Frozen Review by Chris Calfa
If
you know me, besides my amazing hair you know about my passionate love for
Disney. Of course in the 21st century Disney hasn’t had the magic
that they used to have. Yes they have dazzled me with Princess and the Frog, Tangled,
and Wreck-It Ralph over the past four
years. And even though these three are somewhere in my top 15 of the best
Disney Animated Films, they for me have never struck me the way the films we
grew up with such as The Little Mermaid,
Beauty and the Beast, or The Lion King.
So
when Disney released the first images of their latest film Frozen, I had hopes. What I was first seeing was the kind of art I
remember staring at as a child in my Making
of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs book. I had high hopes that it wouldn’t
be in CGI either. I always say leave it to Pixar, even though I did enjoy some
of what Disney Animation Studios has came up with but here’s the thing: CGI
works with Wreck-It Ralph and what
the environment is, and Tangled is at
it’s core a 2D film in CGI clothing.
But
I didn’t let the CGI idea get to me and later I’ll tell you why. I had slowly
become more and more interested in the film and the story. The story is about
two sisters, Princesses Elsa and Anna who come from a small Norwegian kingdom
of Ardenelle. Elsa (the ancestor of X-Men member Bobby Drake) was born with a
magic power of being able to freeze things, create ice and annoying talking
snowmen that ruin the tone of the film. After an accident that had almost
killed Anna, Elsa becomes afraid of hurting her again and keeps herself
isolated from her little sister who only wants to connect. As they grow up Anna
keeps trying to connect with Elsa but Elsa just tries to stay away. The
untimely death of their parents leaves Elsa to become the new queen of Ardenelle
but after her powers are revealed she runs away. Anna then goes on an adventure
that can run almost parallel to the one in Tangled. Rugged peasant guy
(Kristoff, unfittingly voiced by Jonathan Groff), four-legged animal companion
with dog-like characteristics, cheesy lines and slapstick and all.
And then there’s this guy:
This little
bastard is Olaf. I hate Olaf. I hate him way more than I hate Merida. Olaf,
voiced by Josh Gad, serves as something that’s supposed to connect the two
sisters in moment of intense dialogue and a song but… just annoys the living
shit out of me. The reason I don’t have high regards for The Hunchback of Notre Dame is those damn gargoyles, and Olaf has
the same problem I did with them, they just ruin the film. I was having a
splendid movie going experience until this little fucker came in. All the kids
were loving him and a representative of Disney that was at the screening told
me that he was everyone’s favorite of the group. I guess if you asked me as a 4
year old what I loved about Aladdin I
would say the Genie but as an adult that goes away and I think this generation
will find that out. This trailer
is what made me lose hope for the film. But as we started seeing more and more
about the sisters I started to gain interest.
Elsa and Anna are
on completely different spectrums. Anna, voiced by Kristen Bell, is such a
product of our time; She can easily blend in amongst Hannah, Marnie, and
especially Shoshanna. There was so much about her that can make one think “…I
know this girl…” but not in the sense we’ve gotten with Rapunzel and Ariel,
like in the sense of “I’ve met this girl at a party and she reminds me of
Kristen Wiig’s impression of Bjork on SNL.” Seriously. Bell’s performance was
fine, she played it well, nothing spectacular though. She didn’t really have
anything distinct about her voice that can identify who Anna is, you could use
anyone’s voice really, it was the same problem with Mandy Moore as Rapunzel. But
I guess overall she’s a good one to add to the Disney Princess line only to get
lost in the line overshadowed by her predecessors.
But I was more
fascinated by Elsa, voiced by Idina Menzel. Her look is so beautiful, and her
internal struggle is so sad to see and gives the character so many dimensions.
She probably only has a little bit more of screen time than Princess Aurora did
in Sleeping Beauty though, The entire
time I kept thinking, I want more of her. She has one of the best designs of
any animated character, comparable to the designs given to us by legend Glen
Keane. Menzel’s voice is the
perfect mixture of elegance, struggle, and pain. Her main song “Let It Go” is
actually one of the best songs from a musical film in general, and Idina
singing it is so powerful, for me it was one of the best moments of the film.
Overall the film
has great music, it starts off with a powerful Norweigan inspired number
entitled “Frozen Heart” which helps set the world we are about to enter. The
music was written by couple Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez who’s
credits include Avenue Q and Book of Mormon. Some parts of the songs you can
kind of tell that they wrote it such as this one song sung by trolls… sung by
trolls called “Fixer Upper” which at some points sounds like songs cut from Avenue
Q. And not all Disney films have a prefect soundtrack, even my favorite film Beauty and the Beast, in their special
edition just HAD to butcher it by adding “Human Again”. In Frozen’s
case they have one somewhat depressing song sung by my gal pal Olaf about how
he wants to experience summer… and another one sung by Anna and a potential
love interest (trying not to spoil anything) that’s literally a quirk-fest. But
besides those two, the music is amazing. Anna has this song that was stuck in
my head and have been singing to myself while writing this review called “For
The First Time in Forever”. Sure you can stick it into any musical film that
has a leading girl between the ages of 14-28 but hey it’s catchy and pretty. When November 25th comes
around I will totally be buying the soundtrack on iTunes.
The
animation? 50/50. What do I mean? Well the character animation is okay but the
technology and style isn’t. They all look like you can just pull them right out
of Tangled. I was hoping they would be a little bit more stylized and different
but I guess they’re okay. The actual designs are pretty well done and Disney
ACTUALLY was SOMEWHAT Historically and Regionally accurate!! The characters
also get lost in the scenery and the ice especially. I must say this was one of
my favorite things about the film. The reason I love Sleeping Beauty is the art of their forests, the castles, even the
flames of Maleficent. This film in that aspect is on par with films like Sleeping Beauty. Just even Elsa’s snow
magic is so beautiful and kaleidoscopic I wish that the scene where she builds
her ice palace went on longer, it was just that beautiful. This is what made me content with it
being in CGI.
Overall,
when you get passed all the dumb modern jokes and the idiotic brainless
snowman, the film is fantastic. Although it doesn’t show it that much, the
story about the two distanced sisters touched me and made me interested in
where their relationship would go. The art is beautiful and a good portion of
the movie is catchy. I think everyone will find something in the movie they can
enjoy. I don’t think it’s as good as Beauty
and the Beast and The Lion King right
now but maybe a few more views (which are going to happen) will get me to move
it up into that special place.
Over all I give the film a 7.5/10,
and check out my list to see where it lands in the Disney Animation Best to
Worst!
Disney’s Frozen opens in theaters November 27th, 2013.
