Caution: Spoilers!
There’s no doubting the success of Frozen (2013). Disney’s 53rd animated feature has taken
the world by (snow)storm and continues to be viewed as one of the best films
that they have ever released. Personally, however, I’m somewhat bemused as to
why this is, particularly considering the high quality of the films that
preceded it, such as Wreck-It Ralph (2012)
and Tangled (2010), and even the film
that followed, the underrated Big Hero 6 (2014).
Deconstructing the Disney hit, it becomes clear that Frozen isn’t nearly as cohesive a film as you’d expect – and it’s
profoundly flawed. The following analysis explains precisely why the recent
classic left me feeling, well, a little cold.
Firstly, the movie appears to be somewhat disjointed, almost
as though they were toying with too many concepts at once. Consequently,
nothing is explained. We learn nothing concerning Kristoff’s background other
than that he is an experienced iceman. His adoptive family, the trolls, also
lack development. Who are they? How did they come to be here, and why? And how
on earth did Elsa’s father know about them and their healing powers? We’ll
never know – these questions are never addressed. More importantly, Elsa’s
powers are never fully explained. I appreciate it’s a fairy tale but it still
needs to make sense. The father specifies that she was born with the powers
rather than cursed, but once again it’s never explained why. And that’s
ultimately the biggest flaw this film has – nothing is explained!
Following the film chronologically, Elsa is then quarantined
off from everybody, while Anna’s memory is wiped in order to forget her magical
powers. Once again, my question is WHY?! Elsa
manages to subdue her powers by wearing gloves. This is proven on the day of
her coronation, and everything is perfectly fine. If this is possible, why does
she remain in hiding? On coronation day (which also frankly makes no sense –
who the hell was running the kingdom during the three years following the king
and queen’s deaths?!) Anna meets Hans, Prince of the Southern Isles, to whom
she becomes engaged later that day, following a rather irritating pop song
‘Love is an Open Door’, which utilises modern-day phraseology to a jarringly
cringe-worthy effect – a purposeful anachronism that seriously does not work.
Elsa’s powers are then revealed before the townspeople, and she escapes,
leaving Arendelle in an ‘eternal winter’. Subsequently, Anna decides to go
after her, leaving the prince she just met barely five minutes ago in charge of
the entire kingdom (what?!).
Elsa retreats to the mountains, where she builds herself an
ice fortress, for no real reason other than to show off her powers in High
Definition. This is accompanied by the best song in the film, ‘Let It Go’.
Perhaps you’ve heard of it. Meanwhile, Anna meets Kristoff and his reindeer
Sven, who for some reason acts like a dog. How original. It’s not as though
I’ve seen a hoofed animal act like a dog before… *cough*Tangled*cough*. Kristoff appears to exhibit some kind of bizarre,
almost symbiotic relationship with Sven, speaking for him on numerous occasions
as though they’re engaging in conversation. O…kay then. Moving on. The film’s
focus then completely shifts to Anna,
the ordinary sister, and her relationship with Kristoff. This is a bizarre and
frankly major missed opportunity for Disney – Elsa could potentially be one of
the most interesting, complex characters they ever created. Instead, they push
her into the background. Nothing is explained concerning her powers, nothing!
Is it caused by anguish, or fear, or anger, or sadness, or what? It’s never
made clear. We gather that it’s invoked by some kind of mental torment, but,
bafflingly, she was forbidden from showing her powers after having struck Anna
– yet when she struck Anna she was happy, playing. So what exactly is she
protecting her from?
Anna and Kristoff then meet the always-annoying and very-occasionally-funny
snowman Olaf, who for no other reason than to pad out the film with filler,
yearns for summer. The accompanying song also serves little purpose in terms of
the film’s narrative. What’s more, Anna seems to remember Olaf from when she
was younger – yet how can she if her memory of Elsa’s powers had been erased? But
that’s a minor issue. My main problem with this character is that he is
pointless. You might argue that he’s a side-character, but even the most
irritating of the side-characters in previous Disney films served a purpose. In
The Princess and the Frog (2009),
Louis the alligator yearns to be human, and so has a logical motive for joining
the protagonists on their quest, while Timon and Pumbaa in The Lion King (1994) represent an antagonistic, dissuasive
conscience which helps to facilitate the narrative. But Olaf has no reason to
accompany Anna, Kristoff and Sven, other than to witness the return of summer
in an incredibly thin subplot – one which is used as a poor excuse for a song.
It’s not clever, it’s not funny – it’s just lazy writing.
Later, Anna ascends the staircase of the ice castle to
confront Elsa, introducing her to Olaf. Elsa seems amazed by the fact that Olaf
is alive – that she created life – and yet within minutes she conjures a giant
snowman to guard her castle. If she didn’t know she could do it, how did she do
it again?! After Elsa freezes Anna’s heart, they meet the trolls, and we endure
another catchy but pointless song, concerning the relationship between Kristoff
and Anna. It’s okay… but very pointless, as their relationship never actually
blossoms, and it therefore serves no purpose to the narrative. In fact, saying
that, there’s little point in any of
the development of their relationship, as a true romance is never realised by
the film’s culmination. This is fortunate in one sense, as otherwise the film’s
message would be extremely contradictory; Anna is with Kristoff for barely any
longer than she was with Hans (everyone gave her grief for that engagement, but
nobody seems to care about Kristoff). But in another sense, it means that much
of the film’s focus is completely misguided. Why do they give so much screen
time to Anna and Kristoff when it isn’t relevant to the plot?
They return to Arendelle soon afterwards, with the intention
of finding Hans; as the trolls said, only an act of true love can unfreeze a
frozen heart (again, why is this when a frozen head can be unfrozen in an
instant?). Then, we get the big twist: Hans is evil, and merely wants Anna’s
hand in marriage so that he can usurp the throne. A good twist, right? Um,
well… it doesn’t really add up. If Hans’ intention was to take over the
kingdom, why didn’t he when he had the chance? Anna essentially gave it to him!
What’s more, he winds up lying that he and Anna said their marriage vows
anyway, so why did he not simply kill Elsa on the mountain? Better yet, why did
he venture out at all? It makes no sense.
The ending is also severely problematic. I appreciate what
they were trying to do – instead of the ‘true love’s kiss’ cliché, they wanted
to present us with an alternative, more feminist-friendly interpretation of
true love. Now, I have no problem with this scene alone. In fact, I find it
fairly admirable, in the sense that it is not only original, but more fitting
for a contemporary audience. But in the context of the movie, it just doesn’t
work. For more than half of the film, Anna and Kristoff’s relationship appears
to represent one of the main themes, but it’s entirely disregarded in a
shameful, last-minute, self-aggrandising attempt to confront the traditional,
and to give the film a semblance of uniqueness and modernity in its final
moments. That’s not ground-breaking; that’s bad writing. As a result, it’s
incredibly anticlimactic. Finally, Elsa’s ‘winter’ is lifted after Elsa learns
to love… somehow. I’m not quite sure how that works. I mean, when did she ever
stop loving? She loved her sister so much, she locked herself away to protect
her (even though she wore gloves all the time anyway…), and her parents clearly
loved her too, so how on earth does exclaiming ‘Love! Of course, love!’ help in
any way? Again, it makes no sense!
Overall, this film is a shambles, saved only by a decent
soundtrack (though there have been far better in Disney’s canon). Part of the
problem is that it’s unclear what the film is trying to be. The opening scenes
feel very much like an adult musical, yet the scenes after ‘Let It Go’ seem to
take a different direction entirely, turning it into some kind of
child-friendly adventure story. In all, it’s very patchy and disjointed, and
altogether doesn’t add up. Frozen’s
success can surely only be put down to the effects of merchandising and their
exploitation of the Disney Princess franchise. The songs are decent, but
nothing special, and story-wise the film is severely problematic, laden with
plot-holes. Disney have since announced that there is to be a sequel (which
will no doubt, too, be godawful), but, on a personal note, now that it’s been
two years since its initial release, particularly in light of its obvious
flaws, I think it’s about time people let it go.
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