Warning: Contains spoilers***
I did not see Frozen in the movie theater. However, I did see it on my computer. I also saw the Broadway show, which I actually liked more. But this post is only about the first movie.
As young children, Anna and Elsa play together until Elsa accidentally knocks Anna out unconscious with her ice powers. Their parents find them and take them to the mountain trolls. Anna’s memories of Elsa’s ice powers are altered and wiped.
Elsa has to have a bunch of restrictions on her until she can control her powers. Anna and Elsa grow up mostly separate. Their parents die, and then three years later, Elsa is crowned queen of Arandelle.
Anna falls in love with a man, Prince Hans of the southern isles. He seems charming and someone Anna can relate to. They even want to marry.
But Elsa denies consent and tells Anna that she can’t marry a guy she just met. Anna conveniences Elsa that it’s fine if it’s true love. This leads to a disagreement and Elsa decides to call off the coronation party.
But Anna asks her about why she shut everything away from her, which angers her. She accidentally does ice magic at the coronation and flees while creating an eternal winter. Anna goes out to look for her.
On the way, she meets an uneasy young man, Kristoff, who insults the owner of his store. Kristoff gets thrown out and Anna ends up having to take him to find Elsa.
The two also encounter Olaf the snowman, whom Anna and Elsa has built when they were little. He is bubbly and silly and is willing to join them.
They find Elsa in an ice palace that she created. Anna tells her that she needs to go back to Arandelle.
But Elsa won’t since she is too afraid. She even conjures an ice monster to force Anna and Kristoff out. Yet Anna will not give up.
First off, I really appreciate how Elsa is developed. She is misunderstood by others, which leads her to becoming scared, and therefore, struggles to control her ice powers. That made her seem very real and likable.
Speaking of likable… did you know that Elsa was originally supposed to be the villain, in “Frozen?” She was going to be much older and use her ice powers for evil, like in the original story “Frozen” was based off: “The Snow Queen.” However, I am glad the creators changed it and had Prince Hans be the villain instead.
In fact, I think it was a smart move as standards have changed since Disney’s early days. Just because someone seems charming, that doesn’t necessarily mean you should love and trust him or her.
It was also a nice, unexpected twist for the story, straying away from the traditional approach, where the prince the princess falls in love with is a good guy.
Kristoff ended up being Anna’s love interest, even though he wasn’t as easygoing as Hans seemed. He also shared a close bond with his reindeer, Sven, and even played a song for him, “Reindeers Are Better Than People.”
But I found it unsanitary how Kristoff and Sven also shared carrots. At least it’s not realism, otherwise, both Kristoff and Sven would’ve gotten sick.
While discussing character development, I did find Anna too immature at times for her age. For instance, Elsa had to remind her that she couldn’t marry a guy she’d just met. But Anna had unrealistic expectations for romance. I knew better at Anna’s age (18), and even younger.
Now the most memorable character for me was Olaf the snowman. He was silly, enthusiastic, and comedic. I especially love his song about summer, called, “In Summer.” It was cute to see how a snowman envisioned life in the heat, especially when he didn’t know that it melted snow.
All the songs entertained me. Many of them didn’t sound like traditional Disney songs. For example, I thought “Let it Go” and “For the First Time in Forever” sounded like “Wicked” songs.
The layout of the setting nailed it, too, making it look like Scandinavia. Another fun fact is that the cast and crew had to go to Norway to study the land and architecture for the film.
I rate “Frozen” 4 out of 5 stars. While the creators excelled at the story content, something about it didn’t engage me enough to give it 5 stars.
In fact, when I first saw this movie, I found the beginning to be kind of boring. I only watched the whole thing because it was a big, popular film.
Nevertheless, I still enjoyed it very much. I