Frozen: My Qualms

Okay so here I am with a Frozen 'review'. Since when did I start doing movie reviews? The better question is, since when did I start watching Disney Princess related movies?! Well truthfully, it shouldn't come as a shock that I do watch this genre. I've been watching them since I was really young and with Frozen being the latest addition, and with Elsa so 'enticing', I find myself jumping the bandwagon of the Frozen hype. But I won't sit here and say that it's a perfect movie or that it deserves all the hype it has. I'll explain a few things as to why and let me just state that this little blog will have more than enough spoilers so read on your own discretion! So this is the list of 'plot holes' I found and/or my qualms with this movie:

---"Fear is your enemy" and Bad Parenthood---

After the debacle with Elsa and Anna's 'let's build a snowman' game, we have the parents(who apparently sleeps in their royal clothing) race the 'cold as ice' Anna to see the trolls who might be able to help her. Well, they did help her by making her believe that Elsa never had any powers. Seems like curing a magical frost bite entails some magical amnesia trick. As the "Grandpa Troll" said, certain body parts requires convincing. Alright, I'll indulge in that logic since it is a magical Disney Princess movie, right? Okay so we have to have the conflict after this, which is the King and Queen's decision to ostracize Elsa from the rest of the world thanks to Grandpa Troll's 'advice' about Elsa's powers.

"Listen to me Elsa, your power will only grow. Learn to control it, or an angry mob will beat the living ice cube out of you if you make the slightest mistake in your snowflake piñata."

So Mr. Grandpa Troll, you give them advice... but don't do anything to offer help? Clearly the parents don't know a thing about controlling magic since they were neither born or cursed with them(how did Elsa get powers by the way?)! Alright I'll let that slide but, what parenthood 101 did the King and Queen attend to make their daughter feel like there was something wrong with her!? You take her away from society, limit her contact with every one else, put a wall between a great rapport of sisterhood(most sisters argue over boyfriends, not ice powers or snow men), and then you had the audacity to keep telling Elsa to not feel anything?! Oh wait! One thing! You forgot that LOVE is the important part of parenthood and family.... let's just put that on the back of our mind and just keep forcing Elsa to 'learn' how to control these ice powers. A few years later... it doesn't work .... and they die. 

"My parents loved me. They told me there is something wrong with me and I'll hurt people so I have to be afraid all of my life until I learn how to control this curse. Be the good girl... I'll honor their memory even in death. I'll stay away from my Sister and keep hurting her feelings because my parents loved me."

Tragedy. I know. I'm not making terrible jokes at the death of parents leaving two (rich)sisters to fend for themselves, but the legacy they left behind... Hey Grandpa Troll, where the heck are you to step in and help heal the bond between these two that you had a hand in breaking!?

---ANNA and Her Open Door---

What?! How dare I have qualms with Anna of Arendelle!!! Okay first and foremost, I understand that there has to be a contrast between a really 'over powered' character. We have to have the sister(in sisterhood based movie) who is the lesser of the two so we have Anna. In all honesty, I like Anna's personality most of the time. She is the jovial, energetic, optimist, cute, and just downright naive girl, but.... okay I know you love your sister and all, but you CHOSE to keep yourself confined inside the castle! You CHOSE to live your life inside the castle walls. Yes I admire your perseverance with your relationship with Elsa but how can you sit here and say 'finally my life will change for the better' when you have done nothing to make it better?! OH and then let's not talk about your 'love at first sight' debacle:

"Maybe if he kisses me, I'll get pregnant!"

Looks like the door was slammed in your face, girl! Okay, okay, I'm being too mean. It's a Disney movie! "Love at first Sight" IS THE CANON of almost every Disney movie! But come on, Anna! You've spent your whole life ostracizing yourself from the world and you gave yourself the right to whine for attention? Then you go and get your heart frozen and then.... bam. Elsa is the bad Snow Queen all of a sudden!

Okay so she's cute. But we've seen her personality before in the form of Rapunzel, and blondie has(had) magic hair that glows when she sings. What do you have? OH I KNOW! You can S-L-O-W D-O-W-N T-I-M-E!

---Kristoff's Amnesia---

I don't necessarily hate this character, but I just find one little plot hole with him(or at least it wasn't mentioned)... do you remember that girl that was healed by the trolls some time ago?! Do you remember that her memory was taken away from her?! DO YOU REMEMBER THE GIRL WITH ICE POWERS?! Did Kristoff get amnesia too? Why didn't he mention this to Anna? Not that it would've helped but I just thought it was kind of weird that they didn't mention that... Not a major qualm, but still there. 

---Olaf in Summer---

This one I need to clarify: I don't hate Olaf. In fact, there were more than enough times I thought he was quite hilarious like that moment with the whole skeletal anatomy.

"I don't have a skull. Or Bones. But I like summer and I sing an annoying song about it."

The one thing that really irked me about Olaf is that damn stupid song. I hate it for my own reasons of course, but truthfully... REALLY? Was that really necessary when other things could've gotten more time? But that's just me being overly picky with someone else getting more screen time.... so that brings me to my next part.

---Elsa, the Side Character---

Okay I'll be blunt about this: Elsa didn't get the time she needed and yet there she stood being the main attraction of the movie. Many can argue with me and some might have viable points to make me think otherwise, but as of right now, Anna is the main character of Frozen and Elsa is the 'conflict/side character' and to me that sucks. Elsa MADE Frozen(both literally and for the aesthetic stand point) and she got so little time and she was pretty diluted in more ways than one after Letting it Go. 

"I'm just  a side character. But my dolls are always sold out in Target while Anna's warm the pegs longer than mine do."

After "Let it Go", Elsa pretty much remained in the side and any 'growth' she made in her little song went downhill. Hell, even that scene when she was being chased hunted down, I felt like they really didn't use her powers to their full capability! She is the freaking Snow/Ice Queen! She made that damn place and she was RUNNING like a little damsel in distress the whole time!? And she made one sentinel to guard her, couldn't she make a dozen more(like the deleted scene shows)?! Okay I know she is holding back but.... come on! Could she not have manipulated the ice castle to not have stairs those slow crossbow shooting imbeciles to use?! They literally dumbed her down... and the talks of Frozen 2 could rectify Elsa's incompetence of her powers, but let's be honest with the question... SHOULD we really depend on a sequel to make Elsa use her powers to their full capability?

"Please! Stay away! I'm under strict contract with Disney to NOT freeze you to death!"

One more thing about the Snow Queen that baffles me.... what the heck is the origin of her powers? What is it about her that gave her powers? Is it a generational miracle or just... 'luck'? And how the heck did she learn to do all of that with the ice castle after concealing it for a decade??? As it is, Anna gets more of a solid 'back story' than Elsa did.

"The cold never bothered me... but answers to riddles do."

---A Happy ending! We forgive you!---

We all want a happy ending, I know. Frozen gets a happy ending and we get everything settled. All of the dukes and high names got a few frost bites but because they got to see Elsa and Anna hug, it's all good! She unfroze everything and we know for a fact she was just scared before and we know all her backstory so we can just forgive her just like that. Really? I mean come on! If I was in Arendelle, I'd keep a lot of blankets in stock in case the Queen gets another temper tantrum or has a bad time of the month. The ending was really rushed and all the things that should've been discussed were just 'insinuated'. It felt too fluffy for me even for a Disney movie... or maybe I'm just getting to old! 

"By the way Anna, our parents messed up. Roll the credits."

---What I like About Frozen---

There are a lot of things about Frozen that shot it away from being one of Disney's masterpiece(in my eyes) and the ones I listed are just some of them. I'm not the type to defend this movie to my last breath since it's not a perfect movie and those who say it's Disney's best are being enamored a bit too much with Elsa and her sparkly ice dress. Frozen missed a lot of things, yes, but there are some strong points that really saved it for me and made it one of my favorite movies. Here's the main ones:

---Breaking Canon---

Do the words: "You can't marry a man you just met," or "You got ENGAGED to someone you just MET THAT DAY?!" mean anything? Of course it does! We have Disney characters blatantly admonishing a Disney Ordinance with the whole TRUE LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT concept. That and this movie didn't end with a 'True Love's Kiss' but instead a love of sisterhood. Most definitely different than most Disney movies we have seen as of late. 

---Elsa, the Snow Queen---

Yes, I'll admit that I am one of the many that is Frozen in place by this beautiful character. I like her better in the first half with her inner struggles during coronation and then when she just 'Lets it Go'; and yes, I do admire her when she rises like the break of dawn with her hair being pulled from its confines that signifies that she is no longer letting the fear of the past control or bind her(again she backtracks, but like I said, I adore her the most in the first half of the movie). Then of course her amazing powers(again not thoroughly explored) that has a lot of enigma and force behind it. One would imagine that if she can make a sentient being... what else can she concoct with her powers? Oh, and the fact that she is single at the end of the movie does bode well for fanfics of the sort(or a myriad of other pairings that we have seen in the internet).

Art by: Maby-Chan in DA

"I'm so hott, I melt my own damn powers!"

I have a feeling that Elsa will be around for a LONG time and her influence in the Disney realm will be frozen in place even longer! I mean... who cares about a mermaid or a girl with magic hair that glows when she sings, right? And what about an archer with disheveled hair or a beauty who... does nothing completely special?! Who cares about them! We have Elsa!

---Hans of the Southern Isles---

If you hate this guy, good. He did his freaking job, but hate him as you will, let's just praise him for being the one that truly broke the expectations of Disney Princesses. HE WAS THE BAD GUY! Sure he was charming, witty, and sang a good duet, but he is no Eric or Flynn Ryder; in fact, he is Jafar in John Smith's clothing! But that's what makes him interesting to me. He was so underhanded with the whole thing that when he reveals his deception, a lot of people cringed and probably broke down inside. Okay so fooling Anna isn't exactly hard, but come on! That was just a little clever guise that at the end of the day, he deserves some kind of award for that! Give this guy some flowers when walks through that open door! And some chocolate! Give him some chocolate! 

And the picture above may be the only time I think Anna elicited a smile out of me. Oh and sacrificing herself for her sister of course! 

I forgot where I got this picture, I wish I have the link to credit the artist! 

In conclusion, I love this movie. I really do as I have mentioned more than once in this post, but a perfect movie? No. Not at all. For those who love Frozen, see it for what it is, love it for what it is good at and embrace the flaws. Maybe I scrutinized this movie a bit too far, but hey, that's just how I do things. For everyone else who hates Frozen, hate it, but hate it for a reason and not just for the sake of being a minority. With that said... I do hope that they make some kind of Figma or some kind of masculine figure for Elsa.... having a doll in my collection bodes ill for me. With that said... go back to this post and remember the other way Frozen could've ended: Alternate ending of Frozen.