I watched Frozen about a week ago, give or take. Honestly, I didn’t think I would be writing about it, but here I am once again. I am rather surprised at myself for preferring to write Tea Tales about movies, but I suppose that’s because they are much more bite-sized and validly critiqued, unlike books which are far too long for the time I have now, and music which I must admit I am no expert of. There’s always video games, I suppose, but let’s not go down that rabbit hole this time. So, back to this movie. I watched it alone on a Saturday night, and I was very skeptical of it. I have heard so many good things that started to get to me. It’s my second nature to doubt the popular opinion, and whether you think that’s good or not, I would like to say that as far as the movie is concerned, I was surprised.
Before I watched it, the channels which gave it praises were disappointingly unspecific as to why the movie was any good. Perhaps it was because I was actively trying to avoid spoilers, as to the fact that I wanted to watch it eventually. I came in with very little to be biased about, which I supposed is good. I only know that there are two sisters, but I was unaware of both their names and their roles in the movie. That was, of course, quickly answered by the first few minutes.
> SPOILER ALERT <
With the hallmark of Disney animated movies (which shall henceforth be the only ones I’m talking about) quickly reached, a.k.a dying parent(s), the movie is set on course. A bit of after-the-fact research revealed to me that a lot of pre-coronation character building was cut. Looking back, I can’t really say how that would have actually fit into the length of the movie, or what they actually would have been. I would predict it would have done a better job showing the bond of the two sisters than a song. It doesn’t actually make that much sense when I was watching the movie, but with the proposed script in hand I felt much more confident about my judgement of how events were supposed to be played out. Shame the end product didn’t turn out that way.
So instead of about half an hour of that, we had a condensed version of everything represented by a song. I heard a parody/crossover version of “Do you want to build a snowman?” before actually hearing it in the movies, and honestly even that version hit me hard. Given the context, I’d say the two ended up being rather similar, and at the end of the day it becomes a significant part of my playlist. The song spoke to me, as with many other in the movie, unlike the last modern movie I watched. This is definitely not a surprise to many of course, given this is a Disney movie.
I realise that I have put up the Spoiler Alert banner up there, but I definitely am not here to analyse and crack open the story progression. After all, I have many times scoff at critics for being as snotty insufferable as they are when they tell other people how to enjoy the story, so I won’t. This is still a blog after all, so here’s my take on it: everything ended in a very Disney-like fashion. If you have watched any of their better movies up until now, you probably have a general idea of how this one ended. Being the cynic as I am, I have to say this movie did a pretty good job at making me root for the protagonists. Unlike the one-dimensional senseless love story side progression that many old animated movie has, the romances (or at least the ones that was shown) are depicted in a rather humorous and light-hearted tone throughout most of the film, rather than shoved into my face. I am deeply thankful. The fact that everyone has their own pseudo-realistic aspirations, instead of the meaningless “happy ever after” montage, is already a significant step up over many things. I’m obviously speaking only for myself, but I don’t like romance movies, just because few actually does it in a sensible manner.
Honestly, if the movie ended after the ‘true love’ scene, I would be absolutely convinced that the intended romance isn’t the first-day meeting guy or the second-day meeting guy. It is rather the relationship that has been built and forged through hardships and agony, fueled by unconditional love and sacrifice, between two characters of which I’ve watched overcoming obstacles and grow as persons. Obviously, I understand why it doesn’t happen, as it would be rather hard for Disney to explain away “incest guilt”. It’s a true shame, but considering I still feel so strongly about this a week later, I’d say I have pretty much gotten what I wanted out of the movie. Unlike that LEGO thing, this movies makes all the sense in the world to me, and made me care. That alone is enough to give it a glowing recommendation. Add on to that the refreshingly sensible progress of the story, as well as top-notch production quality.
Certainly I can criticise a few directions they decided to take, but at the end of the day I’m not a reviewer. I’m just a narcissistic blogger. I have zero intentions of telling you how to feel about things.
The Omelette Ode 