I am a huge Disney fan. I’ve watched close to every single animated film they’ve put out, and have been following the company since I was a small child.
We all know the Walt Disney Company for it’s pioneering success in animated feature films. We’ve sung along to classic films like “Aladdin,” “Beauty and the Beast,” “The Little Mermaid”, and others. Even before their groundbreaking Renaissance Era in the 1990s, Walt Disney Animation Studios thrived on films that entertained and touched the hearts of audiences around the world.
The studio has seen its ups and downs, and has recently reached another high point in popularity, Box Office sales and Academy Awards.
But what really bugs me about this increase is that their most successful recent film “Frozen” got so much recognition and so many accolades. I contemplated the possible reasons for this, and I have come to realize that “Frozen” was written as a film for children. Yes, there is a “size doesn’t matter” joke in the movie, but overall, the film was designed to target one of the widest audiences any film studio could hope to reach — the 3 to 12 year old girls.
And the fact of the matter is that Walt Disney never intended to make pictures targeted toward children.
I’m not saying its not a good movie. It was. I was just hugely disappointed with the lack of effort and artistry that is present in the previous great Disney movies.
Critics have said that it is the greatest Disney film since “The Lion King”… which they’ve been saying about every Disney film since “The Lion King.” But when you think about it, even if you believe it’s the greatest film since their greatest films… It’s still not as good as their greatest films.
There are a lot of things wrong with “Frozen” like its lack of thematic consistency in the music and the plot holes with the rock trolls and Sven and Anna. But there were some things that really annoyed me in the theater.
A sad point to make is that when it comes to design, DreamWorks did it better. If you’ve seen “Rise of the Guardians”, the way they portray the chilly aspects of nature is extremely more artistic. Elsa’s palace did not look amazing to me at all. It looked like an empty glass palace. They should have learned a thing or two from the VFX team that worked on Jack Frost’s snow and ice.
Also, the climactic lyric of the Academy Award winning anthem is “the past is in the past”….. how in the world does that deserve the same award that was given to the lyrics “If you walk the footsteps of a stranger, you'll learn things you never knew you never knew” and “How high does the sycamore grow? If you cut it down then you’ll never know?”
The song doesn't even fit into the Norwegian theme like the other tunes in the film - "Fixer Upper" and "Love is an Open Door"... oh wait. Neither did they. Christophe you hit the nail on the head with the score, but Kristen and Robert have some learning to do.
Again, I'm not saying it was a bad movie. It had a lot of good elements! The idea of true love being between Elsa and Anna and not the love interest was incredible and Olaf was really cute.
But I’m sorry, even though there’s plenty of room in my heart, “Frozen” will never find room next to Disney's classics.
