Frozen may be one of Disney's biggest hits in recent memory, but it has some moments that are difficult to let it go.
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Entries for Frozen go here:
- Fairy Dreamer: Personally, I absolutely enjoyed the movie, but there is one moment that will not stop bothering me. The trolls altered Anna's memories of her playtime with Elsa to make her forget Elsa has ice powers. The reason given is just to be safe, but it really served to do nothing except make things that much harder for Anna because she now hasn't a clue as to why her big sister she was so close to suddenly seems to want nothing to do with her. Thank goodness Anna is incredibly persistent or this movie may not have ended so happily.
- Garfield2710: I thought it was also an incredible film, though it does have just one big problem. The entirety of "Fixer Upper." It's a decent tune and all, but the fact that the trolls are singing this while Anna is slowly dying is just awkward. This kills both the momentum and tension stone dead, and then once the song is over, it's completely forgotten about. Also, this felt like an awkward attempt to shoehorn in some romantic tension between Kristoff and Anna, especially when the trolls don't seem at all fazed that Anna is already engaged. Yes, Hans was a bad guy, and Anna had only known him for a day but they certainly didn't know that. Yeah, tearing apart a couple that you know nothing about so that she can get together with someone you think is more suitable is the essence of true love. That scene is why the rock trolls are The Scrappy to me.
- TheBattyOne: Seconded. That song might have worked somewhere else in the film, but they put it in the exact spot to ruin the pacing. I might have forgiven it if "Fixer Upper" were a really good song, but it's pretty meh. It should have been cut. It really should have.
- dmcreif: Thirded. Things fall apart for me in the second half of the movie, around the moment Elsa throws Anna out of the Ice Palace. After a mostly well-paced first half, the movie starts to rush along a little bit more, giving more time to scenes that should be shorter and less time to others, and really scrambling to include last-minute songs and moments. "Fixer Upper" is one of those. By itself, I think it's a fun song, but it’s at a point in the movie where time is of the essence. The whole reason Kristoff took Anna there in the first place was because she was starting to show negative symptoms after being struck by Elsa’s magic. She and Kristoff both know this. The audience knows how bad this could be. Taking those three minutes to sing a forced love song is annoying, wasting time, and just makes the trolls seem like pointless characters. If the writers were really desperate for that song, then they should have found a reason to have Anna and Kristoff go to the trolls before the Ice Palace, where things weren’t as time sensitive. Maybe have Kristoff realize that Grand Pabbie might be able to help with Elsa’s magic, or he casually mentions how he watched them change Anna’s memories so she goes to get them restored as a way to help her sister. But having that scene where it is takes away from all the fun that’s going on because all I can think about is, “Grand Pabbie said earlier that getting hit in the heart would be worse. That was where Anna was hit. How come no one is taking this more seriously?”
- Maths Angelic Version: Fourthed. I have suffered Hype Backlash about the film as a whole, but "Fixer Upper" is the lowlight and really should have been cut. Why do we need two cringeworthy verses where the the trolls constantly denigrate Kristoff when they're trying to sell Anna on him? Why is there a freaking bestiality joke?note Why are these supposedly misguided-but-well-intentioned trolls disregarding Anna's agency by being so insistent on pairing her up with Kristoff when she's already engaged to someone else?note I get the idea of using an "embarrassing parents too eager to see them get married" joke as comic relief during a dramatic phase of the film, but it's executed so poorly, and doing it in song form makes it drag on for way too long for how urgent Anna's situation is.
- JustHereToComment: While I enjoyed Frozen for the most part, I absolutely hated the reveal of Prince Hans as the bad guy. For one, I felt it came out of nowhere. I had even read about the twist before watching and I still felt it came out of nowhere. Second, his plan makes no sense, since it could be foiled very easily by a wandering butler or maid discovering a dying Anna in the locked room (as one Tumblr poster illustrated
). He also fails to know that a wedding is invalid unless there are witnesses there to see it, so his plot to take over the kingdom should've fallen flat. Overall, when it comes to the Broken Base over this character, I'm on the side calling him one of the worst Disney villains. (And I'm sorry if you like him, fans of him, but I just can't).- Larkmarn: Yeah, that was... just bad. The fact he completely and utterly clutched the Villain Ball and ran with it was really jarring. It's bad enough his plot centered on "guys, we're totally married now. Trust me," but leaving Anna to die was nonsensical. Why wouldn't he sit on his ass for five minutes and make sure she's dead. He's counting on the court not bothering to actually check on their dead princess, even if only to pay respects. "No, she's dead. But don't go in there. Seriously." And even if she did die before anyone saw her, what if she found a pen? Man, evil just made the guy freaking dumb.
- Psyga315: I agree with this, but not in the same way you are. I had no problems at all with his plan. Granted, I agree with the fact that it's flawed, but it's not why I consider it a Dethroning Moment. It's the fact that the writers decided to have Hans go completely "muwahahaha!" evil for the sake of having a villain. Given the facts that 1) Hans presented little to no villainous traits prior to the reveal and 2) they intended Elsa to be the villain but changed during the making of "Let It Go," it's pretty clear that Hans was made into one at the last minute to have a villain... when it's pretty clear that we have one. Heck, they could have kept him as a villain, but in more of a Well-Intentioned Extremist way as opposed to making him power hungry.
- Maniacaldude: I personally found Frozen to be really underwhelming, even when I first watched it, but that twist involving Hans was the absolute low point. Like, I absolutely hated it with a fiery passion. A lot of why stems from the above arguments, that there's no foreshadowing, (with the mention that he's seventh in line being the only possible hint,) that it's a slap in the face that comes out of nowhere, that it radically alters Hans' personality to such a jarring, stereotypical degree, that it makes no sense, all that stuff. But something I should mention is that I've been told that this movie supposedly does things differently, that it bucks trends and is "progressive" and all that. Well, if that's the case, then why is this here? Rather than actually doing something different like commenting on adult relationships and choosing one over the other or keeping feelings as sort of the antagonistic opposition like it was intended or anything new or interesting, they had to include something that is becoming quite a cliche at this point: the surprise villain, the villain that shows himself during the movie's final act and is quickly thwarted, and I'm sorry, but if you're apparently trying to do things differently, then why include a last minute Designated Villain like this? It easily demonstrates one of my main problems with this movie: it tries way too hard, but at the same time, it somehow doesn't try enough.
- Adept: Like JustHereToComment, I've read about the twist before watching the movie, and I still think that the reveal came out of nowhere, which demonstrates how poorly executed the writing is. If the writers/producers were as "progressive" and "subversive" as people like to claim they are, then I see no reason why they'd need to 1) force in a villain when, given the themes, the movie would have worked a lot better with No Antagonist, and 2) use the most cliched way possible to get rid of Hans and validate Anna/Kristoff as the Official Couple without actually giving the latter any proper chemistry or any sense that their relationship is earned. There are many ways to show why Anna and Hans are not compatible (the scene that shows their subjects squabbling over some petty differences when they were trying to secure fire wood could have been a more subtle way of showing that), but, no. They had to use a poorly foreshadowed plot twist to tick off their "let's subvert the Strictly Formula" agenda, and hope that the surprise factor alone is enough to fool the audience into thinking that this is a good development.
- Luna Veg 87: For me, this movie was mediocre at best (thinking of What Could Have Been with an adaptation of The Snow Queen makes it disappointing), but yeah, this reveal was the biggest problem for me. Not only because it came off as really forced and last-minute (like the writers thought they needed a Designated Villain to make the movie work), but considering Elsa's previous actions (like abandoning her kingdom, refusing to go back after she's told what she's done, freezing Anna's heart, and upon seeing what she'd done, setting a giant killer snow golem after her and her traveling companions), it almost comes off like they just thought removing sympathy from one main character would put sympathy back on her. To me, it came across as a lazy way to invoke one of my personal most-hated tropes.
- Catmuto: No matter how great Frozen may be, the worst moment for me was Elsa's song "Let It Go". Out of context, the song comes across as rather empowering, deciding to not be shackled by her own or society's fear of her powers and Elsa leaves to live on her own, not having to hide her powers from anyone. The problem is when the song is put into context with the movie — I hated the song with its context, because it came shortly after Elsa's magic went out of control and was revealed to everyone in the kingdom, making them afraid of her, considering what her powers can do. Now, the song suddenly comes across as having the message 'I won't take responsibility for what my actions made, I'll just hide myself away and let others deal with it'. Yes, Elsa didn't know that she had inadvertedly caused winter to befall all of Arendelle. But no, I do not care how psychologically tortured Elsa has been, this caused her song to sound horrible and she doesn't even try to see if her powers can be removed until the end when The Power of Love is the ultimate thawer.
- Cheedo: Seconded. Hated the song. I could ignore the melody (I'm not a fan at all of Idina's singing or poppy Broadway tunes), but after the movie trying so hard to paint Elsa as long-suffering and much more responsible than Anna, she comes off as astonishingly selfish and immature here. "No right, no wrong, no rules for me" sounds like she's saying "I'm above morality and accountability". And unlike the troper above, I don't think Elsa's emotional issues have anything to do with it. Anna is equally suffering, if not more so, but she not only takes responsibility for her own actions, but for Elsa's. And worse, Elsa never apologizes for dumping all the problems onto Anna, or for the pain she caused her. No, a one-hit wonder does not make up for her poor actions.
- curiouskat: Thirded. This song was most likely a ploy to market the "girl power!" aspect of the movie, which is unnecessary. On top of that, before the musical number, she clearly notices her footsteps freezing the fjord before she ran away, and now acts all surprised when Anna tells her that she's frozen the fjord completely—Elsa should know by now that her powers don't exactly work well under large amounts of emotional turmoil, and it's what leads to the next scene. Elsa, not wanting to deal with her problems and responsibility because "the cold never bothered her anyways", refuses to go back with Anna and accidentally sets her sister up to die, which completely highlights the uselessness of "Let it Go" and everything it stands for. And yes, she turns herself in eventually, but time would've been saved if she had just gotten off her high horse and followed Anna down the mountain.
Entries for Frozen II go here:
- Loekman 3: So at the end of Frozen II, we are treated to a scene where Elsa, once frozen over with Anna grieving for her, reappears just fine with the sisters happily reuniting with one another. While it's sweet and undeniably heartwarming, my feelings felt more sour because previously, Elsa broke her promise to do things together and sends her sister & Olaf away when they wanted to come along with her to Atohallan and Anna didn't even show any anger or resentment at her sister despite what happened before. Look, I know that seeing the most precious person in your life alive and well undeniably brings joy to your heart but surely she deserves to be called out for essentially shutting you out again? In light of the situation beforehand, it really painted the ending in a more negative light as it felt that once again Elsa shut her out but this time out of pure selfishness rather than a misguided attempt to protect her and Anna is somehow okay with this.
- dmcreif: I hate the ending. Leaving Anna to bear literally every burden that comes with being Queen so that Elsa can gallop around the wilderness is extremely irresponsible and out of character for Elsa. She's a naturally reserved and intelligent woman who left her duties to her 21-year-old happy-go-lucky sister, who is the naturally free-spirited and untamed between them. During Elsa's time as Queen, she constantly had Anna available to aid her in everything she did, both through loving sisterhood and actually taking on some of Elsa's jobs herself. And there are numerous post-Frozen spin-off stories (books and both animated shorts) to show that fact, and to show how Anna's aid alleviated Elsa's insecurities and toil, which are inexplicably back in Frozen II' thanks to some throwaway lines with no legitimate evidence to lead up to it throughout any of the films or shorts. Elsa's trained all her life for this role, she's GOOD at it, she's with everyone she's ever loved, by her own admission, and for her to prioritize the "needs" of some perfectly secure and unexplained and heavily protected forest doesn't make a lick of sense.
But despite Elsa often being riddled with guilt and self-blame for events that are hardly even connected to her own actions, I'm to believe that she's perfectly comfortable leaving Anna to bear the whole burden of the throne, despite Anna's consistent aid to her over the last three years, and Elsa isn't once going to think that she ought to feel guilty that she's not both repaying her considerate sibling for all her help, and doing much more to make up for the literal thirteen years they spent separated.
