*this entry will contain SPOILERS
I already mentioned in my previous post that I thought Frozen falls quite short in practically every aspect that Tangled did better, that is except for the songs. I maintain this idea as I’ve seen Frozen for a second time. Now, before I get lynched once more by those loudmouthed idiots over the internet who believe shouting louder makes them more correct, I’m not saying that Frozen is bad; I’m simply saying that is it an overrated film. It’s not bad by any account; it’s just not as well-made as compared to Tangled, nor does it even stand on its own next to Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King, or even the non-musical Wreck-It Ralph.
An Organic Unity of Story, Song, and Spectacle
The really good Disney movies have an organic unity of story, song, and spectacle. The story is simple, but not condescending. By condescending, I mean it doesn’t treat its audience like children. Beauty and the Beast is one; it may be the most fairytale of the Disney Renaissance as well as the most girly, but its simple but intelligently written storyline is appealing for the kids and not distracting for the adults. Its script respects the intelligence of the audience, unlike Frozen. Remember Anna’s resurrection scene when Olaf mentioned something about “self-sacrifice being able to thaw a frozen heart?” Thank you for pointing out the obvious, Olaf! Thank you for ruining that scene which I thought was clichéd as hell, and which was bordering on being a deus ex machina. So there, we have one of Frozen’s problems; a distractingly written script which looks down on its audience. Another recent Disney film had that problem; it was The Princess and the Frog. If any children’s film is guilty of being too condescending, it would be that.
“But surely, Evil Dr. Bok,” you ask, “Surely the songs make up for the script’s shortcomings?” Uh, yes, in a pretty lazy way, and no that isn’t a good thing. Disney songs are good, but they contribute to the narrative drive of the film. Again, I would give the example of Beauty and the Beast as that film is the gold standard for Disney musicals in the 90s. Every song, and I mean every song, is absolutely necessary as it contributes some character development as well as help in the film’s narrative. The opening song number establishes Belle and her status in the village, how she feels that she doesn’t fit quite in, and it also establishes one of the key characters, Gaston. See the economy in that song number? See how it merges into the film’s narrative? That’s the organic unity I’m talking about. What does the Olaf song have to do with the story? Fine, it’s cute, and the novelty of seeing a snowman in summer is fun, but what does it contribute to the entire narrative? Maybe I need a copy of the lyrics to fully appreciate it, but for now, it would seem that there’s no other purpose for the song other than, “Hey we have a talking snowman here. Let him sing.”
And for those particularly close listeners, see how every single song in Beauty and the Beast, while particularly catchy, feels organic? “What do you mean by that, Evil Dr. Bok?” you ask, and I reply, “There is a consistency in the musicality of the song numbers and the score.” We know it was Alan Menken who scored the film, and we also know that it was Alan Menken who composed the song’s music. That’s the consistency I’m talking about. The problem with Frozen was that there is a disjoint between the film’s score and its songs.
Speaking of musical consistency , there isn’t even a good consistency within the songs themselves. We’ve got the opening chant, “Do You Want to Build a Snowman”, “For the First Time in Forever”, that duet with the Gaston wannabe, the inevitable “Let It Go”, and the Troll and Olaf songs. If you have a copy of the OST, try to listen to them to see what I mean. Now try to listen to Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King, Hercules, and to an extent, Tangled (except for the opening song number). Each song has a musical consistency with each other. While some songs maybe too comedic at times, it works within the film’s world itself. Some songs in Frozen are too poppy; definitely at odds with the opening chant in the film. While the chant does give an interesting sound, the succeeding pop tunes tend to diminish it, which is why when we finally hear that chant again when Elsa finally thaws Arendelle, one can’t help but feel that the motif was underdeveloped.
As for the spectacle, well, I guess I can’t complain much about Frozen’s look; the ice motifs are definitely fun to look at (the “Let it Go” sequence, I’ll admit, had me forming goosebumps. And if there’s something that Disney has perfected, it’s coming up with the appropriate “MTV” for its musical numbers (I don’t mean that as a derogatory remark, by the way). Which leads me to one minor (more of nitpicking) complaint…
Where’s the villain?
Beauty and the Beast had Gaston; Tangled, despite having way too many antagonists, both real and pseudo, had Mother Gothel; Sleeping Beauty had Malificent; Wreck-It Ralph had King Candy; and The Lion King had Scar. What did Frozen have? A snivelly old man from Weasel Town, and a Gaston wannabe who’s character reversal is not well established because we were paying too much attention to the songs. Yes, this film meant to examine the sisterhood relationship of Anna and Elsa, and I appreciate that, but I have to admit I missed seeing an actual villain in this film. Tangled, surprisingly, had one very interesting villain. Gothel wasn’t as established as Scar or Gaston, but she makes up for it for her slyness and sheer manipulation. She managed to keep that flower hidden for god knows how many years. She was able to sneak into the castle to kidnap Rapunzel as an old lady, AS AN OLD LADY! She climbed up the terrace AS AN OLD LADY! My goodness I just realized how cool that is! That and she managed to manipulate Rapunzel into singing to for the next 18 years, she manipulated the Stabbington Brothers into working for her, and she stabbed Eugene Fitzherbert at the back! And she was supposed to be one of the “weaker” villains in Disney lore! What did Frozen have? Not much.
Final Words
The really good Disney films have stand out musical numbers, and to that aspect, I will again say that Frozen’s musical numbers really stand out. They are hummable, catchy, and indeed well composed. That, however, is its “downfall”. I thought that Frozen’s musical numbers are distracting in the sense that it distracts you from the problematic script, and the (I hate using the word) cliché storyline. In the end, one remembers the songs, not the story. Is this a good thing? Not exactly. Always remember that film is still primarily a narrative driven medium, and regardless of how good the songs and eye candy is, the story, songs, and spectacle must be unified. In this aspect, Tangled beats Frozen in practically every other department except for the songs.
Commentary by a Jaded Idealist 
Pretty much on board with everything you said about Frozen, but I felt it was better than Tangled.
In what aspect? 🙂
Eh, Rapunzel came off as a Mary-Sue for me.
You’re right that Frozen is beyond overrated. You’re right that Tangled is better than Frozen is just about every possible way… but I want to emphasize that even the songs in Tangled are better. People will argue that “Let it Go” is such a great ballad, but have you read the lyrics? Bland. From a storytelling standpoint, Elsa’s transition from a person hiding her powers to one that uses them constantly comes out of nowhere. Not once in the film does she even show character… character that WANTS to break free of this prison her parents convinced her of. In the film Elsa the Snow Queen runs away because her powers are revealed and she’s afraid of bringing harm to anyone. What she SHOULD be running away from is that this is not the life she wanted to live. The live of hiding herself should have been absolute torture and it would have been great to see ounces of that. Where’s the internal struggle of the characters that Disney used to be so good at? For being the main story driving point of the movie, Elsa becomes quite boring doesn’t she? She just wants to hide the entire time… and even when she runs away… nothing has changed! She’s still hiding even if she CAN use her powers. What’s the point of all that? I can go on and on forever about the story problems of this movie. It is shocking how well it’s been doing though. Are people that easily entertained nowadays? I mean, I will give it that much. It’s entertaining as all hell… but it’s not the best thing from the studio. Not in a long shot.
YESSS. TANGLED>>>>>>>>>>>FROZEN. Let It Go is SOOOOOOOO overrated. I was face-palming when she sang “Don’t let them know. Well, now they know”. Like really? Did they REALLY just rhyme “know” with “know”??? Even my nine-year old sister pointed out how lazy the song writers were with the rhyming. They rhymed “door” and “anymore” together in 4 songs (Let It Go, For the First Time in Forever, Love is an Open Door, and Do you Want to Build a Snowman). Not only were there very few good songs, the plot was terrible. I made the mistake of seeing this movie in theaters because I thought it would be as good as Tangled. If this is the new Disney, count me out.
Agreed. Even my 9 year old sister criticized the songwriters’ creativity and pointed out that they rhymed “door” and “anymore” in four songs (Do You Want to Build a Snowman, For the First Time in Forever, Love is an Open Door, and Let it Go). HUGE lack of originality in the rhymes. Also, I was totally face-palming when Elsa sang “Don’t let them know… well, now they know!” in Let it Go. Like really? It sounded sooo bad the first time I heard it that I’ve tried to avoid listening to it since.
Overall, as a HUGE Disney fan, I can only say one thing: Tangled>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Frozen
Okay, so I don’t know why my comments aren’t showing up, but I just wanted to say that I totally agree with the author in everything EXCEPT that I thought the songs in Tangled were better composed. The rhymes were more clever and don’t even get me started on how amazing When Will My Life Begin and Mother Knows Best (Reprise) are. Even my 9 year old sister criticized the Frozen songwriters’ creativity and pointed out that they rhymed “door” and “anymore” in four songs (Do You Want to Build a Snowman, For the First Time in Forever, Love is an Open Door, and Let it Go). There was a HUGE lack of originality in the rhymes. I was totally face-palming when Elsa sang “Don’t let them know… well, now they know!” in Let it Go. Like really? You just rhymed “know” with “know”. It sounded sooo bad the first time I heard it that I’ve tried to avoid listening to that part since.
Also, there were so many plot holes. Why does Elsa have powers? Who are these trolls? Why does Olaf come to life and where has he been the entire time the girls were growing up? Why did Prince Hans protect Elsa if he wanted her dead? Why would Prince Hans go look for Anna if he wanted her gone? Furthermore, Olaf was so annoying. In Summer was one of the worst songs in the movie, right up there with Fixer Upper (a bunch of trolls promote cheating on your fiance, but it’s okay because it’s a cute song…NOT). Honestly though, what is this movie trying to promote? Cheating? Because that’s what I thought, as I sat in the movie theater in shock. I could not stand how Anna flirts with and almost MARRIES Kristoff while engaged to another man. Luckily for her, that other man just *happens* to be a villain. How very convenient.
Frozen and Brave are now tied for my least favorite Disney Princess movies. I made the unfortunate mistake of watching both movies in theaters but I assure you all, never again. My faith in Disney (the company, not Walt Disney- my role model) has diminished greatly. It’s so sad that they’re trying to be all “modern” by making fun of the past Disney princesses who “married a man they just met”. Uhm, excuuuuuse me. I was not aware that Pocahontas, Mulan, Rapunzel, Tiana, Jasmine, and Belle fell in love at first sight. This is a result of the internet poking fun at Disney movies. If people REALLY watched Disney Princess movies, they’d realize that the women in them are already very independent.
Overall, as a HUGE Disney fan, I can only say one thing: Tangled>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Frozen
Hey, I’m sorry I wasn’t able to approve your comments immediately as I’ve been busy with work stuff. Sorry about that…
I’m kicking myself for refusing to watch Tangled until 2013. OMG, Tangled (NOT FROZERRATED) is Disney’s best Princess movie since Beauty and the Beast. Why? Because the characters’ chemistry is near perfect, the songs seriously are perfect in how they setup a scene and how they actually tell how a character feels. In Frozerrated, NONE of the songs do that. Let it go is just so overrated and annoying. Okay, she’s letting go. I see the Light was breathtaking in how Rapunzel went through so much in her life and realized what she was seeing right in front of her. And don’t get me started on how crappy Hans was as a Villain? Can someone explain how he is a decent villain? He’s so pussified and non-threatening -_- Mother Gothel is so creepy and conniving, I love her as a villain.
Frozerrated was so poorly written, I wanted to leave my theatre’s employee preview half-way, but I stuck around to see if it would get better. If Disney fans want intelligently written or original and intelligently written films , check out Tangled and a Wreck-It Ralph. Both films are LIGHTYEARS Better than Frozerrated.
@ Bok Gil- It’s totally fine. I guess I’m just a very impatient person, especially when expressing my love for Tangled haha 😛
@Tom Karlo
I KNOW EXACTLY WHAT YOU MEAN. I didn’t get to watch Tangled until it was out of theaters 😦 so I tried to make up for it by going to see the next couple of Disney Princess movies in theaters. Too bad they sucked.
Ahhhh, don’t even get me started on how AMAAAAAAZING Donna Murphy was as Mother Gothel. Mother Knows Best (Reprise) was so good. 1000000000000x better than Let it Go. So dramatic, I LOVE IT! And Zachary Levi and Mandy Moore as Flynn Rider and Rapunzel?? I almost died when Zachary Levi started singing. His voice=<3 And the story for Tangled was CLASSIC DISNEY with a twist (when they both sacrifice themselves? now THAT'S true love). 10/10.
As for "Frozerrated" (lol I'm sooooo calling it that from now on), Hans' sideburns gave away the fact that he was a villain, but honestly, he wasn't even really a villain. His role as a villain was just there because the movie needed a plot twist, albeit a terrible one. Also, guess what? Frozerrated is now at a 7.9 on IMDB. I can't wait for the rating to drop even more. It was at an 8.1 the previous time I checked.
Last but not least, WRECK IT RALPH WAS SOOOO GOOD. Not quite as enjoyable as Tangled, but definitely up there! THAT plot twist was a much better one than the Hans plot twist.
Oh no, the horror.
I agree with this. The song “Let it Go” was way to overrated too. More like “Get it out of my head!”. The tunes were simple and stuck easy.
The lego movie had one song. -EVERYTHING IS AWESOME- That one song was better than all of the songs in Frozen, but guess which movie is idolized?
What about “I See the Light”? Rapunzel sings, “…never even knowing just how blind I’ve been…”
What was she blind about? What was she missing? That doesn’t really work with the film. “I’ve Got a Dream” is just filler. The thugs are minor characters and we already know the dreams of Rapunzel and Flynn Rider/Eugene. Then there’s that line “…something here that oozes…” Yeah. Not bland or gross at all. I don’t like how “When Will My Life Begin?” introduces Rapunzel, because almost NONE of those traits add onto the story. So, I can’t exactly call Tangled’s songs the best used.
“I’ve Got a Dream” was just a filler!?! How dare you criticize Dr. Martin Luther King jr’s and his incredible speech about equality?!? Oh wait, you ment in Tangled, never mind.
Dude , 100% hit the nail on the head. I think the message is TERRIBLE. Really parents? “Well, you’re different, so instead of secretly learning how to gain control of your powers, we’ll just lock you in your room away from normal people.” -_- wow, great message.
The snowman song was just utter garbage, seriously. And I agree with you on how songs should set up the story. Look at Lion King: Every song sets up a scene and masterfully moves the story along. In Frozen, they stop the whole movie so everyone can sing. And honestly, ELSA not Anna should’ve sacrificed herself at the end to prove she does love her sister. Anna doing is so predictable.
Frozen Score: 7/10. It’s still a good movie, just not Lion King or Beauty and the Beast good.
Agree. When people said the soundtrack of Frozen was the best they have heard in an animated movie, all I could think of was “BITCH, HAVE YOU HEARD ANY OF THE SOUNDTRACKS FROM STUDIO GHIBLI”. But TBT, the newer Disney movies are incomparable with any of their older (hand-drawn) movies.
Awesome, thanks for mentioning Ghibli, amazing soundtracks. Let it go, is the only song that was catchy. My Little Murmaid, Tangled, beauty and the beast hav way better OST.
Honestly, all the praise Frozen is getting proves how easily entertained people are. All I hear is, “The songs are SO good,” and “The animation is breathtaking.” Very seldom do I hear people talk about the story. It’s NOT (or anywhere near for that matter) intelligently written like you said, but according to the people who like it, all you need are one or two catchy songs and it’s a great film.
Like I said before, NONE of the characters develop at all. They stay the same bland characters throughout the film and Olaf just makes the film even worse
AGREEEEEED. CAN’T STAND OLAF.
@Tangled>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>.Frozen I like Wreck-It Ralph just a tiiiiiiny bit more than Tangled, but they’re both masterpieces IMO. I just checked, SO glad Frozerrated is going down on IMDB. It’s tied with Tangled and only is 0.1 ahead of Wreck-It Ralph. The reason I love WIR so much is because the endless originality, the plot development, the character development and just how EVERY subplot is actually tied up at the end. The only question I had was, “When is the damned SEQUEL?!” Ralph deserves one and I hope people realize just how amazing he and Tangled are.
@Tom Karlo, I’m a bit biased because Tangled is a Disney Princess movie whereas Wreck-It Ralph wasn’t. Hahaha, but I totally know where you’re coming from. The plot twist in Wreck-It Ralph was definitely better (idk about you, but I knew Flynn wasn’t going to die, so no surprise there). Yes, the plot in WIR was definitely one of the MOST original I’ve ever seen. Too bad I didn’t get to watch WIR and Tangled in theaters! SO SAD. Anyways, I WAS JUST TALKING TO MY FRIENDS ABOUT HOW FROZEN’S IMDB RATING IS NOW A 7.9. Last time I checked, it was an 8.1. I think we might actually be twins. My exact words to my friend: “I can’t wait for Frozen’s rating to drop even more.”
In fact, I was so determined to tell everyone how bad of a movie Frozen was that I wrote my own IMDB review yesterday. Spent 3 hours writing and editing it (it was 1200 words of ranting but IMDB has a 1000 word limit, haha).
Check it out:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2294629/reviews?filter=chrono
(author: ruth-music-1234, date published: March 31st 2014, title: Most Overrated Movie of 2013)
Olaf literally had no purpose in the movie other than to break reality and provide comity at the ABSOLUTE MOST SERIOUS POINTS IN THE MOVIE! COME ONNN DISNEY!!!
“Hi! I’m Olaf, and I like being a pain in the ass!”
That’s not totally true. Anna was by far the most developed character, but hey to each their own.
She was the most developed character in the movie, but by other movie standards, she was terrible at character developement.
How do you know people don’t talk about the story? Personally, I didn’t pay TOO much attention to the visuals. They look fantastic, but I didn’t focus my mind on those. As for the songs, I think they’re just the best in a while. Most of them which are pretty memorable (in my opinion). Tangled was criticized for having pretty weak songs (which I DO like. Just not as much as Frozen’s). There’s also about nine of them many of which really make up to story. But seriously, being a full-blown musical (more songs than even The Lion King), the music is kind of the plot. I mean, isn’t it obvious that a person who probably is in love with Frozen, would like a good story?
Olaf had no purpose, point, goal, (or anything really) in the movie. All he does is provide mediocre comidy at the most serious times.
Like Jar Jar Binks……….
Comparing Frozen to past Disney films is not as fitting as comparing it to its immediate competitor, Pixar, which at the very least does not dumb down its dialogue to the point of causing you to ignore it or block it out,and focus on the visual and music instead. So the question is do the lyrics in Frozen while catchy, give more plight to its bland one dimensional characters or are they too self serving to the tone of the scene and forcing you in the most blunt possible way to make you sympathies for something?, that the songs can be just slightly changed, cut and pasted into any shunned whoever with a curse, naive but capable lonely lovestuck girl who mets prince movie. So if the characters are more plot elements that justify the actions of one other and less individuals and the songs don’t help onebit, how can anyone say that Disney is back inform when they’ve completely missed the point of film or musical. So based on this movie Disneys good at songs and visuals and Pixar still masters at everything else. This comes right in the face of saving mr banks, not even two-face could have done this one.
You do know that Disney OWNS Pixar right? They bought it a while ago…
I think he means dreamworks or something.
I thought this movie was horrible. There must’ve been a song in literally every scene, and I didn’t think they were good. Just catchy and obnoxious if anything. I came to see a movie, not a bunch of bad music with a cliche story line.
I mean I love Disney, but for the stories. I don’t focus on animation or music, so I don’t know if that stuff was better in this movie or not. And I don’t care as long as it’s not obnoxiously bad. ^^
I’m a Disney fan through and through, but if this is where Disney is headed, count me out. I don’t think Disney realizes that they’re losing a lot of loyal Disney fans over this movie.
Was that a Lion King reference? I actually liked Frozen but it’s not even in the same league as The Lion King which I thought to be the best Disney film of all time.
Hahah Dan. Yeah, it was a Lion King reference. Glad SOMEONE picked up on it. Personally, The Lion King was not my favorite Disney movie. For me, that award actually goes to The Little Mermaid or Beauty and the Beast or perhaps, Tangled (I’m a Disney Princess fan at heart haha). However, I hated Frozen, so I totally agree that it was not on the same level as the Lion King AT ALL. It was advertised as “The Best Disney Movie since The Lion King”. Puh-lease. False advertising much?
There weren’t songs in every scene, they all were in the first ten minutes of the movie exept the troll’s song. Trolls, all they do is troll the movies progress.
Agree with you completely. This movie is made for 3 year olds. I have no clue how this movie got a god damn Oscar.
From an adult point of view.
Anna – Horny chick who will fall for any tom dick and harry
Elsa – Sister who went total psycho with no character atall. Gets an epiphany in the end and saves everything with TRUUU LUV!111!!
Everyone else – Extras with no character development nothing.
The only character i liked in the whole movie is the sven.
Even tangled was way way better than this.
SO MUCH YESSSS. I hated how Anna was totally flirting with Kristoff while engaged and then her fiance just *happened* to be a villain. How convenient.
Flirting? Anna had hardly ANY romantic interaction with Kristoff. Olaf even had to tell her that Kristoff loved her.
@Cardeen I’m pretty sure Olaf took a wild guess that Kristof loved Anna and that they broke up after the movie.
Anna flirts more with Elsa than with Kristof
I honestly didn’t even feel like the songs were all that good. let it go I’ve warmed up to at this point, but the first time I heard it, it was lacking in a lot of notes that I wish would have come to add some colour to the song. Do you want to build a snow man was really cute. the duet and olaf’s song were so bad that I literally skipped them. there was NO plot. the whole story is about one sister who trecks up a mountain to get the other sister, only to be hurt and sent back on another journey down the mountain. nothing particularly interesting happened until hans revealed himself. I thought that was well done simply because it got be interested, but the whole ending was so anticlimactic and with no explanation. MULAN FOR THE WIN!
Mulan isn’t exactly the best either. Pretty funny, pretty animation, but the songs aren’t stellar and the tone is very inconsistent, just like Frozen’s, always switching from happy comedy to darker drama.
The lyrics in Tangleds see the light song while kind of a uturn midway from the beauty of the lanterns and realising(fogs lifted, sky’s clear) the outside(where I’m meant to go) is infinitely better than her prison/castle, to suddenly proclaiming now that I see you and giving Ryder the crown before he gives some vague bull about how he’s wasted his life…anyways my point is this song alone has more meaning and dept than frozen as a whole. I especially love the manipulation songs in tangled. I dare someone to purse through the songs in frozen and give clear context line by line. The songs in frozen’re very vague but don’t really tell you anything about the characters and most of the songs can be summed up in a line. The snowman and don’t shut me out again are a pair and the gist is separation due to parents and attempt at reunification but Elsa fear of lack of control gets in the way regardless of anna belief of no need for fear. Gist of let it go is Elsa is no longer afraid of what others think and is finally free and happy. Loves a open door and 1st time forever are pretty straight forward, love the tangled cameo BTW. The song with the most heart and meaning I find is the troll song. I just don’t think highly of the songs in frozen and would like to understand why others feel differently.
Glad I’m not the only one who thinks it’s too over hyped! And after seeing it the 3rd time you do start to notice that it isn’t as great as everyone thinks it is.
I started to notice some details to agree with you that it IS good with it’s obnoxious moments.
Beauty and the beast will alway be 1 for me, I tell all the Frozen worshippers that and they get butthurt. Let it go is a good song but shouldn’t be glorified. I hate hate HATE! that “Fixer upper” song with a passion! It was unnecessary and sloppy! Yeah I get it! that its good to have humor in Disney movies to lighten it up. But seriously? In the theaters I sighed in annoyance.
I didn’t really care for love is an open door.
I hate to say it but when I first saw the previews for Frozen I knew automatically that Hans was going to be the Villain, and not Elsa because that’s Anna’s sister.
Good movie but not as good as Beauty and the beast and Tangled.
Also got tired of everyone thinking that Frozen was the first Disney movie where they didn’t need a man to save them.
ME TOO. I’m soooo tired of hearing about how Elsa is such a feminist.
All she does is run away from her problems the entire movie. I don’t think she qualifies a feminist.
I agree with you 100%. The main thing that people seem to forget is that the audience is not introduced to the sisters first. We are introduced to a young Kristoff first. He is clearly seen hanging around the men cutting ice and then he follows the king with the sisters to see the trolls.
Why is Kristof there? How did he get there? What is he trying to accomplish? Why is Sven there?
Hey guys, we’re gonna sell you a fairy tale, and fairy tales are stupid, so here’s some bonus shit for the adults who actually want something realistic and juicy… Anxiety disorder! Sociopathic Prince Charming! Well-meaning but sucky parents! We put them on a boat! They die!
Yup, very cliché/childish/shallow, indeed. 😀
It was painfully obvious that that guy was evil. He had sideburns and his name was Hans!
Hans Landa (Nazi Jew hunter), Hans Gruber (German terrorist), Hans Frank (Hitler’s lawyer), Hans (the henchman in You Only Live Twice), etc…….
As for the parents, Hans the German probably had his U-Boats torpedo their ship like the Lusitania! “Grosser Deutschland!”
I love you guys all of you. I’ve been thinking this for so long. I have watched tangled over 10 times and I’m not sick of it, the songs have a purpose and I love the characters. Frozen was good, but overrated beyond belief. The parents are sloppily killed off, there’s too many songs and Let it Go isn’t even that wonderful. Annas naïve and I don’t know , – just didn’t connect with any of the characters. It sucks how this is the only disney movie people my age(teenagers) seem to appreciate. At least the ones I go to school with. There’s better Disney films with better stories, and I was shocked when it won an Oscar. It was good but nothing more.
Can we actually be best friends?! I TOTALLY AGREE WITH EVERYTHING YOU’RE SAYING. I’VE WATCHED TANGLED LIKE 20 TIMES. I re-watch it every couple of month! None of my friends understand why I think Tangled is a million times better than Frozen. I’ve even lost friends over my love for Tangled because they liked Frozen more.
Frozen was so not Oscar worthy. Let It Go was also not Oscar worthy.Then again, there wasn’t much competition this year, I guess. 😦 Tangled, on the other hand, was robbed of its rightful Oscar and I CANNOT believe that it wasn’t nominated for Best Animated Film.
*months
I know! Frozen and Let it Go were both not deserving of an Oscar. I wanted the Wind Rises to win, but the overhyped, overrated Frozen won. And I love Idina Menzel, but Let it Go is just grating to hear!
In a year of Toy Story 3 and How to Train Your Dragon, Tangled didn’t stand a chance. I’d take “Froverrated” over “Mangled” any day.
It’s just a film. You must have had some really bad friends if they ditched you over a film.
How is not having a real main antagonist bad? It’s unique and non cliche, brings something new and interesting. As for the songs…ugh…they sang every like ten minutes and the only purpose they actually gave to to increase the movie’s screentime. Jeez, award givers are adults, why don’t they think of this stuff first? I swear, no matter how bad a disney movie is, or even if it’s sexist, they get awards because what the heck, they’re Disney!
The main antagonist was Elsa and all of the songs were in the first ten minutes (except the trolls) making the beginning increadibly annoying to watch.
I’m glad I’m not the only one who feels this way. My three-year old daughter’s grandparents took her to see Frozen in theaters and it’s all she wants to talk about. We got it on DVD recently and I sat down and watched it with her and I was just…underwhelmed?
I’ll admit “Let it go” was a good number, and it also sort of gave me chills. But that was about it. I didn’t feel like any of the characters had any kind of development, or that their motivations made any sense.
The more I think about it, the more I feel this movie should have been about Elsa instead of Anna. “Let it go”, the strongest musical number in the film, was hers. All of the character growth (sloppy and rushed as it was) was hers. I honestly don’t understand what Anna brought to the table other than being the catalyst that helped Elsa change her ways. Hell, I went to a five-year old’s birthday party today and the birthday girl was dressed as…you guessed it. Elsa. Her mom told me Elsa dresses had been sold out of the Disney store for weeks. And all the kids were singing “Let it go.” in sync over and over. It’s obvious that the kiddies identify more with Elsa than with Anna. I can’t help but think this could have been a better movie if they had given Elsa’s character arc the attention it deserves.
I can’t believe that I’m not the only one who thinks that this movie is so overhyped. People are saying it’s the best Disney movie ever and it’s become one of my pet peeves. Let It Go and it’s singer are both so overrated. Just because there are pretty snowflakes, pretty ice designs and Elsa’s pretty dress doesn’t mean that the movie is good! I think Frozen deserved the Oscar this year because I would have lost all faith in humanity if anything else won (even Frozen was better than Despicable Me 2). But still, I can’t believe that this movie was considered better that Wreck It Ralph, that movie was awesome and very unique. Frozen is cliche and annoying, I don’t see Elsa’s deep character, all she sounds like to me is a depressed teenager who is stubborn and afraid of stupid things. The “you can’t marry a guy you just met” theme is overrated too other Disney movies with the “love at first sight” theme still turned out better than Frozen. And don’t get me started on the trolls, I’m okay with the snowman but gawd, I hate those trolls and their song with a vengenance. Aybody confused about how Elsa made a flowy blue dress when she’s only supposed to have ice powers? Am I the only one who thought that was far-fetched even by disney standards?
@Lena. Holy Crap. Literally every word you said, was about 100% how I feel about Frozen. Pretty colors and one mediocre song doesn’t make it a good film. Story, plot and character development, themes are what make movies good.
I agree with everything you said, except I don’t think Frozen deserved the Oscar at all. Sure, there were no superb movies this year, but I think Despicable Me 2 was still better than Frozen. And this is coming from a big Disney geek.
Also, I just want to say how much I agree with you about “Let It Go” and Idina Menzel being overrated. That song DEFINITELY didn’t deserve the Oscar. It is so repetitive and annoying. Not to mention, the live performance was so bad.
Yep. I agree with every single word. Especially the trolls songs. Fixer Upper made me want to rip my ears out. But I stuck through it and lied to myself the whole time. It’s only one more song, it’s only one more song. Lol, NO.
Yup, Fixer Upper was the worst! Main message: Cheat on your fiance. If you’re lucky, he’ll turn out to be a villain and then you can date that other guy you’ve only known for 2 days.
I think you’re forgetting The Wind Rises and Earnest and Celestine for this year’s Oscars. They were both so much better than all the rest of the movies, IMO. But I agree with everything else you said.
Hey, hey! The Wind Rises deserved to win, I think you skipped over that one because it’s and absolute amazing movie. But on Frozen, I just, no, don’t like it at all.
In the commercials for Frozen it was “from the creators of Tangled and Wreck it Ralph” now in tu commercials for Big Hero 6 they say “from the creators of Frozen and Wreck it Ralph.”
Disney logic – take a good movie off of the co
mercial and replace it with a terrible one. Now every time I see the “from the creators of Frozen” quote on the comercials, I mentally remove that movie from the list of Disney movies I would watch.
But then again, Big Hero 6 is also “from the creators of Tangled and Wreck it Ralph” so we have, like a 50-50 shot at getting a decent movie.
Thank you! Tangled is MILES better than Frozen. I’m glad someone else agrees!
I’m not saying Frozen was bad, but I just don’t understand the hype at all. I left the theater thinking “meh.” It wasn’t until weeks later that I realized people were OBSESSED with that dang “Let it Go” song (which I couldn’t even remember until I looked it up).
Same reason every Pixar movie is overrated: Hipster douchebags. They want to prove they are sick of mainstream Hollywood and they are innocent as children and shit, and there ARE a lot of douchebags in our society.
With how much people praise this mediocre film, Mike Judge’s film Idiocracy is coming true I believe. For people who don’t know, Idiocracy is about an average guy, not dumb as a post but not that smart either, signs up for an experiment with the Government. He gets put into cryogenic sleep and awakens 500 years in the future where the population of Earth is dumber than Peter Griffin. In other words, people are getting stupider every year. They don’t like intelligently written films, they want everything explained to them b/c they’re lazy, just like how Frozen explains every little detail to the audience, further solidifying the point that it treats the audience like 3 year olds
LOLOL this made me laugh because it’s so true. The fact that the directors felt the need to solidify the point about familial love being more important than romantic love by making prince Hans a villain was insulting. They could have left him out of the plot entirely. Also, was I the only one who couldn’t STAND the songs?
While I do agree that the movie is overrated now, I don’t agree on Elsa being a terrible character, she’s just underdeveloped, Anna on the other hand is way overdeveloped for no reason, I love Let it Go, but in a different language, I love the Danish one for example, I don’t like Beauty and the Beast so I can’t really defend anything about it cause I hate Belle, If compared with Tangled, Tangled does have a better story and character development…that is if you excluded Rapunzel who stayed the same as she is and people only sympathise her most of the time instead of loving her for her personality, Rapunzel personality is nothing new and I can see that they got Anna to do a replica of her personality, the reason why Frozen is so cluttered and cliche is because of Let it Go song, and even though I love the song on it’s own without drawing Elsa near the picture, it doesn’t fit Elsa’s situation at all, if she is free as her musical number suggested it, it doesn’t make sense why she is kind of gloomy in the next scene with Anna, they originally planned for Elsa to be evil which fits the picture of Let it Go even though it can become a villain song, the trolls song was really unnecessary and how do I say, wrong? Cause they basically wanting Anna to cheat with her fiancée, and my cousin, who I know is an intelligent person can’t even see that, truth be told if you want me to pick a story, I’ll choose Tangled, but the song in Frozen to me is nothing like they have ever done before (if you know some that are similar let me know), Do you wanna build a snowman? Has a classic vibe to it, and it’s the closest song that comes to mind if you want to felt heavy situation even though it’s not much, For the first time in forever is a charm but to me if it was voiced differently, Anna sounds so much like a cliche teenager that it makes me cringe a little at the theater, some other countries voiced Anna much more emotional than Kristen Bell could do, Love is an open door is charming when I watched it over and over again, it’s sweet if you don’t know the movie that is, which I pretend not to know cause the movie move so damn fast, I love Let it Go without caring what others think, cause even to me the song in Beauty and the Beast is not worth my time, only two songs that I seem to remember, guess what that songs is, though songs in Beauty and the Beast was needed to tell the story, it was just unnecessary to hear it again if you have watch the movie, now back to Frozen songs, I have one last song that I love and it’s the For the first time in forever reprise, and it’s the one song that I don’t think Disney have over the years, that’s why I love it, duet of two sisters, I love the songs but definitely not the story, it was meeh and underwhelming, besides, if you’re complaining on why Elsa is so gloomy even though they just showed you why, maybe you need better judgement on these things, Rapunzel in reality, her personality makes no sense, Rapunzel is not an idiot, she charted stars and knows how to bake and read, and even paint, and deliberately knows how to lie, it’s pretty stupid when they advertise Rapunzel with when I promise thing, and the movie keeps wanting me to believe that a girl that stayed at a tower was this cheery for 18 years? There’s a line between innocent and stupid, they keep proving that Rapunzel is not an idiot and she soo can fight for herself, but when real trouble came she can’t even do anything without saying “NOO DON’T HURT MEE!!”, I’m sorry, which part did Gothel said wrong again? This girl have brains, her mother that she soo hate teach her everything that she knows, I guess we can see how heartless Rapunzel was when Gothel fell, and boy do I hate Rapunzel’s voice, If it wasn’t for Disney lip glosses she would have been destroyed, while Tangled songs are memorable, it doesn’t have my taste in song, it’s just a song that you hear when you wanna party, and then just poof, Beauty and the Beast was known for it’s good storyline and make believing fans, so I guess it’s a go, Belle is too perfect to become a believable character
Bad songs, obnoxious side kicks, poor character development, weak story line, horrible villian, condescending narrative, amateur humor, unclimatic story, oversimplified resolve, no rhyme or reason…I could go on. The fact is, frozen wasn’t a great movie and it wasn’t even a good movie. The only thing good about the movie was the animation. It has nothing on Tangled. The fact that it won an oscar is ludicrous.
Yup. Frozen is not Oscar worthy AT ALL! Tangled is 10000000000X better.
Frozen was enjoyable but I agree. Too many plotholes and a very flat story. Characters were very weak and poorly developed. Elsa was a good character but it focused more on Anna and Kristoff which was a big disappointment. This IS Elsa’s story after all. The villain twist was also very stupid and there were too many pointless scenes. This film had so much potential but it just fell completely behind compared to the classics like Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King, The Little Mermaid, Aladdin and the earlier classics like Bambi and Cinderella etc.
Tangled was far better storywise and character wise, even the graphics and music were better. So was Shrek, , Rise of the Guardians, Wreck it Ralph and How to Train Your Dragon. I much prefer all of these as they used the potential in their story. Frozen just wasted it.
Funny how many people say Frozen didn’t deserve an Oscar yet all these ones I mentioned did deserve an Oscar. Hype does kill expectations.
Really? Honestly, I thought that Elsa was the most overrated character of all of them. I understand that her parents locked her up away from her sister, but that doesn’t give her a reason to freeze an entire kingdom, and almost kill her sister, all because she was “scared”. I don’t find her deep or relatable at all.
Shrek did win an Oscar for Best Animated Feature. Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King, Aladdin, and The Little Mermaid all won musical Oscars I believe. The category of Best Animated Feature was not made yet.
It wasn’t even the Snow Queen’s story in the source material. It was about a normal girl. The villain of that story was a mirror. The shards of the mirror went into one of the character’s hearts and made them act cold (get it?) I don’t even think Elsa’s character could carry on the whole film. She’s not “energetic” enough, very reclusive, and frightened. I think it’s how Beauty and the Beast went. The Beast is the one character with the main issue and actually has to learn something. However, which character has more screentime? Belle or the Beast?
Let’s not forget that “Demi Lovato” wrote Let It Go. All the movie makers did was change the arrangement. I love Tangled though! I thought even the sings were much better, something I would sing along to. The songs in Frozen were cringeworthy, especially Fixer Upper and For the First Time in Forever. They were extremely repetitive and boring. When Will My Life Begin was nothing like that and neither was I See The Light. The tunes were better, the lyrics were better, and they fit the scenes better. Frozen was highly overrated and very disappointing. Olaf was the only character I cared about. If they had killed that snowman I would have gone ballistic.
I’m going to add that Elsa said it wasn’t safe for Anna as she built a huge snow monster to kill them.
Elsa built the snow monster to get Anna out of her palace. The snow monster left Anna alone until she bothered him.
Demi Lovato never wrote ‘Let It Go’. Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez did. They reorganized the song for Demi Lovato to sing.
Here are my thoughts on Frozen. I thought it was a good movie, but what people are talking about simply are not true. What do I mean? People keep saying that it’s some kind of “revolution” for Disney, when in fact, it isn’t. People love it because it was true love between sisters, not a girl and a guy. What about Lilo and Stitch? Nani has to work her butt off to keep the government from taking away her sister. Elsa didn’t do any of that. When she runs away and Anna comes to take her back home, what did big sis do? She almost froze her heart (technically, she did for a little bit) and when Kristoff comes in to the castle to check up on her, Elsa makes an abomiable snowman to shoo them out. What kind of person would do that? Nani and Lilo might have had their arguments, but they wouldn’t have done anything like that. The first prince who was a jerk? What about the Beast? Before he was a beast, he was a prince. An old woman wanted shelter from the cold, and what he do? He told her to go away. Clearly not the first. There are more to be added to this list, but my point is that it doesn’t do anything differently from any other Disney princess movie. In fact, Anna’s main goal isn’t different from the ladies of Disney old. If you remember in the movie, Anna’s number one objective is to get a man at the beginning. We haven’t had a princess like that since Sleeping Beauty’s Aurora. It’s just not different. So, I rest my piece. On an unrelated note, I wish that Frozen actually followed the Snow Queen, but that’s a discussion for a different day.
“On an unrelated note, I wish that Frozen actually followed the Snow Queen, but that’s a discussion for a different day”
I get the feeling that if they did, it would be a more powerful movie.
There have actually several remakes of a The Snow Queen before Frozen, so maybe Disney didn’t want to copy those?
FYI: The ratings are about the same. Do some research.
Oh my gosh, thank you SO MUCH for writing this article–you have no idea how many articles rave about Frozen and how it’s some sort of “Revolution” and the people that rave about it. Coming from a crazy Disney fan, I don’t hate it or dislike it–I just felt like Frozen was an animated Broadway movie than a true Disney classic film. When I’m saying this opinion–everyone is like, “How rude” and “You are very mean to Disney” Also, I’m not criticizing this movie just to be “different”. Did I also mention that Olaf is super annoying and that Sven and Kristoff are ripoffs off Maximus and Flynn/Eugene?
The soundtrack: don’t get me wrong, I love “Let it Go”, but it surely doesn’t progress the plot. Why? Because just five minutes earlier she was fearing for her powers and the letting the powers out, and after she sings the musical number, she suddenly goes back to fearing. And I love Idina Menzel and her voice, it’s just that it doesn’t quite match the appearance and age of Elsa. And this is a fact: the songs and music take up over half of the movie. I felt like the movie paused itself for a musical number that doesn’t suit the plot whatsoever.
The love thing: What’s wrong with love at first sight? How it’s some kind of “Disney Revolution” to have the Princess not marry her love interest? The princesses that did that did NOT marry their prince that the just met. I know for a fact that 90 percent of the people that say “It’s about time, Disney” haven’t even watched other Disney movies and that, in Disney, anything is possible realism doesn’t really have to go into it.
Hans: the worst. A plot twist is supposed to be surprising, but there’s supposed to be a build up to it, but there was absolutely none. You can clearly tell Hans genuinely loved Anna in the beginning. Also, just because you’re in love with a wealthy or famous/royal person, that person is selfish and greedy? How stereotypical! Disney clearly mocked itself for the love topic. Hans and Anna would’ve actually made a really cute couple. And I agree with you on Mother Gothel: her schemes and cunning personality
The plot and development and its low quality were sugarcoated and hidden by the somewhat and okay songs with the animation (which was really–wasn’t that breathtaking). Uh, Maximus developed more than the entire cast of Frozen combined.
I love how as the movie progresses (in which all the scenes and songs do a very good job of) you can see Flynn/Eugene falling harder and harder for Rapunzel (and for Rapunzel too). It was a great Romeo and Juliet vibe that was wonderfully told.
One more thing: How did Elsa get her powers? Yes, she was born with it, but how is she just randomly born with it? And I won’t take “Pshht, it’s Disney,” for an answer. But with Rapunzel, you know the source: a drop of sunlight that grew a magic golden flower, eventually healing the healed the sick and pregnant queen (her real mother).
The whole “sisters before misters” thing and how a man doesn’t always have to save the day: Haven’t you forgotten Lilo and Stitch? Mulan? Brave? I also think it sends bad messages to kids: “A man is bad in love” and “The rich and wealthy guy you happen to love is a cynical d-bag”. Please: Do not do a Frozen 2, unless it’s a crossover film between Tangled and Frozen (Just those 2 movies: No Jack Frost or anything like that!).
Overall, I love Disney, but Frozen–I can’t say I love it. You can say I can tolerate it just barely as a Disney film, just not a classic.
The problem was getting engaged to a man you just met. NOT true love at first sight. Anna fell head over heals for a guy she didn’t even know. That was the problem.
I just want one more thing to say, if Let It Go was not created, I have a safe bet that Frozen would never have been so popular. And we all know there’s a MASSIVE Difference between quality movies, (Lion King, Tangled, Beauty and the Beast, Wreck-It Ralph) and popular movies (Frozen, Titanic.)
I find that to be a ridiculous statement. That one scene couldn’t the the sole reason for a film to be so popular. The song is certainly popular and a huge hit, but that alone can’t be the reason for Frozen to be as successful as it is. It’s only about 4 minutes of a 102 minute long film. There had to be more, otherwise, there may not have been several records broken and albums being sold.
Titanic is a bad example. Nothing more than a Romantic feast.
I agree with Cardeen. Titanic couldn’t be a worse example.
Comparing Frozen to Titanic is a joke. All they both did was make a lot of money. You’re practically comparing two things that are NOTHING ALIKE. I mean, what person would list all of the animated “quality films” then make some freak comparision between Frozen and Titanic? Oh, that’s right. Because you couldn’t think of a better example of a “popular” animated film. 😒😱👎
“Near, far, wherever you are
I believe that the heart will go on
Once more you open the door
And you’re here in my heart
And my heart will go on and on!”
Whatever. “Let It Go” is just a striking moment. I think of how everyone talks about the incinerator scene in Toy Story 3 but never the rest of the film. I’m not saying Frozen is better than Toy Story 3, but it helps to have a striking moment.
Personally, I don’t think that Rapunzel’s Developement makes much sense. Why? Read this: http://kittengoo.deviantart.com/journal/Kitten-s-top-10-LEAST-favorite-Disney-films-308692113
http://kittengoo.deviantart.com/journal/The-Disney-Vault-Rapunzel-analysis-419136356
I couldn’t disagree with you more on Mother Gothel. She’s one of Disney’s most one-dimensional villains ever. She doesn’t have any goals beyond keeping herself PRETTY. It would have been nice to see a complex relationship between her and Rapunzel. Even Scar is probably the weakest part of The Lion King. He becomes so lazy after he kills Mufasa. He doesn’t even kill Simba himself when he’s ALL ALONE.
I also didn’t have a problem with the songs in Frozen being different from each other. They were written to match each character’s personality. Besides, what’s wrong with “pop?” Unfortunately, it’s the music leading on the world at the moment, so that’s why they might sound a little modern.
I would also argue that “Be Our Guest” from Beauty and the Beast was beautiful, but I don’t feel like it added much to the film. All we found out was that the servants wanted to make Belle “their guest” but that’s it. We could have guessed that already.
“Can You Feel the Love Tonight?” from The Lion King just forced Simba and Nala’s relationship. It added nothing to the climax whatsoever. Honestly, outside of having a cub at the end (her name’s Kiara), they didn’t have to get together.
“When Will My Life Begin?” from a Tangled wasn’t a win-win for me either. Almost none of Rapunzel’s traits added to the story. What did chess playing, paper mâché, and knitting add? They’re just sprinkled on her and are almost all forgotten later in in the film.
HOW is Tangled NOT cliché?! (I don’t like that word either) Tangled reeks of unoriginality. It’s basically a collaboration of The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, and Aladdin. The “I See the Light” sequence is just “Kiss the Girl” and “A Whole New World” all over again. Already been there with the nice thief from Aladdin. Didn’t believe he was a thief for one minute, anyway. Eugene’s death is almost exactly like the Beast’s death. Another evil stepmother figure? Snow White and the Seven Dwarves and Cinderella. Girl who wants to see the world? The Little Mermaid. I even find Pascal to be little like Abu. I don’t find these characters “organic” at all. I’ll say that Frozen is similar to the Broadway show Wicked and Secret of the Wings, but saying Tangled’s original is just downright ridiculous.
That, and I don’t feel like the author wrote a very good article. For instance, Frozen looks on it’s audience only because…Olaf was confirming what saved Anna (and Elsa)? If they just left it open, I don’t feel like some people would have understood what saved Anna. He’s referring to what saved her. Even at that, some people STILL didn’t understand how it happened. Some thought that it was Elsa’s hug/tears. Also, keep in mind that Frozen had a very rough history of story issues for about 75 YEARS. Flaws in the story aren’t that unbelivable.
The other beef is that Frozen doesn’t have a villain. Why does a film need a villain to be good? That’s what makes the film feel different and unique. I’d rather not see another character, especially Elsa, be the villain. Finally, a “Disney Princess” who is a Queen, young, beautiful, has powers and most importantly…GOOD. Also, you claim that Frozen lacks a villain, yet you call Hans a “Gaston wannabe,” who you DID call a villain. Lose credibility big time.
Your review is really poor in my eyes because some things don’t have depth or examples (The Princess and the Frog looks down on it’s audience, because…?) and things could be REALLY judged on personal preference (Anna’s death being cliché, lack of a villain). Happy trails!
How is Tangled NOT cliché? Tangled reeks of unoriginality. It’s basically a collaboration of The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, and Aladdin. The “I See the Light” sequence is just “Kiss the Girl” and “A Whole New World” all over again. Already been there with the nice thief from Aladdin. Didn’t believe he was a thief for one minute, anyway. Eugene’s death is almost exactly like the Beast’s death. Another evil stepmother figure? Snow White and the Seven Dwarves and Cinderella. Girl who wants to see the world? The Little Mermaid. I even find Pascal to be little like Abu. I don’t find these characters “organic” at all. I’ll say that Frozen is a bit like the Broadway show Wicked (both with Idina Menzel) and Secret of the Wings, but saying acting like Tangled’s a breath of fresh air is ridiculous.
I’m nearly in complete agreement with you. In fact, the first – and most significant – aspect that I noticed was the lack of a villain. The modern, albeit generic, use of the seemingly-good-but-actually-evil character cliche does not qualify as a true fairy tale villain; nor does the “weaselly” old man who just wants to explore and exploit the family’s (or, rather, castle’s) secrets.
But I have to disagree with respect the songs. The songs in the first half of the film were downright cloying and forgettable. The post-“Let It Go” songs were much better. “Let It Go” is clearly Oscar bait. It was obviously written and performed for that purpose alone. Notice how the preceding songs are much more low-key, whereas “Let It Go” is soaring and bombastic. Notice, also, how it is performed as a solo, without any other characters on screen. Why? Because it requires the Academy’s full concentration, without any distractions. Also, the lyrics are simple to the point of pedestrian. Now, I know why I was so disappointed in the music and songs for “The Book of Mormon”. Like the stage play, the songs in “Frozen” are inconsistent, as if they were written by different songwriting teams or written for different movies. I thought the best songs were “Reindeer are Better Than People” (not even a full number) and “In Summer”, though neither really has any raison d’etre.
“Tangled” remains the best Disney animated musical film since “Beauty and the Beast”.
Why does a film need to have a villain to be good? Finding Nemo didn’t have one either, but that film had been universally acclaimed. Wall-E technically doesn’t have a true one either, because AUTO was technically following his directive by trying to get rid of the plant. That film has been universally acclaimed too.
I think that’s you’re partway wrong concerning “Let It Go.” The directors changed the film’s storyline because of that song. They didn’t want Elsa to be a villain, like what was planned before. However, despite this, Disney didn’t expect Frozen to be such a success among audiences, especially “Let It Go.” My point is that thinking that Disney purposely made “Let It Go” the showstopper in the film is wrong.
But that does not stop being a failure: So that the film is unique and does not need a villain, why put one last minute? Why not let fear be the villain; one metaphorical concept villain who can not see but you know it’s there? Like it or not, the antagonist is always a key concept in the construction of stories, whether major, minor, filling or in certain cases, ubiquitously. It is an element that moves the sequence of the film as well as gives reason for the existence of the hero or protagonist.
The songs were written to match the characters’ personalities. That’s why they all sound so different. Different characters=differently styled song.
There are many Disney movies way better than frozen that have been known for YEARS frozen is like a catchy pop song that everyone loved but next day its gone.
Frozen is a complete Disney parody to me, that’s it.
I don’t think it’s necessary to compare Frozen with other Disney films to realize how sloppy of a movie it is. The first time I watched Frozen, I was disappointed with the cheesy lyrics. How exactly is Let it Go a better ballad? It sounded like Broadway vomited it up with the unrefined lyrics of a Disney Mousketeer reject. You already hit the nail on the head with the poorly written script.
I do think, however, that the success of Frozen appeals to the myopic “be yourself” message coming out of Elsa’s rather irresponsible behavior. Anna may not be a strong woman, but she is the only one who relentlessly tried to make Anna face the truth, or even to seek the truth, whereas Elsa just veils her relinquishment of responsibility as a solitude-induced freedom. I would hesitate to show this film to my future children, because frankly, Elsa’s character just sends the wrong message. Belle and Rapunzel are more admirable women. Not to mention, Tangled had the better love song and villain song (and none of the films really hold up to Beauty and the Beast when it comes to music).
They also had Indina Menzel sing for Elsa. Don’t get me wrong, she’s great for broadway, but her breathy and scream-like grasp for higher notes are better elsewhere. I remember watching a “behind-the-scenes” look of producers coaching the singer behind Belle during recording. They really urged her to control her breathing and not to strain her voice, because it does not work well to let those be audible for an animated film. This is just further proof that Frozen is perhaps the sloppiest and most overrated Disney film ever made.
Sorry if this comment is late. I watched the movie again today, and I was pretty much cornered out by my family for disagreeing with everyone on those points (and yours). It’s refreshing to see a well thought-out argument.
I don’t like the movie Frozen too! In fact, I didn’t watched it at all! Yes, Let It Go is so overrated! It’s even at the commercials of Disney Channel even though the movie is over already… I prefer other Disney movies instead of this one, but I am no Disney fan… I just like watching some cartoons. 😕