Frozen 2013
This Disney movie got a lot of attention when it came out not least for the song “Let It Go,” but I never got around to seeing it. I really didn’t even know what it was about, but I recorded it during a free weekend of Starz. There is a lot of singing in this movie. The songs are mostly pretty good, but that surprised me. Other than that it is kind of by the numbers for Disney, but the story is good and a little different from the usual, though with all the typical elements. Some of it is pretty funny and there are a couple of romances that are cute to watch. Still, the main story is a little flat, involving magic that has rules we don’t really understand. Despite a near tragedy and then a real tragedy at the beginning, I was glad things didn’t get any darker (I was worried about a reindeer, but he gets to live). One problem is the movie is mostly from the viewpoint of the nonmagical little sister to the older magical princess, but the older princess is really the one with all the problems to resolve.
Anyway, while this may not be a timeless classic, it is still a good movie, especially for kids, who won’t be as jaded as I am about princesses and magic spells. The songs are fun (the version I watched had annoying subtitles for all the songs, even though they only maybe needed them for one duet where both are singing different things at the same time) and things happen pretty quickly, so it is still very enjoyable and lighter than the emotionally overwrought Pixar movies of late.
Update: I don’t usually update reviews, but I wound up buying this movie from the Disney Movie Club and watched it again. The animation is very good in this movie and the Blu-ray disk really shows that off. Without having to be worried about the plot as much, I was able to enjoy it a little more. There are several very strong songs in the movie, not just the main one and they seem to fit in pretty well with the story. Also, Olaf is just a great character, sweet but also funny without just being a smart aleck. Overall the movie is better than I remembered and holds up quite well among other Disney classics. One thing with the Blu-ray is they include a segment called “The Making of Frozen” but it is actually a (pretty good) music number (with some of the main cast) about a non-existent “making of” segment. I was able to catch a real “making of” special on the Disney Channel at one point, but wish that had been included on this disk because the story went through a lot of revisions. This Blu-ray is called the “Collector’s Edition” but offers very little in the way of extras. Anyway, I would be tempted to upgrade this movie to an A- now.
Written: 18 Jan 2016
Owned on: UHD, Blu-ray, DVD, Digital