Frozen
Release Date: November 22nd, 2013
Inspiration: “The Snow Queen” by Hans Christian Andersen
Budget: $150 million
Domestic Gross: $400.7 million
Worldwide Gross: $1.28 billion
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 90%
IMDB Score: 7.4/10
Storyline (per IMDB): Fearless optimist Anna teams up with rugged mountain man Kristoff and his loyal reindeer Sven and sets off on an epic journey to find her sister Elsa, whose icy powers have trapped the kingdom of Arendelle in eternal winter. Encountering Everest-like conditions, mystical trolls and a hilarious snowman named Olaf, Anna and Kristoff battle the elements in a race to save the kingdom. From the outside Elsa looks poised, regal and reserved, but in reality she lives in fear as she wrestles with a mighty secret: she was born with the power to create ice and snow. It’s a beautiful ability, but also extremely dangerous. Haunted by the moment her magic nearly killed her younger sister Anna, Elsa has isolated herself, spending every waking minute trying to suppress her growing powers. Her mounting emotions trigger the magic, accidentally setting off an eternal winter that she can’t stop. She fears she’s becoming a monster and that no one, not even her sister, can help her.
Pre-Watching Thoughts: We continue on through the 2010s as we are starting to come to the end of the line of the canon which is pretty sad to think, and our next film is arguably the biggest film for Disney since the glory days of the Renaissance. There was a lot of buzz surrounding this film with many calling the best film in Disney’s history since “The Lion King” which is quite the lofty standard to set, and I remember how big it was when it first came out and we will see how well it holds up after a few years.
Voice Cast: We once again have a film that is predominately a new cast with only a few actors returning for this go-around, and in this case there are only two returnees as we have Alan Tudyk who voices the Duke of Weselton in a fairly memorable role and then we have Paul Briggs who voices Marshmallow as he was also the head of the storyboard development for the film. Also, we have the return of Frank Welker who provides the grunts and noises for Sven the horse though he is not credited at the end of the film. We now move onto the newcomers as we have Kristen Bell and Idina Menzel who voice Anna and Elsa respectively, and it made sense as the two had worked together in the musical “Wicked” and they bring that same chemistry to this film. I will also mention Livvvy Stubenrauch, Katie Lopez, Agatha Lee Monn, Eva Bella, and Spencer Lacy Ganus who voice Anna and Elsa as children. We then have Jonathan Groff who voices Kristoff in perhaps the most memorable role of his career, and then we have Josh Gad who voices Olaf in arguably the biggest role of his career. Next, we have Santino Fontana who voices Hans in one of his biggest film roles to this point, and then we have Ciaran Hinds who voices Grand Pabbie as he was starting to hit the peak of his career to this point. We then have Chris Williams who voices Oaken and also worked as a storyboard artist as we are seeing more production staff provide voices for these characters, and then we have Maia Wilson who voices Bulda in a minor role and finally we have Maurice LaMarche and Jennifer Lee who voice the King and Queen of Arendelle in minor roles with Lee also serving as co-director of the film. This again was a case where having a fairly small cast worked since there were only a handful of characters in the film and the main ones were heavily focused on throughout the film.
Hero/Prince: While we do have a prince to talk about, he will actually be in a different category which seems pretty weird at first though it will make sense when we get there and instead we have the iceman Kristoff. We see him first as a child along with his reindeer Sven training to be an iceman when he sees the King and Queen along with their daughters meet with his adopted family, and many years later he serves as one of the icemen of Arendelle and lives in the mountains with Sven. He meets Anna who is buying equipment from Oaken and after an exchange that sees Kristoff get thrown out, Anna tasks him to help her reach the mountaintop and find Else which he agrees to and he calls Anna out for her wanting to marry Hans after only a day. After his sled is destroyed when they escape a pack of wolves, they reach Elsa’s palace only for Elsa to demand them to leave and Marshmallow chases them back down the mountain. After learning that Anna is going cold, Kristoff takes her to his adopted family who tell them an act of true love can save her and he returns her to Arendelle, and he goes to leave only for Sven to tell him to go back and they rush back when the winter goes crazy. He is too late to save her when she sacrifices herself to save Elsa, but after she is restored and everything returns to normal he begins a relationship with Anna who gives him a new sled. Kristoff is a solid character in that he is strong, resilient, and loyal especially to Sven who is his best friend, and at first he is unsure of what to make of Anna though he ends up falling in love with her. While he is probably not the most memorable hero in the Disney canon, he is still a solid hero in the modern era and it will be interesting to see where he ranks amongst the top-tier heroes.
Princess: In what I believe is the first time since I’ve started doing these reviews almost one year ago, we have not one but two princesses to talk about in one film as we have the sisters Elsa and Anna. When we first meet them as children, they are extremely close as we learn Elsa has the power to control ice and she uses her powers to play with Anna, but she inadvertently hits Anna in the head with ice and her parents take them to Grandpabble who heals Anna, but alters her memories to forget that Elsa has powers. The kingdom closes the gates and Elsa becomes isolated as she also grows distant from Anna and their parents are killed at sea, and on her 21st birthday Elsa is officially crowned Queen of Arendelle as the gates are opened and Anna becomes infatuated with Prince Hans. They ask for Elsa’s blessing to be married and she refuses as she reveals her powers to the kingdom, and Elsa retreats to the mountains while causing a permanent winter in Arendelle as Anna vows to bring her back. Elsa decides to remain in the mountains and creates her own castle as she releases her fears and embraces her powers, and Anna meets Kristoff and the snowman Olaf who was brought to life by Elsa as they help Anna reach the castle. Anna tries to persuade Elsa to return and restore summer though Elsa believes she can’t, and during the argument Elsa ends up freezing Anna’s heart and she creates a giant snowman named Marshmallow who throw Anna, Kristoff, and Olaf out of the castle. Kristoff learns that Anna is becoming cold and brings her to his adopted family who tell them she will freeze to death though an “act of true love” can save her, and they return to Arendelle as Hans and his army capture Elsa and imprison her. Anna tries to get Hans to save her only for Hans to reveal his plan and he leaves her to die while calling for Elsa’s execution, but Elsa escapes and tries to flee as Anna also leaves to look for Kristoff. Hans confronts Elsa and tells her she killed Anna which drives her to despair and he attempts to kill her, but Anna sacrifices herself and saves Elsa as she freezes into an ice statue. However, her sacrifice constituted an act of true love and she thaws back to life as Elsa learns that love can control her powers, and the kingdom is restored as Elsa reclaims her spot on the throne and Anna begins a relationship with Kristoff as her and Elsa’s relationship is fixed. Elsa and Anna are complete polar opposites of each other as Elsa struggles with herself and the want to be perfect, and Anna is completely outgoing and thrilled to be out of the castle to the point that she wants to marry Hans after only meeting him. After her powers are revealed, Elsa retreats to the mountain and finally lets her fear go as she is ready to stay there forever, but Anna is committed to bringing her back as she still cares deeply for her sister even after Elsa accidentally freezes her heart. In the end, Anna’s love for Elsa is so strong that she is willing to sacrifice herself to save her from Hans, and Elsa finally learns that love is what she needs to control her powers as she becomes Queen with Anna right by her side. These two are great and very memorable princesses and are great fits for the modern era, and they rank right up there with many of the other memorable princesses from the past.
Villain: For the second film in a row, we have a villain that we don’t know is a villain until the climax of the film and this one you could argue is much more memorable than the previous film, and that is of course Prince Hans of the Southern Isles who arrives in Arendelle for Elsa’s coronation. He quickly woos Anna who falls in love with him and they ask Elsa for her blessing so they can be married, but Elsa refuses and causes an eternal winter before fleeing for the mountains with Anna going after her. She leaves Hans in charge of Arendelle and he wins over the people with his benevolence though he ultimately decides to go after Elsa himself, and he arrives at the palace and saves Elsa from behind assassinated as he has her imprisoned. After Anna is brought back to the palace, she tells him that Elsa froze her heart and true love’s kiss can save her as he looks to do that, but then his true nature is revealed as he admits that this was all a plot so that he can take the throne for himself and he leaves Anna to die. He tells everyone that Anna has died though they exchanged marriage vows before that and he orders Elsa’s execution, but Elsa escapes and Hans chases after her as he tells her that she killed Anna. Elsa falls into despair and Hans attempts to kill her, but Anna sacrifices herself to save Elsa and she is thawed back to life and Elsa restores everything, and Anna confronts Hans and punches him as he is sentenced to return to his homeland to face trial for his actions. Hans is a very interesting character in that he seems like the prototypical prince when we first meet him and he makes everyone believe that he is a kind man and cares about Arendelle, but his true intentions are revealed when he unveils his plan to Anna and he is shown to be manipulative, cruel, and truly cold. But much like other villains, his overconfidence ultimately leads to his downfall as Anna and Elsa fix everything and he is left humiliated as he returns to his home to face judgment for his actions. Hans is one of those villains that you actually like at first until you know who he really is and you hate him for it, and he is probably one of the more underrated villains in the Disney canon.
Other Characters: Unlike the last film which had a lot of other characters to talk about, this film goes the other way in that we don’t have a lot of characters in the film aside from the main ones though these other characters also play an important role in the film. The first character to talk about is the snowman Olaf who is created by Elsa to be friends with her and Anna while they are children, and when Elsa heads to the mountain she creates Olaf again though is unaware that she also brought him to life. He meets Anna and Kristoff as Anna remembers him and Olaf says that he dreams of living in summer unaware that he wouldn’t survive, and he joins Anna and Kristoff as they head to Elsa’s palace though they are kicked out by Elsa and Marshmallow. He goes with Anna and Kristoff as they meet Kristoff’s family and then they return to Arendelle where they are split up briefly, but then Olaf finds Anna dying and he learns that Hans was not who she thought he was as he reveals that Kristoff loves her. After Elsa restores Arendelle to normal, Olaf starts to melt away only for Elsa to give him his own personal snowcloud that allows him to live all year, and he enjoys the summer as Sven tries to eat his carrot only to give it back as they become friends. We then have Sven the reindeer who is Kristoff’s best friend from when they were children and he is by Kristoff’s side as they grow up, and he helps Anna and Kristoff get to where they need to go throughout the film. When Kristoff leaves Anna at Arendelle, Sven basically tells him to go back as he knows Kristoff loves her and they return to Arendelle, and after everything is restored he and Kristoff stay in Arendelle as Sven becomes friends with Olaf. Next, we have the Duke of Weselton who represents Weselton which is one of the kingdoms that does business with Arendelle, and after Elsa reveals her powers he declares her to be a sorceress and she flees as he demands she be brought back. After Anna leaves to find her and Hans is left in charge of Arendelle, the Duke demands Hans retrieve them and even tells his personal guards to kill Elsa if need be, and after Hans tells everyone that Anna is dead and he will take control the Duke stands by his side. In the end, Elsa restores everything and the Duke is sent back to Weselton as he is informed by Arendelle will no longer conduct business with Weselton much to his chagrin. We then have the giant snow monster Marshmallow that Elsa creates and he ejects Anna, Kristoff, and Olaf from the palace, and after Anna throws a snowball at him he becomes angry and chases them off the cliff. He guards the palace until Hans and his army arrive as they fight Marshmallow with Hans cutting his leg off and he falls to his apparent death, but he is seen to have survived as he takes control of the palace and crowns himself King. We then have the trolls that serve as Kristoff’s family with Grand Pabbie as their king and we first meet them when the King and Queen bring Anna and Elsa to them, and Grand Pabbie heals Anna while adjusting her memories to forget that Elsa has powers. After Anna’s heart is frozen by Elsa, Kristoff takes her to the trolls as Grand Pabbie tells them that only an act of true love can heal her, and we also have Bulda who is Kristoff’s adopted mother. Next, we have Oaken the shopkeeper who sells various summer items though also sells winter gear as Anna visits him to buy supplies, and he has an altercation with Kristoff which leads to him kicking Kristoff out and Anna buys what she needs from Oaken. We then have the King and Queen of Arendelle who encourage Elsa to keep her powers under control after she hurt Anna, and they are last seen going off on a voyage only to be killed at sea when their ship is destroyed in a storm. Finally, we have the various people that live in Arendelle as well as the representatives who arrive to Arendelle during Elsa’s coronation, and they are initially in fear of Elsa and turn to Hans only for Elsa to restore the kingdom and she becomes beloved by the people. With a film like this, you don’t need an excess of characters as you can keep most of the focus on the major characters with a few minor ones being important as well, and I tend to like this style personally as opposed to having a lot of characters though we will see how the rest of the films of the decade play out.
Songs: After seeing a few films from this decade revert back to having several songs in the film, this film takes it up a notch and is made in the similar style of the Disney Renaissance films in that they are made to be more like musicals which makes sense given that this film would spawn a Broadway show a few years later. This film has quite a number of memorable songs in it with the first one being “Frozen Heart” sung by the icemen in the beginning of the film and it is a basic song to set the scene for the film, and then we have “Do You Want to Build a Snowman?” sung by Anna and Elsa as they grow up and grow further apart and it is a good song to further set the tempo of the film. Next, we have “For the First Time in Forever” which Anna and Elsa sing as they prepare to open the kingdom for the first time in years, and it is another good song as we see things from both girls’ perspective and how they prepare for this event. We then have “Love is an Open Door” that Anna and Hans sing as they proclaim their love for each other, and it is another fun song that if anything shows Anna’s tendencies to quickly jump on something after being locked away for so long. Next, we have the centerpiece song of the film which is “Let It Go” sung by Elsa as she decides to stay in the mountain and fully embraces her powers, and it is a very memorable song and one of the more powerful songs in Disney history to this point. We then have “Reindeers are Better than People” that Kristoff sings and it is a fine song to showcase his relationship with Sven, and then we have “In Summer” sung by Olaf as he tells about his dream to live in summer and it is a fun song to showcase Olaf’s obliviousness to trying to live in summer as a snowman. Finally, we have “Fixer Upper” sung by the trolls as they tell Anna about Kristoff and even attempt to have them married, and it is a fun song as they are happy to see Kristoff with Anna until the mood changes when they realize why they are there. After going through the 2000s where we had a real lack of musical films aside from one or two, the 2010s have been a good return to form for Disney and it will be interesting to see if the films from the rest of the decade continue this trend or not.
Plot: When it comes to Hans Christian Andersen’s stories, most people are familiar with many of them though I wonder if many were familiar with “The Snow Queen” even though it is considered one of his greatest works. In fact, Disney had wanted to do an adaptation of the story even before Snow White was released, and the idea was brought up again in the 1990s before being shelved again and now we finally see it come to fruition though it still underwent various changes to what we ended up seeing on the big screen. In this version, Elsa and Anna are sisters as Elsa has the power to create snow and ice which she uses to play with Anna until she accidentally injures her, and their parents take them to the trolls with Grand Pabbie healing Anna though he alters her memories as well. The kingdom becomes isolated and Anna and Elsa grow apart as Elsa struggles to control her powers, and their parents are lost at sea and when Elsa turns 21, she is to be coronated as Queen and the kingdom opens their doors for the first time in years. Anna is excited to be out in public again and becomes friendly with Prince Hans of the Southern Isles to the point that she falls in love with him, but Elsa refuses to give her blessing and she reveals her powers to everyone which frightens everyone and she retreats to the mountains. Elsa embraces her powers and creates her own ice palace as Anna leaves Hans in control of Arendelle and she goes after Elsa, and she meets iceman Kristoff, his reindeer Sven, and a snowman named Olaf brought to life as they reach the palace. Anna tries to convince Elsa to return though she refuses and in her anger, she freezes Anna’s heart and she creates a snow monster named Marshmallow who scares them away from the palace. Kristoff takes Anna to the trolls who tell them that an act of true love will save her as Hans and his army capture Elsa and bring her back to Arendelle, and Kristoff returns Anna to Arendelle and she tries to get Hans to kiss her only for Hans to reveal that he plans to take Arendelle for himself and he makes everyone believe that Elsa killed Anna. Elsa escapes as does Anna and Hans makes Elsa believe that she killed Anna and he tries to kill her, but Anna sacrifices herself to save Elsa which constitutes an act of true love and she is restored. Elsa realizes that love is the key to controlling her powers and she returns Arendelle to normal, and she reclaims her place as Queen while Anna and Kristoff begin a relationship. Obviously, this is a far cry from the original story where the Snow Queen was evil and early adaptations also had Elsa evil, but I think what they did was a good story and I think it gave these characters a lot more depth as well as relatable despite being animated characters.
Random Watching Thoughts: This is the first official Disney film not counting Pixar’s “Toy Story 3” to be the first animated film to make over $1 billion worldwide and it won’t be the last; I feel like there aren’t many films that draw inspiration from Scandinavian culture; Usually when the opening sequence features snowflakes, they typically intro a Christmas film which this clearly is not; Being an iceman in Scandinavia seems like a profitable job given how it is usually cold there for most of the year; Kristoff and Sven have such a close relationship that they share carrots; I feel like the song being called “Frozen Heart” and them singing about the frozen heart is foreshadowing what’s to come in the film; It took him all day, but Kristoff finally got that block of ice out of the water; I feel like this is a tribute to “Snow White” when the dwarves were mining for jewels and singing about it except obviously these men are collecting ice; You can tell that the castle of Arendelle was slightly modeled after the castle of Corona just not as big; Anna can’t sleep because the sky is awake, so she is awake and must play; Elsa doesn’t want to play and wants to sleep until Anna asks her to build a snowman; In coming up with a name for the snowman, how did they come up with “Olaf”?; I feel like this is something that wasn’t built upon in the film that Elsa runs out of magic briefly; Why would she think to throw a bit of magic at Anna’s head to save her?; She has no problem controlling her power until she thinks she hurt Anna, and only then does she lose control; At the time, the map falling on the floor seemed so insignificant, but little did anyone know how important it would end up becoming; Elsa is so powerful that she leaves a trail of ice behind her as they ride up the mountain; Kristoff sees them galloping past and is completely unaware of what is to come; The trolls do a good job in disguising themselves as real rocks; How would things have played out if the King said Elsa was cursed with this power?; The heart is hard to change, but the head can be easily persuaded; Remove the memories of magic, but leave the fun; He flat out says that fear will be the enemy, but they don’t think to say that it is love that is her greatest ally; I feel like isolating her from society isn’t the best thing to help her confidence; Anna so desperately wants to be with her sister, but in her defense they won’t tell her why they should be apart and she feels forgotten about and shut out by Elsa; The power of gloves; Anna really has a lot of time on her hands just watching the clock for hours; Anna is to the point where she doesn’t bother knocking on Elsa’s door; There was no way they were going to survive that storm; Elsa is so scared that she doesn’t even attend her parents’ funeral; It is a nice touch that Anna still has the white streak in her hair throughout her life; Elsa’s bedroom has become a freezer; It’s amazing that Arendelle has survived for 3 years with both Elsa and Anna locked away and no one ruling the kingdom; That kid really doesn’t want to be dressed up so formally; I’m surprised no one would see Kristoff basically talk as Sven and think he was crazy; Right off the bat, the Duke of Weselton appears shady as he wants to know their secrets; So they are going to open the gates for this one day and then after Elsa becomes Queen, she is going to have the gates shut again; Anna clearly needs her beauty sleep; She really sounds convincing when she says she’s been up for hours; She got ready in a hurry after learning what day it was; 8,000 salad plates; That’s quite a good number of ships showing up for the coronation; She goes from being excited to just having people to interact with to possibly finding someone to love; Anna has got some strength to throw that bust as far as she did; Elsa is the complete opposite of Anna as she is not excited about meeting people; Anna finally leaves the castle and she nearly gets knocked into the fjord by a horse; The horse even bows to Anna and nearly send them into the water; After some teasing, they finally pay it off with Hans falling into the water; That one guy asleep on Hans’ shoulder; Elsa’s like “Why won’t he let me pick these up with the gloves on?”; Elsa and Anna trying to make awkward conversation after not seeing each other for so long; Them mispronouncing Weselton as “Weaseltown” would be a running gag; The Duke has worked on his moves; “The Little Dipper”; Just try to imagine a chicken with the face of a monkey; You can tell Elsa wants to tell Anna the truth; Hans casually puts his glass on the tray walking by; Anna says she was born with the streak in her hair and she dreams that she was kissed by a troll, oh if she only really knew; Hans is the youngest of 13 boys and I wonder if his mother was frustrated that she never got any daughters; If Hans has 12 older brothers, what is their line of succession like?; Hans saying he loves crazy should’ve been a red flag for Anna; If Disney hadn’t established the “true love” narrative in their films prior to this, this would be so suspicious that Hans is so in tune with Anna after just one day; In Elsa’s defense, the fact that Anna would want to marry Hans after just meeting him that day is rather suspicious; Elsa telling Anna to just leave is such a punch to the gut; It doesn’t help Elsa when the Duke is calling her a monster; Elsa runs across the fjord and inadvertently freezes it and causes winter; The Duke giving out orders like he is the ruler of the land; At the time, Anna giving Hans control seemed innocent enough; There have been many good songs in these films since the Disney Renaissance, but I feel like “Let It Go” is on a completely different level; Obviously, a big reason why “Let It Go” is so memorable is the amazing performance that Idina Menzel gives; Her creating an ice palace makes sense, but it is a bit of a stretch that she can create her own dress out of the blue; Anna’s horse left her high and dry so quickly; Her dress froze quickly after getting out of the water; “Wandering Oaken’s Trading Post and Sauna”; Oaken has to do a sale of his summer supplies given that it is now winter; The winter department is a bit barren; At least Oaken was willing to let Kristoff use the sauna for free; The whole family managed to fit in the sauna; Oaken was so friendly until Kristoff called him a crook; Anna was willing to buy all the things Kristoff needed just so he could help her; Kristoff doesn’t interact with people much if he thinks reindeer are better companions; Anna’s trying to be forceful yet she can’t help but apologize; Fresh lacquer; Anna just can’t comprehend the fact that her getting engaged to someone she just met that day is so crazy; Sven got some good distance on that jump; That was a big explosion caused when the sled crashed; Even though he is speaking for Sven, Sven is making sense; I love how Anna thinks Elsa will be able to end the winter and thaw out everything even though we’ve only seen her create ice and snow; Sven got a little crazy with the icicles; Even Olaf knows that yellow snow is not good; Anna and Kristoff playing hot potato with Olaf’s head; Anna doesn’t remember that Elsa has powers, yet she remembers that Olaf was a thing; Olaf has had so much experience with cold that he would be all over anything that is warm; The way Olaf sings make it seem like he is an opera singer; They obviously have never sold firewood before if they don’t know how to lay the bark down properly; The Duke hates that Hans is giving things away that could be traded to Weselton and make him money; On the surface, you would think that the Duke is the villain; The Duke thinks that killing Elsa will end winter, but what if it doesn’t?; They are walking into a pathway that has icicles shooting out as if to indicate that they shouldn’t move forward, but they just progress and think nothing of it; Anna is ready to climb up the mountain until Olaf happens to find a set of stairs; Yeah, I don’t think Sven is going to make it up those steps; Anna tells them to give her a minute and Olaf actually counts down the time; Olaf made it to 60 and just came in; Such a contrast as Elsa wants Anna to remain away from her and Anna wants her back by her side; I’m sure there were many gasps in the audience when Elsa shot that ice into Anna’s heart; Poor Sven made the mistake of trying to lick the ice banister; Anna throws a snowball at Marshmallow and barely grazes him, yet he goes completely over the top; Somehow, a tree is able to stop Marshmallow; Kristoff has a lot of confidence that landing on 20 feet of snow won’t hurt them; Olaf is all misshapen and he says he is out of shape; Sure enough, they did survive the fall; Sven really wants Olaf’s carrot; That was good for Olaf to remind us that he doesn’t have a skull or bones; Kristoff says he’s seen his friends fix someone before and I wonder if he was referring to Anna because he saw it as a child, or if he is thinking of someone else and doesn’t realize it is Anna; Many of the original ideas for the film had Elsa as the villain and I wonder how that would’ve played out; Again, the trolls are so good at disguising themselves as rocks that Anna and Olaf think Kristoff is crazy; A Kidney Stone; The trolls are so thrilled that Kristoff brought Anna that they think they are an item to the point that they even try to do their own wedding for them; They were so happy and jovial until they realized what was wrong and then the mood changed quickly; Anna goes from having just one strand of white hair to now her hair changes completely to white; They attack Marshmallow and just make him even angrier; The two thugs don’t know what they are dealing with; I always thought those icicles go through the thug, but they actually just slide under his arms and hold him up against the wall; Hans keeps the thug from shooting Elsa only to knock down the chandelier; They think that sealing her hands in gauntlets will prevent her from using her powers; Kristoff tells Olaf to stay out of sight only to quickly meet people seconds later; Kristoff brings Anna back and they don’t even think to have him stay; Hans being revealed as the villain is probably one of the most memorable and shocking plot twists in Disney history; Again, the overconfidence of the villain is their downfall as Hans believes he has already won; Hans does a great job in making people believe his words; Again, Sven is the voice of reason as he tries to get Kristoff to go back to Anna; There is literally a storm brewing in Arendelle; Olaf can use his carrot nose as a key; For being a snowman, Olaf certainly knows a good deal about love; A little foreshadowing as Olaf says that love is putting someone else’s needs ahead of yours; Some people are worth melting for; Olaf uses an icicle as a telescope; Olaf builds up a lot of snow sliding down from the castle; Poor Olaf being blown away by the wind; The tension is building strongly that you think Anna will actually freeze; You think Sven didn’t make though he somehow survives; Hans pulls no punches in making Elsa believe that Anna was dead and it was her fault; The storm stops and the snow literally freezes in place; More gasps in the audience as Anna steps in front of Hans and freezes as she prevents Hans from killing Elsa; Remembering what Olaf said about putting someone’s needs ahead of yours, Anna sacrificing herself constitutes true love and she is restored; Anna no longer has the original strand of white in her hair; It took Elsa this long to figure out that love is what it takes to control her powers; At least Olaf believed that this was the best day of his life even if he melts away; Anna gets the last word on Hans; Hans is in for quite the ass chewing from his 12 brothers when he gets home; The Duke also gets put in his place when they tell him that Arendelle won’t be trading with Weselton anymore; Anna actually kept her word and got Kristoff a new sled; The Official Arendelle Ice Master and Deliverer; Anna just had to mention the sled had a cup holder; You think Sven finally got Olaf’s carrot only to give it back to him; Now Elsa can magically make ice skates; We close out with a final shot of the star; Not only did Marshmallow survive the fall, he just declared himself King of the palace since the tiara was still there.
Overall Thoughts: Overall, this was a tremendous film and you could argue it is up there as one of the best films in the Disney canon which is crazy to think since not that long ago, we were dealing with some of the worst films in the canon. It feels like forever since I gave the trilogy of Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and the Lion King perfect scores and we have gone through a lot since then, and there have been some pretty good films and some pretty bad films though nothing that could be on their level. However, this film feels like it could fit in that same vein of those three along with many of the classic films of the past. The 2010s have been a great time for Disney as they are growing and gaining some more properties such as Marvel Studios and Lucasfilm, and as we continue through the decade we will see how the animated films play out as they start focusing on these other properties as well. As for this film, it is a fantastic film and to this point the best of the decade, and you can argue that it is one of the best Disney films of all time.
Final Grade: 10/10
