Frozen

So, we should probably talk about Frozen.

I'd been looking forward to this movie for a very long time, so I am happy to say that it didn't disappoint--at least not much.

Here's the gist with no spoilers. The story is loosely based on Hans Christian Anderson's The Snow Queen. Elsa and her little sister Anna are princesses and best friends, but Elsa has magical-ice powers that are becoming harder and harder to control. After accidentally hurting Anna, Elsa isolates herself in the hopes that she will someday learn to control her powers. She attempts to do this by controlling her emotions ("conceal, don't feel").

Unfortunately, Elsa and Anna's parents die (I promise this isn't a spoiler) leaving Elsa to become queen. At Elsa's coronation, Elsa isn't able to control her emotions and reveals her magical-ice-powers to everyone. The kingdom is shocked; Elsa runs away and isolates herself on the top of a mountain, leaving the kingdom in an eternal winter. The story picks up when Anna follows her, hoping to save the kingdom from the snowstorm with the help of a talking snowman named Olaf, a "rugged mountain man" named Kristoff, and a reindeer named Sven.

Here they all are! Plus Hans (a visiting prince Anna's got her eye on)

One of the things that Frozen does extremely well is it's show-stopping song "Let It Go" sung by Idina Menzel as Elsa. You can watch the whole sequence online here and just be in awe at the beauty. The lyrics are all poignant and appropriate to the situation, the animation flows nicely and only augments the viewers emotive response, and Menzel's iconic voice brings the song remarkable power. While there was certainly nothing wrong with the other songs in the movie, they all do pale in comparison to this one. I read one YouTube comment that described "Let It Go" as "the best three minutes in the film," and that may very well be true.

I'm also a huge fan of the animation in the recent animated films (I'm thinking Tangled and Rise of the Guardians), which I know isn't a popular opinion. There are those Disney purists who long for the days of yore when everything was hand drawn. I feel that; I get it--really, I do. But I don't think the beauty of hand drawn animation discredits that of CGI. But this is off topic. The point is, I thought the animation in Frozen was gorgeous. The characters were fine, but the scenery is what really blue me away (especially in "Let It Go" sequence. I promise I'll stop mentioning this scene soon).

I'd been hearing complaints for months about how the female characters in Disney CGI films were all looking the same. And I can see their point, but it's not making my feminism senses tingle, and I'll tell you why. Here is a picture of Anna and Rapunzel side by side.

Please ignore that it says French_Disney_Princess

They do look pretty similar, don't they? Same big eyes, same button nose, thing lips, white skin, light colored eyes and hair. However, I agree with this dude that, if you're going to criticize these two particular characters for looking alike, then you have to criticize a lot farther than that. One of the points that Erlandson makes is that Disney has a particular "look" for its female characters that includes big eyes, thin lips, and a button nose. Erlandson cites Ariel as the character that popularized this model, and I can see what he means.

Big eyes, button nose, thin lips. Sounds familiar. So as you can see, the problem of Disney's female characters all looking pretty much the same is hardly unique to Frozen and Tangled. It is a wider problem that can only be addressed with time and more culturally diverse movies. Because Disney only recently made The Princess and the Frog, we probably won't see another African American protagonist for a while, but I would be interested to see if a South American princess joins the line up in the coming years. To sum up, the fact that Disney's female characters follow an archetype doesn't bother me from a feminist perspective, but I agree that Frozen hardly adds any diversity (yes, it's the first film set in Sweden, but it's still Europe) to Disney's princess cast.

As for the people complaining that Elsa and Anna look too much alike...they're sisters. It's okay.

Moving on. The storyline was comfortable--good, but not groundbreaking. There was, however, a twist on the "true love's power" trope at the end, which was refreshing. I don't want to give too much away about the storyline, but I will say that my only disappointment was that I wish Hans had been handled differently. That's all I'm saying.

The characters were lovable and charming. Elsa was much more mature than Anna, which showed because of the more complex struggles she had to face and her more practical personality compared to Anna's carefree and "looking for love" mentality. What this means is that while Anna is probably who you would consider the traditional protagonist (she's got a lot of screen time, she's a heroine, and she's got the romantic subplot), Elsa is even more compelling a character.

I heard someone say that Elsa's character and the plot were basically just a revamped "Wicked." The fact that Idina Menzel voices Elsa corroborates this statement, as do several elements of Elsa's character, but I prefer to think Disney didn't just rip off "Wicked"...is that too idealistic? I've never seen "Wicked," but from what I know of it Elsa's story is very similar to Elphaba's, but I think the addition of Anna sends the story in a different direction.

Kristoff, Sven, and Olaf were the other three main characters in Frozen. Kristoff is an antisocial ice-seller who thinks the only friend he needs is his reindeer. He's funny and lovable, but, while the movie definitely has romance, he isn't the main focus or goal at the end of the movie. Instead, Frozen focuses on the relationship between Elsa and Anna. Sounds great to me!

Sven would not make it on my Top Ten Disney Animal Sidekicks list. He's fine, but not given much screen time and I found him much less expressive than Maximus from Tangled. Olaf is the main source of comedy in the film, and his humor can be a bit low-brow sometimes, but the story of the snowman who longs for summer is endearing so I'll forgive him that.

Overall, I really enjoyed Frozen and I can't wait to see it again. I think it did a great job of still having romance, but not having it be the focus of the film. The film even makes fun of the "love at first sight" mentality, which shows a lot of progress from Cinderella and Snow White. Like Brave, the crux of the film is on familial relationships and being comfortable with who you are, showing that true love comes in many forms. I also liked that one of the protagonists (Elsa) has to deal with mature problems, responsibilities, and consequences. 

Go see it! Procrastinate whatever you're supposed to be doing and get yourself to a theater!