It has been ZERO days since “Let It Go” was sung in this house.
My daughter Sweetpea loves Frozen, and I’m certain she’s not the only one. Some weekends have felt like a movie theater was in my living room, with three to four showings a day. (I know, I’m a terrible parent to have the TV on, but I need to take care of Ace too. Even worse are the terribly selfish times that I just want to sit on my couch and write on my tablet. Sweetpea thinks that my tablet is her personal small TV she watches so many Netflix shows on it. But damn it, it’s mine, mine, all mine!!!)
Having watched Frozen so many times, I’ve had a few thoughts on it. Most of which have already been hashed and rehashed on the internet, so I won’t bore you with them.
WARNING: LOTS OF SPOILERS AHEAD
I’m going to briefly mention that the decade of rewriting purgatory reveals itself in this movie. It’s kinda like being a lady in church and letting your slip show. Unmentionables!! *gasp*
Kristoff is an expert mountain climber, but the audience is never told that. The writers assumed that the audience understands it in the scene when Anna is trying to climb the North Mountain. He says that she’s doing it wrong and acts like an authority on the subject, but the explanation is lacking. I watched the outtakes, and one of them was the original intro to the movie where Kristoff is doing some pro-level climbing (and hauling Sven with him). So now the mountain climber skills scene later makes sense. Too bad the writers didn’t fix this by adding a sentence-long explanation later.
(And btw Kristoff, the plural of “reindeer” is “reindeer.” Please fix your song.)
Foreshadowing is grossly lacking. Time crunch, budget cuts, whatever. I call it lazy. Hans revealing himself to be the bad guy comes out of left field. There is *NOTHING* in the movie up to the point that he refuses to kiss Anna that demonstrates to the audience that he is insincere. Why would he rescue either Anna or Elsa if he was ruling in their absence? His motivation doesn’t make sense. If I wanted to get her out of the way, I’d have let the guys with the crossbows shoot Elsa. Totally makes sense as self-defense.
The movie could have still played out with the same actions if the motivation had been changed. Hans kisses Anna, who at this time loves Kristoff. The kiss doesn’t work. Elsa escapes and creates the massive blizzard. In a goodhearted, brave, and valiant effort to save the city, Hans goes out into the frozen ice regretting that the only way he can see to stop the storm is to kill the queen.
In fact, if there was a romance writer on Disney’s staff, you could have seen a common lover swap when you have two female main characters. Girl A starts liking Guy A, but ends up with Guy B, and vice versa. Anna thought she liked Hans, but after her adventures with Kristoff ends up loving him more. Although, “ice is [Kristoff's] life,” so wouldn’t it be neat if he ended up with Elsa, the ice queen? Oh, how about a love triangle? But Hans falling for Elsa could have worked too. He rescues Elsa on the North Mountain when the ice chandelier almost crushes her. Rescuing someone is common way for the seeds of romance to be planted. Girls always fall for their rescuers in fairytales and romances. (And the other way around too. Prince Eric falls for Ariel when she saves him from drowning.)
Anyway, here’s some other thoughts on Frozen below. Happy Friday!!
It is only through critique that a finished work is realized.
Tagged: Ace, Disney, fiction, Frozen, internet, love triangle, Sweetpea, writers, writing
