The UnPopular Opinion: Frozen

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

THE UNPOPULAR OPINION is an ongoing column featuring different takes on films that either the writer HATED, but that the majority of film fans LOVED, or that the writer LOVED, but that most others LOATHED. We're hoping this column will promote constructive and geek fueled discussion. Enjoy!

****SOME SPOILERS ENSUE****

Five years ago, Disney hit paydirt. Well, Disney had hit paydirt before that thanks to Pixar, Marvel, and their acquisition of Lucasfilm, but their in house animation studio was still struggling to hit the same heights it enjoyed for decades. While TANGLED was a success, Disney was not prepared for how big FROZEN was going to be. We are now just months away from the long-awaited FROZEN II which is bound to reinvigorate the already consistent sales of plush toys, soundtracks, Halloween costumes, and sing-a-longs of "Let it Go". But, why should we expect anything more than another formulaic and safe Disney musical from the same creative team that rode a wave of box office receipts all the way to the Oscars? FROZEN is one of the most-overrated Disney films of all time with nothing memorable or special about it.

Disney is a brand, first and foremost, and when their films are not handled by the best filmmakers in the business, it shows. J.J. Abrams, Rian Johnson, Jon Favreau, James Gunn, Taika Waititi, Andrew Stanton, Brad Bird, and so many more talented directors have toed the company line at Disney subsidiaries but still managed to make something that stood beyond just being a Disney film. In house, Disney animation has felt repetitive since their early-1990s rennaissance and that is starting to come through again with their spate of live action remakes. With FROZEN, there was an attempt to replicate the Disney magic with contemporary computer animation but it just never feels natural. FROZEN is the perfect commercial to sell toys with bland music, an inoffensive attempt at female empowerment, and not much else.

FROZEN had the potential to be the booster that Disney animation needed. From the earliest teasers featuring Josh Gad's Olaf and the reindeer, Sven, it looked to be a light and fun fantasy adventure. Once the movie debuted, it was apparent that rather than do something unique, Disney would fall back to their "Princess" formula. To double down, FROZEN has not one, but two of them in the form of Anna (Kristen Bell) and Elsa (Idina Menzel). One is the flighty flibberdegibbit who yearns for freedom and the other is the colder, distant one with powers who…yearns for freedom. At the end of the day, the dynamic between the sisters should have been a bigger plot element and that is what is the fatal flaw in this musical.

Based on Hans Christian Anderson's The Snow Queen, FROZEN is set up for Anna to be the hero and Elsa to be the villain. There are teases of an impending showdown between the siblings throughout the first two acts of the film. Then, writer/director Jennifer Lee and her co-director Chris Buck decide to flip the table and make the sisters both good. Elsa's redemption is never quite earned because she never turns truly evil. Sure, she leaves and builds an ice castle complete with a monstrous ice golem, but after a couple of songs and minimal convincing, she is on the path to rescue her terminally ill sister. All of the tropes of Disney fantasy are thrown in like anthropomorphic characters that contribute to the comic relief but truly serve no vital role to the film.

While "Let It Go", "Summer", and "Do You Want To Build A Snowman?" may be catchy, they are in the most generic way imaginable. During the initial run of FROZEN, "Let It Go" was parodied and played nonstop through summer. How often do you hear it now? While it seemed like it would never go away, now it seems like a one-hit wonder. With the handful of FROZEN short films released since 2014, none have shown a spark that would make a sequel worth seeing. Disney has also not fared well with their animated sequels, a task even Pixar has struggled with outside of TOY STORY. RALPH BREAKS THE INTERNET was fine but nothing like the first film and FROZEN II doesn't stand a chance to be much better.

Between FROZEN and TANGLED, I prefer TANGLED if only because it doesn't pretend to be a revolutionairy fairy tale. FROZEN does have some breathtaking snow animation, but beyond that the character design feels ripped straight from Rapunzel retelling. FROZEN also takes the female empowerment angle and completely wastes it by having the big twist to be that the charming prince is actually the villain who happens to have daddy issues. Sister must save sister and it ends up being all about the power of love. But, there is never a moment where the character of Elsa earns her redemption, especially after spending virtually the entire film following Anna and her story arc. There is so much bait and switch happening in FROZEN that it is easy to forget just what the movie is about since it doesn't seem to know itself.

My opinion of FROZEN is not likely to change the die-hard fans of the film, who are primarily children, but animation these days is something that can be enjoyed by all ages. Pixar has perfected movies that work for everyone and can tug at the heartstrings and entertain in equal measure, but Disney is still not able to balance the beautiful visuals with a story worth investing in. FROZEN II is going to make Disney a ton of money both in theaters and via merchandising. But, FROZEN is one of the few films that was guaranteed a sequel and yet really doesn't deserve it. For the first time in forever, I disagree with something Disney is doing. Like Elsa, they should just let this franchise go.