I think I have literally watched this film more times than any parent should be subjected to. My 2 year old daughter adores it and constantly clamors for more of "Fro?" as she proclaims.
In any event because I've not written anything for kos in awhile other than the why are we still arguing piece, and beyond that I had always hoped to include a movie review portion to your KOS feed. I figure why not pick up the torch after the whole woman shaming crud that has been sliming around here recently and use that as a kick off to review a movie that bucks quite a bit of Disney woman trends, yet in some modes also reinforces precepts that tend to be on peoples lips around here.
Skate with me beyond the fold, and I promise some warm hugs from myself and Olaf
Frozen was literally a labor of love, initially inspired by the idea of bringing the Hans Christian story of the Ice Princess, John Lasseter (the wizard as they called him at Pixar), in his working allowed one of the first women to be director of a full animation film, that being Jennifer Lee.
It is pretty obvious that Lee brought to the table some of her previous work on Wreck It Ralph, well and beyond her just writing. Here she seemed to soar higher than one can be expected. Her direction was poignant and at one point she was totally and almost entirely in charge of the story and direction while the producers like Lasseter handled the actual production end.
The list of female directors is long and large, however in this reviewers mind I feel that Lee has not gotten enough credit for the work that she laid out. She had came on board when Lasseter had seen the title character Elsa as a villian, but she was convinced that the title character wasn't a bad person...just a tortured soul. Even when the film was going through almost total rewrites between production and directing, credit goes to Lee towards crafting the tortured soul character that is Queen Elsa through using her relationship with her own sister.
Enough about the setup though, what about the film?
It could not be more perfect to be honest. Well, I mean, it could have some more meat thrown in there, but on basis...yes Disney swung for the fences here and hit one out of the park.
We have a simple, yet at the same time a dramatic break from Disney tradition when Elsa in the opening moments, laying a foundation...says "You can't marry a man you just met". That right there literally throws the entire baby out with the bath water on the entire princess mythology, striking down years of what we have known as the princess thing.
To the poignant moment when Anna, who the story revolves around, sees her supposed knight in shining armor revealing his true colors as the manipulative SOB he truly is and honestly based on some of the lyrics in the happy piece voiced with Anna earlier in the film, talking and singing of true love.
But what is true love?
In the end, the movie puts a giant explanation point on the importance of love for love's sake. Of caring for each other above your own needs. Even clueless to some degree Kristoff gets that message eventually.
*spoiler to some degree........Anna gives it all up for her Sister
Long story short, I applaud you Disney for bucking the trend and continuing to portray women in a more empowering role. This recent installment, though while it didn't have the pixar name attached to it, one could not watch with out feeling that the hook was there regardless.
If you haven't had a chance to check this one out, I encourage you to do so ASAP. Easily a 4 out of 5 and definitely an Ebert thumbs up on this one.