My family loved Frozen. I’m not a fan of Disney cartoons and saw it at the theater. It wasn’t any worse than the others and I have resisted watching the DVD because it is going to be the theme of our vacation dinner and I’ll be watching it then. That doesn’t stop me from hearing the CD whenever I’m in the car with the family.
Ha! Our nine year old son just walked in the door from school humming the tune from Let It Go.
Close enough. 
It was written and produced by Lassiter. It is a spin off of cars in that universe. It was done through the Disney studio that normally handles direct to DVD movies because that was what it was planned for. Then they decided to do a theatrical release.
I saw the movie on DVD and I was NOT impressed with the animation at all. The DVD had a trailer for some straight to DVD Barbie crap and Frozen was that level of animation. It really took me out of the movie. The songs were decent (and Idina Menzel can do little wrong), but I can’t believe how succesful it’s been.
A trailer for a Barbie DVD on the Frozen disk? I’m skeptical.
If you read the conversation train, he was referring to “Planes”, and my guess is that it was probably one of the myriad straight to DVD Tinkerbell movies, which look a hell of a lot like straight to DVD Barbie movies. (Though I’ve heard tell that the Tinkerbell movies aren’t really all that atrocious, the trailers certainly didn’t have top of the line animation)
Yeah, it may have been Tinkerbell. Fairy pirates maybe, now that I think about it.
The Tinkerbell movies are awesome, actually (says the father of a nine-y.o. girl…). Animation-wise, they do some cool things with light-through-leaves, and that kind of thing, so I guess the tech and experiences from *Bug’s Life *have trickled from Pixar to Disney.
Whereas my daughter also has some Barbie movies (Mariposa, I think it’s called), and that’s some straight-up Poser/DAZ Studio-level animation. Atrocious.
My daughters (aged 4 and 7) saw it a couple of times before I did. They loved it, knew the songs by heart and would sing them non-stop. I finally saw it with them later (third or fourth times for them). It was quite good. The songs in particular are better than usual.
On the whole, I prefered Wreck it Ralph. Mainly for the nostalgia value (all these old video games) and also for the original concept.
I’m really curious to hear about the marketing gameplan for this movie. For a blockbuster, tent-pole, heavily merchandized release from the massive powerhouse that it is, it seemed to ride a wave of almost “sleeper hit” appreciation. I can’t discern whether that’s because public expectation was so low since Disney’s been in such a slump or if they very cleverly manipulated a sort-of viral marketing campaign for a mainstream project.
I didn’t see much normal advertising for it, but I sure as crap saw a bunch of YouTube whatnot. Way, way too much YouTube whatnots.
I feel like somewhere, some marketing exec is cashing an EXTREMELY well-earned check.
I saw the movie when it came out, so I didn’t have any high nor low expectations going in. I thought the story was a little bit second rate, like someone had taken a classic and decided to change the ending for no obvious reason or taken a failed work by an otherwise classic author and failed to repair the hole. Having now read the original story it was inspired by, though, it looks like Frozen was basically an original piece.
But basically, I thought it was fine and reasonably enjoyable, maybe just a smidge worse than Tangled but a lot better than the Princess and the Frog. So I’ve been rather surprised by the mass craze that it has started, when Tangled was basically passed by without much notice.
I do appreciate that the story has some quirks that make it less conventional - there’s two heroines, one of the princes is a jackass, etc. - but there aren’t all that many 10 year olds reading The Hero with a Thousand Faces and scoffing over how unimaginative Hollywood is these days, so I don’t think that anti-formulaism is the key to it. Personally, I thought that the movie which did the best by dropping some of the formula was How to Train Your Dragon, which was also bypassed by audiences without much notice.
My reigning theory would probably be that it’s a rare movie about the relationship between two sisters, so it has hit a sweet spot for women with sisters; similarly to how my brother is an undying fan of Ratatouille, because he’s a chef. And of course, there’s more people with siblings in the world than chefs. And likewise, there aren’t very many people suffering a handicap, so How to Train Your Dragon didn’t get much love.
I thought the songs were great. I also liked how it subverted many common Disney Princess tropes. On the other hand, the story was just a bunch of random stuff kind of thrown together and it never really worked. It tried very hard to be “Tangled,” and mostly failed.
That said, for some bizarre reason it’s grown on me. Maybe it is because my family likes it so much. I find myself watching the songs on Youtube more often than is healthy for a 32-year old man.
Go ahead and judge.
[quote=“Morwen Edhelwen, post:15, topic:688616”]
Seeing someone get to develop and use expertise and skill is awesome. At least I think that’s why the hairs on the back of my neck were standing up.
Usually the “shallow guy” trope doesn’t include “and this is happening because she has no judgement.” Kid sister needs to learn a few things. As already mentioned, the new guy is only a possibility at the end of the movie, and he isn’t highlighted as the goal of the plot. Also, it isn’t just a difference, it’s dangerous power. The older trope for that would have included losing or sacrificing the power at the end so that she’d be safe to be around. There would also have been a potential love interest showing up at the end. So, yeah, common tropes, but not slavishly followed. (Was Mulan’s horse whacky? I remember it as being solid, if anthropomorphized a bit.)
I must not have been the target audience, because I never heard any hype. I almost didn’t know that it had been released. So I didn’t go in expecting to be wowed. That might have helped. I enjoyed it.
Finally, the short before the movie was awesome. I’m probably not going to get the DVD, but please tell me it’s included.
As a forty-something year old single man with no kids, I’m not their target demographic. However, the song hit the radio and is a very catchy tune. Having heard good things, I checked it out On Demand.
I enjoyed the movie. I watched it through twice. Good songs, good story, good messages. I liked that the one who saved the day was the sister, not the guy. I liked that the act of true love that saved the day was the girl sacrificing herself for her sister, not “true love’s kiss”.
I also didn’t mind Ivan. He was odd when he entered the show, but he’s just so happy the whole time. I love how, instead of being the bumbling coward, he’s perpetually acting as a distraction so the others can get away - from the snow monster, from Kristoff when they think he’s talking to rocks as his friends.
I haven’t seen Tangled, so I can’t compare. Or Wreck It Ralph. I did see the* Lego Movie*, and it was pretty good.