Thrashbrowns v. Mouse House, Round 8

Frozen (2013)

The Story:

Inspired by Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale The Snow Queen, Frozen sees newly-crowned queen Elsa lose control over her ice-creating power at her coronation festivities. As a result, she banishes herself to the North Moutain, where she builds herself a giant ice castle and turns the surrounding into a Hoth-like environment. Her sister, Anna, chases her in hopes of getting her to end the endless winter she's left the kingdom of Arendelle in. Together with ice dealer Kristoff, his reindeer Sven and enchanted snowman Olaf, Anna must reach Elsa, end winter and stop the possible nefarious plot of slimy Prince Hans.

Has Thrashbrowns seen this? Why or why not?

Let me tell you a story...

Around the time Frozen was coming to home video, I was working for a communications company that owned a bunch of radio stations. They ran an annual Easter egg hunt and they'd hire high school kids to fill the eggs the week before the hunt. The first year I was there, the kids they hired listened to "Let It Go" over and over. And over. And over. And over. I was hearing that fucking song in my nightmares. That killed any desire I had to see Frozen.

So, no. I haven't seen it.

The Good:

The relationship between Anna and Elsa works, especially in the early going. As Elsa isolates herself, we get to see how that affects Anna and it's pretty poignant. It's hard to have someone you love disappear from your life. I dug that.

The theme running through the movie about not hiding what's unique about yourself is a good addition to this flick. The filmmakers did a decent job of capturing how suppressing who you are can cause you significant damage.

Other than that, there are some pretty landscapes and the song "Fixer Upper" is great.

That's it.

The Bad:

This movie just feels like standard Disney product. You have the girl looking for true love. You have the "hilarious" comedy relief of Olaf. You have the standard-issue handsome villain who you're completely unsurprised by when the plot twists and he turns out to not be a nice guy.  It's not terrible, but apart from the Elsa/Anna stuff, there's nothing you haven't seen in a dozen other Disney movies. That's what this movie's biggest weakness is: it doesn't stand out. At all.

Most Annoying Disney-ism

There's not one big annoying Disney-ism in this movie, but there are quite a few little ones that add up. From Olaf's annoying personality as the comedy relief to the lame misdirection they try to run on the audience by setting up someone other than Hans as the main bad guy. There are the mediocre songs. There's the lame meta-commentary this flick tries to make on other Disney princess movies. Etcetera, etcetera.

Does Thrashbrowns get why people love this so much?

Yes and no. I mean, as far as cute characters that kids love, it makes sense. As far as the messaging it delivers to young girls, the stuff about not hiding your true self and not pushing away people who love you, it makes sense.

But as far as this being a memorable movie experience, I don't get it. There's just too much here that is just like the content you could get from any other Disney flick.  If you're a reasonably savvy movie watcher, you're gonna see how little this movie offers that differentiates it from other flicks, not only from Disney but from other studios, as well. So, I gotta ask, what the hell is it about this movie that makes it so special? Cuz I didn't see anything unique or enthralling.

Did Thrashbrowns like it?

Look, I was biased against this movie from the start. So it's a bit surprising that as much of Frozen worked as well for me as it did. There's some good stuff here. I just wish that good stuff was in a better movie.

Up next:

I think it's time I started catching up on the Pixar movies I've missed, so I think Inside Out will be next.