Yay, Frozen!
Last night, my Mom and I went to see "Frozen" and I was not disappointed!
On one hand, the new Mickey Mouse cartoon that accompanied it was very innovative in terms of mixing old-school animation with modern CGI, and I liked the constant breaking/stretching of the 4th wall. But on the other, this is the most literal interpretation of the male gaze that I've ever seen, and I didn't really know what to make of that, especially before a movie like this one. So, uhm, yay-ish.
Fortunately, the movie itself was even better than I'd anticipated. The songs were great, the imagery imaginative, the characters compelling, and the snowman was not annoying after all. I know that this is a highly bastardized version of the original story, but I have to say that I think the writers did the best they could, given the constraints of running time and merchandising options. I liked how the story made it clear that true love isn't just a heterosexual thing, and that keeping relationships strong between family members is just as important as any romantic relationship. The added male characters weren't that annoying (and in one case, surprisingly devious!) and the banter between Anna and Christof was actually pretty cute.
A lot has been made of Elsa's transformation into Sexy!Snow Queen, and while I did find that problematic, too, there were two things that mitigated it for me: 1) the story didn't dwell extensively on it, and 2) that song was just fantastic. Idina Menzel did so well with the whole vocal role, and I really enjoyed seeing that gorgeous ice palace get built from the ground up. In fact, the ice/snowflake/light imagery throughout the movie was simply beautiful, and for that alone I'm glad I got off my high horse and went and saw the movie. So beautiful. :)
Note: if you stay to the end, there's a cut scene after all the credits that's very short and funny, and within the credits themselves, there's one joke that's almost hidden amongst legal boilerplate. Check it out!
Also funny side note: next to me, there was a woman who was Really Into the movie, gasping in surprise at some plot points, pointing frantically at the screen at others, and at one dramatic juncture, whispering loudly, "Hurry up!" It was actually kind of sweet to observe out of the corner of my eye.
On one hand, the new Mickey Mouse cartoon that accompanied it was very innovative in terms of mixing old-school animation with modern CGI, and I liked the constant breaking/stretching of the 4th wall. But on the other, this is the most literal interpretation of the male gaze that I've ever seen, and I didn't really know what to make of that, especially before a movie like this one. So, uhm, yay-ish.
Fortunately, the movie itself was even better than I'd anticipated. The songs were great, the imagery imaginative, the characters compelling, and the snowman was not annoying after all. I know that this is a highly bastardized version of the original story, but I have to say that I think the writers did the best they could, given the constraints of running time and merchandising options. I liked how the story made it clear that true love isn't just a heterosexual thing, and that keeping relationships strong between family members is just as important as any romantic relationship. The added male characters weren't that annoying (and in one case, surprisingly devious!) and the banter between Anna and Christof was actually pretty cute.
A lot has been made of Elsa's transformation into Sexy!Snow Queen, and while I did find that problematic, too, there were two things that mitigated it for me: 1) the story didn't dwell extensively on it, and 2) that song was just fantastic. Idina Menzel did so well with the whole vocal role, and I really enjoyed seeing that gorgeous ice palace get built from the ground up. In fact, the ice/snowflake/light imagery throughout the movie was simply beautiful, and for that alone I'm glad I got off my high horse and went and saw the movie. So beautiful. :)
Note: if you stay to the end, there's a cut scene after all the credits that's very short and funny, and within the credits themselves, there's one joke that's almost hidden amongst legal boilerplate. Check it out!
Also funny side note: next to me, there was a woman who was Really Into the movie, gasping in surprise at some plot points, pointing frantically at the screen at others, and at one dramatic juncture, whispering loudly, "Hurry up!" It was actually kind of sweet to observe out of the corner of my eye.