Due to an accident while playing with her powers, Anna is injured and Elsa is forced to pretend her powers never existed and must hide them for the rest of her life. During the one day their castle opens its doors, Elsa goes out of control and it's up to Anna and a cast of interesting characters to save the summer.
I...do not like this movie. Is it bad? No. The snow and ice is rendered very well and I'm a big fan of (most) of the songs. There are parts of the main characters that I enjoy, but this movie is just a little too predictable.
Spoilers from here on out.
There are three things that I really liked about this movie, but each one leads to a problem.
1. The songs. This movie starts strong with song after song after song. Each song furthered the story, as any song in a musical should. "Do you want to build a snowman" became a very sad song about how these two sisters grow farther and farther apart and really grew on me as it went on. "For the first time in forever" is a great dueling duet about Anna's loneliness and longing for the companionship her sister used to provide and Elsa's loneliness from her isolation out of fear, and "Let it go" is a fantastic letting loose song and just a fantastic song in general.
The problem is that the audience is bombarded with songs for the first half of the movie, but then the songs suddenly stop. For the last half of the movie, there are zero songs. Why? I loved these songs. The trolls song was a little too on the nose, but even Olaf's song was pretty funny. I would have liked to have seen more. Speaking of Olaf...
2. Olaf. When I first saw the teaser for this movie featuring the comedy relief racing towards a carrot, I dreaded them. Silly characters in animated movies are usually one of three things. Either they are one joke characters that wear out their welcome pretty quickly, or they are "kid" funny, with fart jokes and pain humor. Thankfully, the comedy relief is the third, rarer kind. Actually pretty funny. Olaf keeps up a very happy demeanor no matter what happens to him, and it's a funny trait and a refreshing change from the norm.
I almost regret typing this next part, but leave the comedy to the comedy relief characters. Anna and the male lead, Kristoff try to be a kind of funny that I honestly can't stand. Trying to be a "hip" kind of funny, with jokes that go against common sense. Why would you attack the snow golem? Ever? That thing could kill you! Don't put your feet up on the dash? Is that even possible on a real sled? That seems like you would fly out the moment you tried it. At first I thought it was self deprecation humor when Kristoff mentions how you do not marry someone after meeting them on the first day, but it turned into a kind of predictable plot point after it's pointed out. Speaking of Hans...
3. Hans. Hans managed to have me fooled for the first 30 minutes of the movie. He genuinely seemed like a good guy and I wondered how the movie would end if there were two love interests. Would one end up with Elsa? Both had the possibility, and maybe I'm gullible, but I honestly thought Hans was a good guy up until the end.
Which brings me to my main problem with the film. It's actually really predictable. The moment Kristoff and Anna mention how bizzare falling in love and marrying in one day actually is, it's pretty obvious that one of them will be the villain. While I liked Hans as a good guy, I still knew he was going to be bad, no matter how much I wanted him to stay good. It's kinda obvious. Two guys in one movie? One is the love, the other is a bad guy.
One good and one bad from Tarzan
Gee, I wonder which one is the bad guy...
The good guy gets the girl and the other is a bad guy.
(lol)
Seeing Elsa feel fear and regret throughout the movie made it pretty clear that she was going to become a good and accepted person by the end of the movie. During this whole movie, I kept waiting for the twist. Kristoff the ice lover gets together with Elsa the ice creator? He did like the ice castle, and Hans would have stayed a good guy like I wanted. What if Anna discovered she had powers too? Her hair is a fiery red, sort of polar opposite of her snowy haired sister Elsa. The early hit that gave Anna her white lock of hair could have been a power dampener that, once removed, let her powers show. One had power over heat and kept her sister's powers over cold in check. If that happened, this movie could have been a fairy tale or legend of how the seasons came to be. Elsa begins winter, while Anna starts summer. Two sisters always watching out for each other for all time.
Maybe it's my fault. I kept expecting the movie to be something I wanted, but I should appreciate it for what it is, not what it could be. But when I see in my mind what a movie or game or a show could be, I wonder what could have been. This movie was not bad, but I'll be listening to the songs a lot more than I'll be remembering the movie.
I love how you would have ended it! While I do (sorta) like the ending I would have totally prefered yours
ReplyDeleteThanks! Means a lot.
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