Raul Pantojas

Professor Bomboy

Arts and Humanities 101

December 03, 2015

Disney’s Frozen Critique

            The film I chose to critique is the highly regarded Disney film Frozen, which was written and directed by Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee. I chose to critique this film on the sole content and the message it delivers to children, which is the films target audience.

            As little girls in the palace of Arendelle, princesses Anna and Elsa were inseparable. But Elsa was born with the power to manipulate and command ice and snow that have always been out of her control; as a result, her parents’ kept their daughter and kingdom isolated from the rest of the world. The powers would eventually result in the accidental injuring of her sister Anna. With the help of magical rock trolls, Anna is saved. The king and queen insist that Elsa’s abilities must be kept hidden, outside contact remain limited, and the staff is drastically reduced. Anna and Elsa than lose both parents in a tragic ship wreck. When their parents drown at sea, the siblings continue their quarantine until, three years later, it is time for Elsa’s coronation. After the tragic death of her parents, Elsa inherits the title of being the queen of her parents’ kingdom. While Elsa deals with the complications of ruling her kingdom while trying to hide her powers from the public, her sister Anna is overly obsessed with finding her “true love”. During Elsa’s coronation, Anna and Elsa come to a disagreement and Elsa loses control of her magical ice powers in front of all her subjects attending the coronation. Shortly after Elsa runs away from the kingdom and inadvertently brings a snowy and cold curse on her kingdom.

            I believe that the purpose behind this film was to inform the viewer on the real struggles and difficulties that those we deem as different have to deal with. I also believe that the creators wanted to demonstrate the importance of teamwork in order to overcome challenges. The story is a touching tale about the bond between two sisters who have to set aside their differences in order to overcome challenges bestowed upon them in order to regain control of their kingdom and their lives.

            There is one scene that in my opinion that really delivers and demonstrates how strong of a bond both sisters maintain with each other. The scene occurs during one of the final moments of the film when Anna becomes completely frozen due to being struck by her sister in the heart during an earlier disagreement. Throughout the film, it is believed that Anna can only be cured by receiving an “act of true love”, which Anna interprets as being a kiss from a man who loves her. After realizing that her “true love” is only interested in her royalty and not her, princess Anna is locked away by her once “true love”, Prince Hans, of the Southern Isles. The prince than attempts to kill Queen Elsa but his plot is thwarted by Princess Anna who sacrifices herself in order to save her sister, Queen Elsa. Apparently this constitutes an “act of true love” and the curse is lifted from Princess Anna who begins to thaw.

 In “Frozen,” the heroes are heroic and the villains are refreshingly villainous. There is plenty of adventures that work its way into the picture, along with heartfelt moments of sacrifice, stirring compassion, and unexpected deviousness from ambiguously motivated characters. While most of the roles are coordinated around singing, the purely comic relief, waddling, buck-toothed snowman Olaf is exceptionally funny, never delivering a dull line and capable of inspiring laughs based entirely on visual gags. I believe that the character Olaf also serves as a constant remainder of the necessity to have a positive outlook on the future no matter what the conditions are at the present time.

The story occasionally transforms around the musical numbers, though the transitions aren’t always natural, choruses are booming while dialogue shifts into melodic verses. Spontaneous singing can feel disruptive when conversations are weighty for example in the middle of an argument a song breaks out; but the pieces conducted in solitude are especially moving. Overall the music greatly aides in the demonstration and deliverance on the message of the importance of being yourself and having great teamwork skills.

When compared to other great animated Disney films such as the Lion King, Finding Nemo, or The Incredibles, Frozen definitely continues the trend of greatness. The music is inspiring, the graphics are amazing and the overall message that it delivers to children is incredible and easily appreciated. The voice acting of the characters is extraordinary and the performances are genuinely positive. In an industry that tends to hide adult content throughout children’s films, Frozen meanwhile tends to refrain from this, and focus on its main audience, which are the children.