, which only creates more problems for yourself. As a guy who mostly prefers his own company, I can say this message does speak to me a little. And then we have Anna where she teaches us the danger of being too trusting and too open. Anna was so desperate for companionship that she ended up throwing herself at the first guy she sees and...well, we know what that led to. She was taken advantage of, manipulated and then later betrayed once the man that betrayed her saw no further use for her. With how easy it is for people to manipulate and take advantage of others in this day and age, especially thanks to the rise of social media, this is an especially important lesson to take onboard and only makes Frozen's story all the more timeless. If only people could realize this instead of blindly bashing Disney films just because bashing Disney is popular (for some reason)...

As is, the story of Frozen doesn't just have a unique love angle to cover or relevant messages for the audience to take away. It's also a very funny movie at times, which only makes the movie more enjoyable to watch. Seriously, there's a lot of moments in the movie that will have you laughing, especially whenever Olaf's up to his comedic shenanigans or Anna's adorkable personality. I know I'm the kind of guy who still giggles like a little kid at Olaf's "I've been impaled" gag. XD Unfortunately, this movie really started this recent annoying trend we have in Disney movies this day where they feel the need to be "meta" and poke fun at their cliches. It was funny when this movie did it, but once all their other movies started doing it, it just got annoying. Yes Disney, we get it, people make fun of your cliches and tropes, we don't need you guys being self-aware about it too! Can movies just be movies again without this obnoxious need to be self-aware and poke fun at themselves all the time? It just breaks the immersion of these films...

Anyway, another thing I give praise to the story for is how it's a more "modern" Disney film, yet it still has that somewhat classic Disney feel to it. Maybe it's how the story is paced or something, I can't say exactly for sure. But it has all the makings of a classic Disney film what with the fairy tale setting, the musical numbers, the goofy sidekicks, the princess protagonist and more. Disney's always been at its best when it comes to adapting fairy tales and making them new again, and this movie is no exception.

So overall, the story has a lot of strengths to it. It's got that classic Disney feel to it, it's funny, it's topically relevant, it's fun and it has a strong emotional core. It's easy to see why this movie struck a chord with so many people. But it's also easy to see why it's gotten some criticism for its story too.

I'm going to get the major one out of the way first, because this is the criticism I agree with everyone the most on. The twist with Prince Hans being a bad guy is B.S., absolute 100% B.S. It comes right the hell out of nowhere and feels like it's a twist that happens for the sake of a twist. There's very little, if any foreshadowing to his true nature at all so the twist feels cheap and Hans ends up feeling like a completely different character as a result. Now yes, people like Hans are so sly and manipulative that they can come off as two different people and it's how they so easily fool their victims, but that's not the case here. It LITERALLY feels like the writers just snapped their fingers and suddenly Hans is a bad guy now and his dialogue and motivations after his villainous reveal don't line up with how obviously NOT evil he was acting beforehand. It was a dumb twist and completely unnecessary if you ask me. It's so weird because they did a much better job building up to the whole "frozen heart" thing, so why was Hans' heel-turn so poorly foreshadowed?

Also, I'm sure I'm not the only one who thinks this, but Elsa should've been the actual main character rather than Anna. Some may argue "But she is! The movie's mostly about her!" Yes, but it's also mostly told from ANNA'S point of view. The film would've benefit more from being told from Elsa's point of view instead as Elsa herself feels only half-explored despite being the most important character in the story. At least the sequel would fix that.

The world-building also could've been a little stronger too. Aside from "being born with her powers", we don't get any further explanation behind Elsa's ice powers and why only she has them. Like, are there any other ice powered beings like Elsa in the world? Why was she born with them? Even the sequel revealing her mother came from a magical land didn't exactly explain it so her mother and her people don't have ice powers, so how did Elsa get them? Nothing really adds up here and I wish Elsa was given a better explanation for how or why she has ice powers.

But overall? I don't have much to criticize about Frozen's story. If they just dropped that stupid, stupid twist with Hans and gave a proper explanation behind Elsa's powers while also making her the actual main character rather than Anna, it could've been pretty much perfect. As is, the flaws do not hurt the movie much and I still find this to be one of Disney's strongest movies in terms of story...

Section 2: The Characters

These are some of the most beloved and memorable characters we've gotten from Disney since the Disney Renaissance, and it's easy to see why.

Of course, we have to start with the two sisters themselves, Princess Anna (voiced by Kirsten Bell) and Queen Elsa (voiced by Idina Menzel). Anna is an adorkable ball of joy with how awkward, clumsy and funny she can be, helped a lot by Kristen Bell's charming performance. She especially nails a lot of Anna's more emotional and comical moments here. A lot of Anna's funniest scenes for me include her interactions with Kristoff or whenever she's awkwardly acting around other characters. She also goes through a meaningful arc in where she learns what true love really is after naively throwing herself at the first man she meets in forever. But to me, what really makes Anna such a lovable character is how devoted she is to her sister despite Elsa shutting her out of her life for so long. I dunno if that's a truly devoted sibling or someone being way too forgiving, but I still think it speaks volumes about Anna that despite Elsa being distant to her for so long, she's still willing to risk life and limb for her. No wonder that act of true love thawed her frozen heart in the climax. ^^

But of course, we have to cover the best character in the movie and the absolute heart of the entire Frozen franchise, Elsa. Elsa is an insanely relatable and sympathetic character due to the fact she has ice powers that she can't really control and has to keep them secret for her own safety and everyone else's. I've seen a lot of LGBTQ+ folk relate to Elsa for this reason, like her hiding her ice powers from everyone could be seen as an unintentional allegory for LGBTQ+ folk having to hide their sexuality from everyone. Hell, the movie's signature song "Let It Go" became a gay anthem because of how much LGBTQ+ folk related to it! But back on Elsa herself. Due to her questionable upbringing at the hands of her loving but misguided parents, she has a lot of social anxiety and she has to spend every day of her life just praying that nobody will ever find out about her powers. When the cat's out the bag, she understandably flees the kingdom just so that she won't be feared and hated. I've seen some people criticize Elsa for abandoning anybody, but those people clearly misunderstand the movie just so they can hate on it. Put yourself in Elsa's shoes for a minute! You've been raised to believe your powers will make people fear and hate you and now they know you have powers and you have someone calling you a monster! Wouldn't you abandon everybody to save your own skin too? It's not like Elsa did it out of malice anyway, she's trying to protect everybody else from herself, as well as protect her self from everybody else. But in the end, Anna's love for her sister helps Elsa to control her powers at last and so she no longer needs to be shut off from the world. Elsa was just a fantastic character from beginning to end and easily the best thing to come out of this movie. Definitely one of Disney's best characters ever created.

Next up we have Anna's charming and snarky friend, Kristoff (voiced by Jonathan Groff). While I found the developing romance between him and Anna rather weak overall, I do enjoy the comical moments between them as Kristoff is a brilliant straight man to Anna's more comedic moments. Despite his deadpan wit and snarky demeanour, Kristoff's ultimately a good guy deep down and proves to be helpful to Anna over the course of her journey. If he had a better developed romance with Anna, then that would've made his role in the movie even better. Still, he could've been handled worse...

Am I right readers? :/

And then we have my personal favourite character in the movie, Olaf (voiced by Josh Gad). Olaf's one of the best comedic Disney sidekicks out there due to having a lot of the best and funniest gags of the movie and also allowing for some black comedy moments here and there due to being a snowman that can be easily assembled and dissembled at will. His charming, childlike innocence and Josh Gad's performance don't hurt either. Heck, I even look at Olaf as an example of how to do a character with childlike innocence correctly. Unlike SpongeBob SquarePants who comes off as a braindead idiot half the time and his childlike innocence comes off as insufferably annoying, Olaf can show moments of actual intelligence (especially when it's him of all characters who teaches Anna what true love REALLY is), he's capable of reading the room so he doesn't come off as blind to reality and, most importantly, he's actually funny. What also helps Olaf for me is the fact he doesn't overstay his welcome. His comedy's only used at the necessary moments and even when he is onscreen, he's not always trying to be funny. I love this little snowman and the movie just wouldn't be the same without him if you ask me.

And now we must talk about the worst character in the movie, Prince Hans (voiced by Santino Fontana). What the hell were Disney thinking with this guy? They set up this guy as an obviously good guy who's kind, noble and helpful and then come the climax, he suddenly flips a switch and is now a bad guy. As I said earlier, this isn't like a manipulative psychopath like what you'd see in real life where they can convincingly fool everybody into thinking they're good people but behind closed doors they're anything but. This is literally Hans just switching from good-to-evil for no reason. And I do mean NO REASON, because this movie already had a conflict in the form of Elsa's powers and the Duke of Weaseltown...

Sorry, I mean the Duke of WESELTON (voiced by Alan Tudyk). Why did Hans need to be a bad guy when this story already has one in the form of the Duke? All Hans did was sabotage the story's climax and make the Duke irrelevant! Either the Duke should've been the actual villain here or there shouldn't have been a villain at all. Hans should've stayed a good guy, because having him nonsensically turn out to be evil was by far the dumbest moment of the movie for me.

We also have the trolls too led by King Pabbie (voiced by Ciarán Hinds). I don't mind the trolls as much as everyone else does, hell I even like their "Fixer Upper" song. But I can agree that they are kinda irrelevant aside from providing exposition about Elsa's powers and how to stop the Frozen Heart. Also, yeah, they are pretty jerkish for trying to hook Anna up with Kristoff despite Kristoff letting them know she's engaged to someone else. Still, I didn't mind them.

Terrible villain aside, this is a cast of characters that have captured the hearts of audiences worldwide and it's so easy to see why. Easily among some of Disney's most lovable and enjoyable casts of characters yet...

Section 3: The Animation

Do I need to say anything here? Even die-hard haters of this movie will say this movie has fantastic visuals.

Frozen really showed that Disney finally got the hang of computer animation after Tangled and Wreck-It-Ralph proved to be a step in the right direction for them, and boy did their talents massively pay off here! 12 years later and this animation still looks incredible. While yes, Frozen II looks a little better by comparison, this movie's animation shouldn't be slept on by any means.

In terms of the art-style, Frozen has a similar look to Tangled when it comes to character designs, namely how they have that usual Disney style to them but they're depicted in 3-D instead of 2-D. You can really see it in the body proportions and the large eyes, and also in many of the more cartoonish looking characters. The trolls especially REALLY look like they came straight out of a classic Disney film. I can so imagine any of Disney's Nine Old Men being the animators for these guys if this had been a film from their time. The character designs here are visually distinct and recognizable with each one having a memorable look to them be it Anna's twin-plaited ponytails, red hair and pink cloak, Elsa's icy blue outfit and platinum blonde ponytail, Olaf's large head and large carrot nose and many more. It's easy to see how these characters ended up selling a lot of merchandise with how visually recognizable they all are.

But that's just character designs. What about character animation? That too is really spot on. Each character moves in a way that matches their personality whether it's Anna's more eccentric quirks, Elsa's anxious and closed off mannerism, Kristoff's snarky behaviour and sarcastic expressions or especially Olaf with the many different ways the animators can play around with his body due to him being easily dissembled at numerous points in the movie. He IS a snowman that can fall apart and be put back together again with ease after all and the animators clearly had a lot of fun seeing what they could do with such a character. As expected from a Disney movie, both old and new, the characters are all very expressive and convey a lot of emotions with their body language and facial features.

And of course, as anyone can tell you, the absolute highlights of the animation for this film include the musical numbers and the effects. Oh gosh...the effects. How they managed to depict Elsa's ice powers so beautifully, I'll never know. It's unreal how well they pulled it off here. The way her powers are depicted really does look like magic come to life and the effects add this ethereal beauty to Elsa's ice powers that no other movie has done before or since. At the same time, they're able to use the ice powers as visual metaphors for Elsa's mood and what she's going through. For example, when she makes her ice palace, it's beautiful looking, has little rough edges to it and looks very pristine. But when her emotions amplify, the palace suddenly takes on a darker colour and sharp icicles begin to form. Then there's the battle with her and the Duke's men where the palace becomes yellow, as if to symbolize the fear she feels at being confronted by these men that want to kill her. Then there's the fact the snow and ice are so believably animated and depicted here that it actually looks and feels cold just by watching this movie. I think it's easy to say of all the animated films out there depicting cold environments covered by snow and ice, this movie did it best. Sorry Ice Age franchise, but Frozen wins out in this case.

And as mentioned earlier, the musical numbers take advantage of the great animation too, which may be why else the songs struck a chord with so many people when this film came out. The animation gets a lot more lively and creative when it gets to the musical numbers and they even managed to sneak in a lot of visual gags too, especially during "In Summer" and "For The First Time In Forever". The "Let It Go" scene is the visual highlight of them all with Elsa really letting loose her ice powers and building her palace. The animators went all out during this scene and it looks absolutely incredible no matter how many times I watch it. Just sensational work through and through!

I'm wasting time calling a spade a spade here. The movie's animation is visually incredible and everyone knows it. What more needs saying? This was revolutionary animation back in 2013 and it'll stand the test of time from now and forever as some truly amazing visuals...

Section 4: The Songs

Ah yes, the very thing that made Frozen such a beloved classic: the soundtrack. With music composed by Christophe Beck and songs written by husband and wife duo Robert and Kristen Anderson-Lopez, these songs have become some of the most legendary tunes ever put into a Disney film. I'd argue the Frozen soundtrack is up there with Snow White, Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King and Tarzan in terms of how iconic and legendary it is. Even to this day, people are still singing the songs and they're making musical shows about Frozen because of those songs! Let's cover them one-by-one.

The first song of the film is "Frozen Heart", this cheery yet ominous tune about the dangers of the Frozen Heart that's done in the style of the "Happy Hearted Roustabouts" song from Dumbo. No joke, it was outright confirmed that was the intention. The song's not only fun to sing along to, but it works as an introduction to the movie and the world it's set in, as well as foreshadowing events to come later in the movie. Overall a solid first impression or the soundtrack.

Next is "Do You Wanna Build A Snowman", a song that is both funny and sad at the same time as Anna tries to get Elsa to come out and play with her. I'll always give the composer credit for somehow making a knock on the door part of the song's melody. The song's a great example of telling the story in song form too as it starts of peppy and upbeat, but also a little sad, as the young Anna tries to reach out to Elsa and then after their parents are killed by a storm, the song foregoes any of the happy side and just finishes on a completely solemn note to reflect how Anna and Elsa are at their lowest point.

Then we have "For The First Time In Forever", a song all about Anna's excitement for Queen Elsa's coronation as it means at long last, she gets to see and meet other people and the castle gates can finally be open. It's also the song where Rapunzel and Flynn Ryder from Tangled get a cameo!

See?

The song itself is so joyous and full of excitement, much like Anna herself as she sings it, that you just want to join in with her and have as much fun as she does. Naturally, Elsa's parts sharply contrast Anna's where she's anxious about the day's events while Anna can't wait to get started. It suits the story perfectly at that part and both characters who are singing it and is just a tonne of fun from beginning to end.

Then we have "Love Is An Open Door", the love song between Anna and Hans that is enjoyable, but is also ruined by that stupid twist at the climax since Hans is actually a bad guy. Thanks Hans, you ruined a good song by nonsensically turning out to be evil. =P I still enjoy it though.

And of course, how can I talk about the soundtrack without mentioning the one song people got sick to death of hearing for years after this film's release? You know the one, "Let It Go". Contrary to the internet's opinions on the tune, I never got tired of the song. "Let It Go" is such a powerful, uplifting and inspiring song that reflects Elsa's relief that finally, now she's in a place where she's free to be herself without having to worry about what others say, she can cut loose and be more content with her life. The fact the song also gives us one of the movie's best scenes in terms of visuals also helps too. It's really touching to see how this song resonated with so many people too, especially LGBTQ+ people. I can see how they especially related to this song. To think it was also "Let It Go" that inspired the makers of the movie to not make Elsa a villain too. That should tell you how powerful this song is.

Next is Olaf's song, "In Summer". It's basically him just singing about his big dream about experiencing summer, which naturally gives us so many humorous images of his goofy snowman dancing about in sunshine and lounging on the beach. It's a charming tune that has a lot of comedic value to it, and that makes it enjoyable.

And finally, we have "Fixer Upper". Yeah, the song is pretty much filler, but man is it entertaining filler! I dunno why, I just find the song amusing with how the trolls sing about Kristoff's flaws and yet they're still trying to pass him off as the perfect guy for Anna to hook up with. The catchy tune and fun lyrics also make this an enjoyable one for me. Sorry guys, not sorry, I like "Fixer Upper" and I'm not going to apologize for it. XD

This is one of those Disney films where every single song is great and you'll be remembering them for years to come once the movie's over. Any time I watch the movie, I always look forward to hearing these classic tunes all over again...

Conclusion

Frozen does have its flaws, but it's still one of Disney's greatest movies out there and it's so easy to see why this was such a pop-culture juggernaut back in the last decade. The story is an engaging update on a classic fairy tale, the theme of sister love is emotionally powerful, the characters have a lot of charm to them, the comedy is excellent, the emotional core tugs at your heartstrings, the animation is spell-bindingly beautiful and the songs are unforgettable showstoppers! I would recommend you to watch this movie...but why bother? You've probably seen it already, so just watch it again. It's good to treat yourself like that. Frozen may be a movie all about the cold, but it sure leaves me feeling warm and content after I've watched it. A true modern Disney classic in my eyes...

And that's it for this post. I hope you enjoyed it and I invite you all to share your thoughts down below. Did you enjoy Frozen? Do you not enjoy it? Comment away and let me know.

Next week I'll be counting down my Top 10 Favourite Robot Wars robots. See you then media fans!

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