Haha, the title speaks for itself. I don't really like or hate Frozen. Even with the magic and such, it's something I didn't enjoy much.
Anybody can write a good movie review but since this is for Bitlanders' women empowerment theme, I'm going to be critical. Find out why below. But first let's start with the cast, trailer and synopsis before we dive into my review.
Warning: Spoilers ahead.
(Screencap by ArtGirl, credit: Walt Disney Animation Studios via YouTube)
♣ The Voice Cast ♣
Here are the main voice actors in the movie.
◙ Kristen Bell voices 18 yr old Anna
Elsa's younger sister. A princess of Arendelle, a fictional Scandinavian kingdom.
◙ Idina Menzel voices Elsa
A princess of Arendelle who has magical frost powers. Became "The Snow Queen" upon coronation.
◙ Jonathan Groff voices Kristoff
An ice vendor who helps out Princess Anna to find her sister.
◙ Josh Gad voices Olaf
A funny snowman Anna and Elsa created as children.
◙ Santino Fontana voices Prince Hans
The real villain of the story.
(Photo credit: Proof via impawards.com)
♣ The Trailer ♣
This is one of the Frozen trailers. It shows Olaf the snowman and the reindeer.
(Video credit: Chris_buck via Bitlanders)
If you'd like to see another one, watch the other official trailer. :)
♣ Synopsis ♣
There were two royal kids in the kingdom of Arendelle. One day Elsa, the elder of the two siblings, showed and shared her magic ice powers with her sister Anna. While playing she accidentally hurts Anna. Their parents took them to the trolls who could help them.
The trolls removed some of Anna's memories and healed her. Upon coming home, the parents lock up Elsa in her room and she is taught a mantra to "conceal and don't feel". Anna is left always wanting to play with her sister but always not being able to. During their teenage years, the King and Queen die while traveling at sea leaving the two behind.
Next we see them all grown up. Princess Elsa will be crowned Queen and thus the castle is opened to the public again. Unfortunately Elsa still has no control over her ice powers and thus exposed herself to everyone after her coronation. She runs away to the mountains, builds an ice castle and unleashes her power, turning the entire kingdom into a snow country.
(Screencap by ArtGirl, credit: Walt Disney Animation Studios via YouTube)
Princess Anna looks for her so she could stop the seemingly endless winter. She finds Olaf and Kristoff and together they go on a quest to stop the snowy weather. People also go after the Queen because of the seemingly eternal snowy weather she brought about. In the end, again Princess Anna almost dies but Queen Elsa manages to save her sister and have a change of heart as well and so they all live happily ever after.
♣ ArtGirl's Review ♣
Back in 2013, I remember everybody was raving about this movie. Somehow I did not feel like watching it at all based on the movie trailer. Even at home, I never bothered watching it until my mom said she wanted to watch it. (Omg, why oh why? Haha.) Maybe she was curious too so I and my brother watched it with her.
There's not much to hate about the movie but I felt like I was forcing myself to watch something I don't want to see. Haha. I didn't even finish it in one sitting. I had to watch the latter parts from time to time because I just didn't feel like knowing about it at all.
As mentioned at the beginning of my article, I am writing this only because Bitlanders has an ongoing movie blog writing activity to support women empowerment. To better understand the term, a paper on this topic has this to say about what it is:
The three important components of empowerment included in much of the literature are ‘‘resources’’, ‘‘agency’’ and ‘‘achievements’’, though different authors have used different terms with respect to these three components.
Based on the above definition, I will evaluate Frozen if it does help in furthering the idea of empowering women or not.
With the above background info, I'm sure you know this review may not end well for Frozen.
◙ Characters & Story
To be fair the story is a big departure from the usual princess in distress who needs to be saved by a prince. Honestly I prefer Enchanted and Tangled's story. For me Frozen is overrated and overhyped even if the story was said to be a struggle to write.
I mean, someone with magical ice powers hides it from everyone instead of nurturing it to use it well? Where is the master in this story? Ah but wait, only if the student is willing will the master appear.
Wouldn't it be better if someone who has an extraordinary ability looks for ways to learn how to use and develop it? Otherwise he/she should do research on what to do in order to take advantage of it. But of course yeah you might say it is easier said than done. Everything is easier said than done but at least those who do something about their issues, instead of wasting away the time and talent, will benefit from it.
Sure I know it's not easy to make stories and come up with a fantastic screenplay everybody will love. I did say I didn't like the movie very early on. It just doesn't resonate with me even if I like animated Disney films.
I would have loved it more if they made Elsa into the opposite of Jack Frost's character from Rise of the Guardians. Ah but somehow they chose to make Queen Elsa into a weak royalty with amazing powers. Even the White Witch of Narnia is better than her. Originally the writers did plan on making her evil but they changed her to what she is now. Is this their way of not making her seem so bad? Or maybe they want to show the beginnings of a great queen? They did purposely make her character weak instead of a real villain in the story just to avoid cliche tropes.
This animated movie was inspired by Hans Christian Andersen's "The Snow Queen" fairy tale where the said entity is of an evil nature. In this version, Queen Elsa is not a real baddie but she has the power to create ice and snow. Anna and Elsa are two humans who perhaps due to being royalty are too naive in behavior. Even so, are they not royalty who should have royal educators? Aren't princesses supposed to have the best teachers in the world even in seclusion? Come on.
(Screencap by ArtGirl, credit: Walt Disney Animation Studios via YouTube)
Once they have grown, Anna is in such a hurry to be married to someone she just met once the castle gets opened to the public. Why? Does it mean the castle was purely and entirely closed to the public and they aren't allowed to have guests, friends or go out into the world? And then her sister Elsa is too closed off to other people for fear of hurting powerless humans when in fact she is royalty who people can admire or look up to no matter what. Where were the wise old people of the kingdom? Why are there just magic trolls involved to give a one-time advice?
In the end, it takes almost the death of Anna for Elsa to realize how she wasted all her years doing the exact opposite of what she should be doing: love people. Frozen is not a story of women empowerment but it is a tale of how someone wasted her talents or extraordinary abilities only to realize her mistakes in the end. Good thing the story did not end in tragedy. If it did, perhaps it would have fared a bit better in story like the Lion King. Or not.
I mean, imagine this. You have a magical (1) resource, you have the (2) agency or the main royal bloodline to be able to decide, rule and empower your life and others, and you have the possibilities of having great (3) achievements by using the two aforementioned and you don't use any of it? Dear Queen Elsa, who has been teaching you all your growing up years? I wonder how she was given any kind of exceptional homeschooling to become like that.
(Screencap by ArtGirl, credit: Walt Disney Animation Studios via YouTube)
Now Anna, well of course we all like Anna even if she can be dense at times. I admire Anna for her perseverance or sisterly love even if she gets treated coldly. I won't say it's stupid but if it works for the story and people like it then go ahead and be like her.
Personally I don't have the capacity to be like Anna yet. If I was treated badly by someone for years on end, especially if it was a sibling, I'd prefer not to interact much with them. Which is actually what I and one of my brothers is doing. In summary, we're just civil to each other, that's it. I'm not a martyr, and I will not stand for being treated bad for my entire life especially when I am not even doing anything wrong to him anymore. I have no reason to accept any negative treatment from him or anyone because I am not a doormat. Yes I will fight for and with him if needed if I know he deserves it but I will not stand by and let him treat me in any unacceptable manner too.
The movie siblings' case is different than mine of course so there is a big difference in turnout. Yes I know siblings are not always evil but still it is not good to be treated badly or shunned just for being who you are. Acceptance can be one of the keys to dealing with other people. As I keep saying over and over to others: We cannot change other people, we can only change ourselves.
Anna cannot hope to change Elsa but she still loves her and accepts her as she is. That is one of her good qualities. Elsa's other possible good quality is having a sound mind on advising Anna not to marry someone she just met. But then again her insecurities came up and the power she was hiding got exposed. Ah well... I won't go into circles discussing the bad aspects of the story and main characters. At least as the Queen she was able to change herself near the end of the film. Hurray!
(Screencap by ArtGirl, credit: Walt Disney Animation Studios via YouTube)
I do not recommend anyone watch this if it's meant to be a coming of age movie. Queen Elsa only becomes "free" and empowered upon total isolation. Yes, it can be used as symbolism to how being immersed in nature can help clear our thoughts but that's it. When she runs away into the mountains that's the only time she decides to be herself. Is that the first time she has ever truly lived in isolation? The film shows she has mostly been on her own in her room in the castle for almost her entire life and yet she only becomes free to be herself outside the castle? Well good for her she discovered being independent can be empowering.
Unfortunately, upon finally accepting and embracing her powerful abilities, she goes ahead and puts Arendelle into winter mode. That's plausible but how can she make a beautiful and perfect castle and a giant snow guardian just minutes or hours from being ashamed of exposing her "uncontrollable" powers? You get where I'm getting at? Okay sure, nobody's perfect so fine I'll give her a little bit of credit. Perhaps she's a natural talent.
On the other hand, Olaf and the magic trolls provide fun and good comic relief so at least the story has more than one saving grace. Yes it's a children's story but you know, I prefer Batibot episodes or anime over Frozen any day because of the more valuable lessons can learn.
(Screencap by ArtGirl, credit: ArchieBuld via YouTube)
The twist near the ending is not really something to like either. I mean, it could have been a real tragedy if Anna stayed frozen. Elsa will forever be guilty and sad if Anna had not turned back into a human being after being cried on. Lol. Ah hero complex.
Anyway let's just put it this way instead: the film shows us that people need other people to interact with. They can be a man, woman or child, even plants, animals and toys too! Total isolation is not a good thing as you can see how it negatively affected the lives of the two royalties in the story. Being coddled and protected too much as a child and a teenager will not get you anywhere as an adult. The time you could have spent learning important growing up lessons will be learned too late in life. The silver lining to this would be the "better late than never" saying.
Still, the subplots are much better and acceptable than the main storyline.
(Screencap by ArtGirl, credit: Walt Disney Animation Studios via YouTube)
◙ Voice Acting
Well what can I say, Idina Menzel have received well deserved praise all over the world for her dubbing role in Frozen. The theme song Let It Go is indeed a powerful one. Wish I could sing such high notes easily like her. Haha.
(Screencap by ArtGirl, credit: ScreenSlam via YouTube)
The voice actors are all a delight. I like how they all brought the characters to life.
◙ Graphics & Music
If there's one thing Disney is good at, it is the wonderful soundtracks and songs they have in their animated movies. One of the most wonderful part of Frozen is the soundtrack.
Personally I don't like Let It Go that much but it is kind of a positive song people can sing along to. Yes it talks about letting your true self shine, that's well and good. The only thing I don't like about the lyrics is the part where it says there's no right or wrong or rules for oneself. Hey don't just do things without thinking of the consequences. Being free to do as you please doesn't mean you should disregard any negative effects of your actions on other people and the world.
I prefer "Do You Wanna Build a Snowman?" over Elsa's song. It's a sad song if you think about it because it's a song of longing too. Watch this movie clip below and tell me if it doesn't make you feel sorry for them because of everything that happened.
(Video credit: Disney HD via YouTube)
As for the graphics and animation, well I like it a lot. The costumes and setting all look wonderful to me. Queen Elsa is pretty and her ice castle is impressive. Oh I'd love to build a castle just like she did if I could. Haha.
For what it's worth, it's still a visual treat we can appreciate. All the characters look lovable too and Arendelle seems like a great place to be in. 
(Screencap by ArtGirl, credit: Walt Disney Animation Studios via YouTube)
◙ Rating
So, now we come to the final part of my review. Here are my individual ratings per part.
- Characters & Story: 5
- Voice acting: 10
- Graphics and Music: 10
Overall I give this movie an 8.33 out of 10 stars. If you're wondering why then maybe you should watch this to get a better sense of what is wrong with the movie. Lol.
For my other movie and related blogs, click below:
- Jupiter Ascending: A Lukewarm Sci-Fi Intergalactic Love Story
- Good Behavior: The Show About Someone Trying To Be Good Even Though She's Bad
- Good Behavior Season 2: Bigger and Better Than Ever
- Ant-Man and the Wasp: A Light and Fun Marvel Family Movie
- What Happens When We Keep Doing Good
- Why People Hate or Hurt Other People (1 of 3)
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