{"id":446,"date":"2017-07-01T02:08:47","date_gmt":"2017-07-01T00:08:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/geeksfromouterspace.com\/?p=446"},"modified":"2017-12-27T22:54:28","modified_gmt":"2017-12-27T20:54:28","slug":"frozen-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.geeksfromouterspace.com\/review\/frozen-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Frozen is as ice-cold as its title [review]"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"usr\" src=\"https:\/\/www.geeksfromouterspace.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/universal-star-rating\/includes\/image.php?img=01.png&amp;px=12&amp;max=5&amp;rat=2\" style=\"height: 12px !important;\" \/> (2 \/ 5) <strong>***this review contains spoilers***<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s very hard to rate <em>Frozen<\/em> since I\u2019m tempted to give it fewer stars just to kick at this ridiculous pedestal it\u2019s been put on! But, I guess I did enjoy it, kind of, especially because it was visually gorgeous. So, Mr. Integrity obliges me to rate it 6 out of 10. If you consider how important storytelling is for me in entertainment, that\u2019s a pretty good rate for this piece of\u2026 snowball.<\/p>\n<p>Stunning visuals aside \u2013 yes, I admit lots of Disney magic was put in the design of the movie \u2013 it\u2026 just\u2026 isn\u2019t\u2026 that\u2026 good\u2026 compared to other classic Disney animations. <em>Tangled<\/em>, to name but one example rises above <em>Frozen<\/em> like a giant above an ant and crushes it without even paying attention. Why aren\u2019t people all over the globe singing \u2018Flower gleam and glow\u2019 instead of \u2018Let it Go\u2019?!<\/p>\n<p>Granted, the acting in <em>Frozen<\/em> is more than decent. Kristen Bell who plays Anna has a wonderful singing voice. But on the narrative level, this movie really borders more on bad than on decent.<\/p>\n<p>Either the writers of this movie were really tired when they wrote the script or just very lazy. At the start of the movie, it\u2019s not even clear where the story is headed. It may be \u2018original\u2019 to have a story with two protagonists but very hard to handle well. Although I loved Anna as a character, I think focusing on Elsa trying to control her powers might have been more interesting. Split-screening between the two just didn\u2019t really work. You didn\u2019t really get to know either of the characters.<\/p>\n<p>Another disappointment was the lack of pay-offs in <em>Frozen<\/em>.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>You would think Kristoff\u2019s obsession with ice should wind him up with Elsa\u2026<\/li>\n<li>You would think that they wouldn\u2019t spoil a corny love song on a couple that doesn\u2019t wind up together. Why waste songs on bad relationships?<\/li>\n<li>You would think a guy who distributes blankets just out of the goodness of his heart would not turn evil for no other reason than to have a surprise villain\u2026<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>I mean, everyone loves a good twist but \u2018just suddenly changing a character\u2019 is not a twist. It\u2019s not \u2018original\u2019 to turn a character evil without a credible motivation and without traceable foreshadowing. Anna meets Hans completely by accident so there could not have been premeditated evil intentions. She\u2019s not even the crown princess!<\/p>\n<p>This twisted twist feels more like a poor attempt to screw with the moral code: \u201cLet\u2019s make this guy evil \u2018all of a sudden\u2019 so she can date the other guy without feeling guilty.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Explain this to me then: Why would Hans lock Elsa up if he could have killed her? If he intended to become king and had no knowledge of Elsa\u2019s power or what would happen, why would he lock her up and allow her to escape? What kind of a paper towel villain is that? Instead, he tells everyone she\u2019s dead too soon while she escapes.<\/p>\n<p>Also, besides the fact that \u2018the frozen puppet told her so\u2019 based on \u2018who knows\u2019, there is more romantic tension between my hairbrush and the spot of toothpaste in the sink that between Anna and Kristoff. What\u2019s the function of that silly snowman anyway except for failing an attempt at \u2018comic relief\u2019. An opportunity for Disney merchandise?<\/p>\n<h2>What. Is. This?<\/h2>\n<p>While <em>Tangled<\/em> had an awesome clear storyline, the real tangle is in the story-spaghetti of <em>Frozen<\/em>. So many perspectives, so many plotlines, \u2026 This is a children\u2019s story! The audience loses complete track of the main storyline. What is the main story anyway?<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Is it a classic love story? No. They seem to deliberately and stubbornly want to avoid this.<\/li>\n<li>Is it the story of two sisters who care about each other? Probably, but is that enough to build an entire movie on?<\/li>\n<li>Is it about selfishness and abandoning your responsibilities? Yes, but there is no clear answer to that like there IS in the <em>Lion King <\/em>(a timeless classic that remains awesome to this day).<\/li>\n<li>Is it the about Elsa trying to manage her powers and a kingdom? Hmm, some manager. Can you really say she succeeds in the end?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Wouldn\u2019t it have made more sense to focus on Elsa then? What if Elsa had run away and had ended up traveling with Kristoff? What if, in the meanwhile, Anna \u2013 who was never meant to become queen \u2013 was having trouble handling an entire kingdom with the product of a day-long relationship? That could have been more interesting already than having some match-making trolls sing a forced relationship into being\u2026<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.geeksfromouterspace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/elsa_frozen.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-448 \" src=\"https:\/\/www.geeksfromouterspace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/elsa_frozen-1024x626.jpg\" alt=\"Elsa Frozen\" width=\"548\" height=\"335\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.geeksfromouterspace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/elsa_frozen-1024x626.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.geeksfromouterspace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/elsa_frozen-300x183.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.geeksfromouterspace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/elsa_frozen-768x469.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.geeksfromouterspace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/elsa_frozen-50x31.jpg 50w, https:\/\/www.geeksfromouterspace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/elsa_frozen.jpg 1029w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 548px) 100vw, 548px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<h3>Please, explain it to my alien self\u2026<\/h3>\n<p>Maybe I\u2019m too critical of a children\u2019s movie but seriously, I don\u2019t get it. So many people adored this story but there were so many loose ends in it. Also, it was really difficult to know and like the characters. And what&#8217;s with all the double standards of all these crazed adults who are blind to all the flaws of this movie, yet critical of similar mistakes in other animations?<\/p>\n<p><em>Tangled<\/em> does manage to do all of those things really well and still\u2026 who\u2019s is singing <em>Tangled<\/em>-songs or buying <em>Tangled<\/em>-merchandise? A melting snowman may be cooler than a chameleon but only literally. Pascal was awesome! The Disney version of Rapunzel even emulated the original! (Seriously, who agrees to the proposal of a witch to exchange her firstborn for a kind of lettuce?!) And, really, I think the music and lyrics in <em>Tangled<\/em> were much better than the forgettable \u2013 if people would stop singing them that is \u2013 <em>Frozen<\/em> songs. Only after I had watched the movie did I learn that Alan Menken had nothing to do with the music for <em>Frozen<\/em>. And I remember thinking: \u2018Yeah, that makes sense\u2019. You have this fairytale frozen wasteland that could have had a soundtrack like <em>Edward Scissorhands<\/em> or <em>The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe<\/em> and instead, there\u2019s so little magic in the score it&#8217;s actually conspicuous.<\/p>\n<p>As it happens, I watched <em>Enchanted<\/em> the day before I first saw <em>Frozen<\/em>. And again, I could not help noticing that music as well as humor, pacing and narrative structure, \u2026 it\u2019s all done much better in <em>Enchanted<\/em> than in <em>Frozen<\/em>. The latter is clearly missing a good story, a clear narrative build-up. Moreover, it is missing Alan Menken, which makes it a \u2018fun to watch\u2019 movie way below Disney standards (animation standards, that is, don\u2019t get me started on <em>The Force Awakens<\/em>\u2026). The characters left me stone cold and that\u2019s coming from someone who shed tears as soon as the introduction of <em>Beauty and the Beast<\/em> started (with that camera traveling through a forest with waterfall towards the castle of the not-yet-enchanted prince).<\/p>\n<p>I can\u2019t get rid of the feeling that <em>Frozen<\/em> wants to send a cynical message into the world. Except for the sister\u2019s true love \u2018twist\u2019 that wasn\u2019t all that surprising at all it kind of states that love on first sight doesn\u2019t exist (but shared experience and silly troll songs might work), that relationships can end when your love interest suddenly decides he\u2019s been evil his entire life, that it\u2019s okay to abandon your people for a little \u2018personal development\u2019, etc.<\/p>\n<p>Other than its gorgeous visual shell, <em>Frozen<\/em> leaves me very empty. It certainly doesn\u2019t move me enough to join the mass hysteria. I\u2019d rewatch <em>Maleficent<\/em>, <em>Tangled<\/em> or <em>Enchanted<\/em> any day but I think I would use the Frozen DVD as a coaster if I owned it. Or I would put it right next to masterpieces like <em>Aquarium<\/em> and <em>Fireplace<\/em> for mood-setting once in a while&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>Are you one of those humans completely under the spell of <em>Frozen<\/em>? Then please, explain to me what the fuss is all about. Does it meet the standards of some invisible social justice checklist I\u2019m not aware of? Or did I miss a couple of scenes due to technical problems? No, really, if you have the answer, I would LOVE to read it in the comments section. Maybe I am missing something\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>***this review contains spoilers*** It&#8217;s very hard to rate Frozen since I\u2019m tempted to give it fewer stars just to kick at this ridiculous pedestal it\u2019s been put on! But, I guess I did enjoy it, kind of, especially because it was visually gorgeous. So, Mr. Integrity obliges me to rate it 6 out of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":447,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[69,64],"tags":[85,84],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.geeksfromouterspace.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/446"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.geeksfromouterspace.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.geeksfromouterspace.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.geeksfromouterspace.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.geeksfromouterspace.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=446"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.geeksfromouterspace.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/446\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":561,"href":"https:\/\/www.geeksfromouterspace.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/446\/revisions\/561"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.geeksfromouterspace.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/447"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.geeksfromouterspace.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=446"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.geeksfromouterspace.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=446"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.geeksfromouterspace.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=446"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}