Chris Farmer
Screenwriter
- Joined
- Aug 23, 2002
- Messages
- 1,496
I took my 3-year-old to see Frozen Wednesday night and today took my wife and 14-month-old. I only got to rewatch the first half since the baby decided not to cooperate and even at a Disney movie etiquette does put a limit on how distracting they can be, but what I saw definitely reinforced my initial impressions. In short, I liked it. A lot. I found it to be a considerable step up from Tangled (which I initially underrated quite a bit but over the subsequent 300 watchings have come to appreciate far more). Tangled's biggest flaw was an uneven first half, requiring about 45 minutes to really find the tone and approach it was aiming for, but after that it never put a foot wrong and ended up an excellent movie in its own right.
Frozen, on the other hand, is far more assured. It's a much more confident film, having its central message and tone locked in from frame one and sticking to that all the way through. Very briefly, it's a loose adaptation of another fairy tale, this time Hans Christian Anderson's "The Snow Queen," although in this case it veers so strongly from the initial subject matter that saying it's "inspired by" is likely far more accurate. It's the story of two sisters (princesses of course), the older of which has the magical ability to manipulate snow and ice. A childhood accident causes her to isolate herself, and a later accident leads to her accidentally freezing her entire kingdom and fleeing in fear. Anna, the younger sister, has to bring her back. Along for the ride are a handsome prince, an unlucky ice salesman who suddenly finds his product superfluous and his reindeer, and a surprisingly charming snowman who dreams of summer. You can sketch out the rest of the plot from there and probably be quite accurate, although the movie will likely find ways to surprise you. Conceptually it strays from the Disney norm in several ways, taking a classic Disney setup then subverting the outcome without the sneering meanness than can undermine some of Dreamworks' tackling of similar expectations.
The emphasis on family was also a welcome change from the usual Disney approach (isolated orphans looking for help from outside). Elsa and Ann are orphans yes, but the movie is about them depending on each other, not outsiders. Olaf managed to be extremely funny, a surprisingly developed character, and a poignant touch of backstory fleshing out Elsa as well. The music is adequate. Most of the pieces accomplish their goal and acquit themselves well, but aren't necessarily all that memorable. But then there's the one exception of "Let It Go." It's the high point of the movie and an amazing scene. Marking the point where Elsa, alone in the wilderness, embraces her powers, it's a knockout musically (heightened by Idina Menzel's terrific talent, and she's giving it her all), but also ties into what's happening in terms of story and the onscreen visuals on a level with Disney's best. I'm not going to try and rank it in terms of "better than [insert sacred cow of choice here]," but I will say it's a sequence that deserves to be in the conversation and is an absolute homerun.
My biggest gripe is with the pace. Ace 1 is just about perfect, giving things enough time to breathe and establish themselves without feeling either rushed or overly drawn out. Unfortunately, the second act to me came across as quite rushed. Narratively quite a bit happens and several important characters are introduced as well, and ultimately none of them feel like they get all the time they deserve. Where the first act was able to establish numerous character nuances and set up its events carefully, in the second things happen much more quickly and with much broader strokes. It's not bad by any stretch, and at nearly an hour and 50 minutes the runtime was already pretty stretched out, but an extra five minutes would have gone a long way. My other two major gripes are spoilers.
Otherwise it was a fantastic movie. Hans had all the character depth of cardboard but everyone else was nicely fleshed out. Even Anna is more than the polyanna she first appears to be. The animation is outstanding throughout with numerous points of jaw-dropping beauty. The humor is generally on-target without that very many cringe-inducing misses. I'm not sure it quite hits the level of Beauty and the Beast, Lion King, or Little Mermaid, but it comes close, and it's a solid step up from Tangled which was already an excellent effort in its own right.
Frozen, on the other hand, is far more assured. It's a much more confident film, having its central message and tone locked in from frame one and sticking to that all the way through. Very briefly, it's a loose adaptation of another fairy tale, this time Hans Christian Anderson's "The Snow Queen," although in this case it veers so strongly from the initial subject matter that saying it's "inspired by" is likely far more accurate. It's the story of two sisters (princesses of course), the older of which has the magical ability to manipulate snow and ice. A childhood accident causes her to isolate herself, and a later accident leads to her accidentally freezing her entire kingdom and fleeing in fear. Anna, the younger sister, has to bring her back. Along for the ride are a handsome prince, an unlucky ice salesman who suddenly finds his product superfluous and his reindeer, and a surprisingly charming snowman who dreams of summer. You can sketch out the rest of the plot from there and probably be quite accurate, although the movie will likely find ways to surprise you. Conceptually it strays from the Disney norm in several ways, taking a classic Disney setup then subverting the outcome without the sneering meanness than can undermine some of Dreamworks' tackling of similar expectations.
The emphasis on family was also a welcome change from the usual Disney approach (isolated orphans looking for help from outside). Elsa and Ann are orphans yes, but the movie is about them depending on each other, not outsiders. Olaf managed to be extremely funny, a surprisingly developed character, and a poignant touch of backstory fleshing out Elsa as well. The music is adequate. Most of the pieces accomplish their goal and acquit themselves well, but aren't necessarily all that memorable. But then there's the one exception of "Let It Go." It's the high point of the movie and an amazing scene. Marking the point where Elsa, alone in the wilderness, embraces her powers, it's a knockout musically (heightened by Idina Menzel's terrific talent, and she's giving it her all), but also ties into what's happening in terms of story and the onscreen visuals on a level with Disney's best. I'm not going to try and rank it in terms of "better than [insert sacred cow of choice here]," but I will say it's a sequence that deserves to be in the conversation and is an absolute homerun.
My biggest gripe is with the pace. Ace 1 is just about perfect, giving things enough time to breathe and establish themselves without feeling either rushed or overly drawn out. Unfortunately, the second act to me came across as quite rushed. Narratively quite a bit happens and several important characters are introduced as well, and ultimately none of them feel like they get all the time they deserve. Where the first act was able to establish numerous character nuances and set up its events carefully, in the second things happen much more quickly and with much broader strokes. It's not bad by any stretch, and at nearly an hour and 50 minutes the runtime was already pretty stretched out, but an extra five minutes would have gone a long way. My other two major gripes are spoilers.
First, the entire movie could have been averted had the parents approached Elsa's powers in any way other than "pretend they're not there and be completely terrified of them." Even the slightest bit of effort at mastery (as opposed to avoidance) would have averted the Elsa's meltdown completely. And their death was such a transparent way to make Elsa the queen at a particularly young age as to be laughable. Elsa and Anna were given quite a bit of depth, but their parents could have used some more meaningful development to avoid feeling like they were simply tools to advance the plot then cast aside. My other big flaw is that Hans turning bad was a mistake. The movie didn't need a bad guy. The distance and emotional conflict between Elsa and Anna was plenty to drive the entire movie without forcing in a love triangle and ultimately meaningless double cross. About the only good that came from it was having Anna a, make her sign of true love be related to her sister instead of romantic love in a nice subversion and b, have it be something she did herself instead of having done to her. Otherwise you could have cut Hans from the movie and almost nothing would change. The only meaningful conflict he serves as the driver of is the initial rushed marriage proposal, which didn't require him as the bad guy anyway. Innocent naivety would have served just as well. I understand not wanting to give every princess a love interest to make a [valid] point, which is what I initially expected (Kristoph would win Anna while chasing Elsa while Elsa would end up with Hans). Like killing the parents, it seemed like the biggest reason to make him into a bad guy is to conveniently resolve the love triangle and shove him out of the way without Anna needing to choose between the two. It felt ham-handed in a movie that otherwise did a very good job of dealing with nuance.
Otherwise it was a fantastic movie. Hans had all the character depth of cardboard but everyone else was nicely fleshed out. Even Anna is more than the polyanna she first appears to be. The animation is outstanding throughout with numerous points of jaw-dropping beauty. The humor is generally on-target without that very many cringe-inducing misses. I'm not sure it quite hits the level of Beauty and the Beast, Lion King, or Little Mermaid, but it comes close, and it's a solid step up from Tangled which was already an excellent effort in its own right.
