The Snow Queen Reins Supreme! - Thoughts on Disney's 'Frozen'

I've been holding off on writing a review for Frozen, which may seem odd to my readers, as I've been writing about the film with an extreme emphasis for months now. I even had the lucky opportunity to see it before it was released to general theaters, as my wonderful boyfriend obtained tickets to an early showing at the El Capitan in Hollywood.

I knew I would love the film, but I wanted to give the public - and myself - some time to digest. I needed to see the film again, and see how it looked in a regular 2D viewing - which is what I just did today! My mother and I had a movie date - and yes, she enjoyed the film ;)

With all that said, let's talk about Frozen. If you haven't seen the film and don't want anything spoiled, then get out of here and go see it! It's easily a Disney classic, it's been nominated for several awards and is probably going to beat The Lion King domestically at the Box Office because it's just that good.

For some, Frozen is like any traditional and beloved classic Disney animated feature film. It is a compelling story inspired by a classic fairy tale, it features a heroine (or in this case, heroines) in trouble, is made up of a cast of interesting characters, has beautiful animation, and has a magnificent soundtrack.

These are all classic Disney elements that make the brand what it is. One may claim to not appreciate the Disney Princess franchise or enjoy musicals, but they are undeniably integral parts of the Disney legacy.

Where Frozen is different, however, is it's celebration of love. Traditionally, Disney fairy tales celebrate the idea of romantic love overcoming the greatest obstacles and saving the day, but here it is sisterly love that breaks the spell.

Frozen also boldly confronts the idea that some of us do not know what love is, or what can constitute as untrue love, and that the handsome prince isn't always so beautiful underneath his exterior.

I sincerely enjoyed the fact that every main character taught the audience something different about love. Love takes on many forms. Heck, even Olaf, who many were ready to hate coming into the theaters, was the physical embodiment of Elsa and Anna's love for each other and charmed his way through the film.

Disney has shown familial love before. Finding Nemo is a prime example, but Marlin's fatherly love doesn't break a curse. I applaud Disney for breaking from the traditional route here and celebrating something that is all too-often ignored in entertainment representation. Family is tremendously important, and in times like these, it is very important that we are reminded that at the end of the day, we have family (whether blood-related or the families we create with friends, pets etc.) that we can always count on, even when the odds seem insurmountable.

Everything that Elsa does is out of love for others, and her prime motivator is her love for her sister. After nearly killing Anna in an accident, Elsa is mortified and fearful her powers - beautiful, but if not controlled, dangerous. To protect everyone that she loves (her kingdom included), she is forced to lead a life of seclusion, even at times cutting interaction with her parents that know her secret. And even after her parents are gone and she becomes Anna's estranged guardian, she is fully willing to make herself out to be the "bad guy" in order to protect Anna when her younger sister absurdly proclaims that she is going to marry someone that she just met. Anna is selfless in her act of protecting Elsa from Hans even after believing that her own sister meant to hurt her, but it is Elsa's tremendous love for Anna that saves her sister's life and the future of the kingdom - and, in turn, she saves herself.

Some are frustrated with the fact that Elsa did not get a love interest in the film, but Anna got two. The reasons as to why stem from a very, very long development process.

If you have kept up with this blog, you will know that Disney has attempted to bring some incarnation of the story of the Snow Queen to life for several decades, going as far back as to when Walt Disney was still alive and running the show. Obviously, things kept seemingly not working out. Try as they might, Disney's creative teams constantly ran into trouble when trying to get a handle on the Snow Queen's character. Here's one excerpt from James B. Stewart's Disney War:

... June 11, 2003, (Then-Disney CEO Michael) Eisner has invited me to a creative meeting of the feature animation team, led by (Thomas) Schumacher's replacement, David Stainton. Eisner usually attends these meetings once or twice a month.

"That's why this has to be a Legally Blonde-type comedy," replies Mary Jane Ruggels, another creative vice president.  

"Sleeping Beauty was 1938," Eisner says. "The ending was forced. Like Treasure Planet-- it just ended. It wasn't funny or clever. Are you sure you can save this? Is Ice Queen better?" 

"You mean Snow Queen," Ruggels says.

"I love The Taming of the Shrew idea," Eisner says. "Take Martha Stewart. She's tough, smart -- a worthy adversary. If she were a doormat of a woman, no one would go after her. Marlo Thomas used to call me about marketing 'That Girl.' She said, 'If I were a man, I'd be president of the network."

Eisner expresses some reservation about the team assigned to Snow Queen, then adds, "John Lasseter. If we make a new deal with Pixar ... " 

Stainton jumps in: "You mean when we make a new deal with Pixar."

"I said to John, you can have Snow Queen. He loved it. John said, 'I want to do a princess movie.' "

Eisner asks for the Snow Queen synopsis. 

"The Snow Queen is a terrible bitch," Ruggels says. "When her suitors try to melt her heart, the Snow Queen freezes them."

"Each one should be a phony, but different," Eisner says of the suitors.

"Then along comes a regular guy," Ruggels continues. 

"This is perfect!" Eisner exclaims. "I'm afraid to hear more."

"The regular guy goes up there, he's not that great, but he's a good person. He starts to unfreeze her ... she melts."

"It's great," Eisner says. "Finally. We've had twenty meetings on this." 

Some of the language used to describe this shelved concept of the Snow Queen makes me cringe.

Clearly the creatives were toying with the idea of the Snow Queen having a love interest. Perhaps having the title character simply be a "bitch" that has all her problems solved by one man sounded good to some people (this meeting certainly reflects the film industry of the time), but as John Lasseter said to the Chris Buck's team (this was before Jennifer Lee joined the project), "You haven't dug deep enough." Everyone has a motivation. Audiences need to be able to identify with the characters that they see on screen.

Soon Jennifer joined the project (and thankfully breathed some realistic female essence into the leading ladies and story and broke the glass ceiling at Disney) and somewhere along the way someone asked, "What if Anna and Elsa were sisters?"

That question changed everything. Finally there was an emotional core that the creatives could work from, and the story took off.

Could Disney have come up with a version of the story that would have given Elsa a love interest? In Frozen's incarnation that we now know, I do not think so. If Elsa had to cut herself off from her own sister, often her own parents and completely from anyone else in her kingdom at such an early age because she felt she was too dangerous to be around anyone, how could she allow herself to emotionally connect with someone romantically? When Elsa says at her coronation ball that she doesn't dance, it's not because she feels that she has two left feet - it's that she doesn't dare touch anyone for fear of hurting them. It's why she quickly turns away from Anna when her sister reaches to touch her. Elsa is almost completely covered up, but she is still afraid that any contact with her sister could result in harming her.

This is, however, not to say that Elsa doesn't deserve a love interest. Elsa absolutely deserves love, in all forms of the word! And yes, even though it crosses fandoms, Elsa and Jack Frost would make quite the lovely couple (and hey, it's not like Dreamworks owns the entire concept of Jack Frost - Disney could potentially do something with that idea...I wonder what the copyrights are regarding that name...)

Anyhow, the problem was that if Elsa couldn't even let her own sister into her life, how could she even fathom allowing a complete stranger in? Elsa had to reconnect with the person she loved most before she could allow herself to connect deeply with anyone else - and love herself.

Personally, I don't think that Elsa needs a man, because she's so amazing on her own. When we go to the movies and see a male character not have a love interest, are people always getting upset over it? I've never seen that kind of complaint. Leading female characters do not need to be paired off to be interesting to service a story. BUT, I think that the reason why some fans are so upset for Elsa is that they connected with her so deeply - they felt that she deserved to repair all of that awful loneliness and pain in her heart. And I very much feel the same way. Some are calling for a sequel - I truly, truly hope that if a sequel is made, it will be of at least the same caliber as Frozen. Lasseter put his foot down several years ago demanding that Disney films that came out in theaters only get sequels if they are good enough to also be released into theaters. But Cars 2 wasn't that long ago (sorry John)...on the flip side, the Toy Story sequels were all amazing. Cross your fingers.

In the meantime, I have to say that while Anna is a charming character that gives the Disney Princess lineage a nice shakeup and I understand why the film was set essentially from her perspective, I really wish Frozen spent more time with Elsa. The film could have easily used at least an extra 20 minutes with her. We got a fantastic amount of backstory leading up through "Let It Go," which is an amazing song that I cannot stop singing in my car. But after that, we saw a lot less of Elsa and her awesome ice palace didn't really get much use (though at least Marshmallow was able to use it after - please tell me you all stayed after the credits?!) Anna and Elsa's confrontation sped by like a bullet train, and before I knew what was happening, I realized that Disney had cut the whole sequence of Elsa shooting a blizzard at Anna, Kristoff, Olaf and Sven.

And that little piece of footage was what had me hooked to see this film, folks. Do I regret seeing the film because this footage was seemingly cut? No, of course not. But my curiosity is driving me crazy.

Of course we all wanted Elsa to be a hero in this story, but were curious about her also being an antagonist to a certain extent. Disney kept her character shrouded in mystery for a very long time. Of course, originally they planned to have her be even more of an antagonist then she ended up being in the final film, and the script and story went through so many changes...

Still, I have to ask about this bit, because it was (and still is) in a lot of the more recent marketing! I'm sure you all remember the, "That's no blizzard, that's my sister!" clip. Originally, the full clip which is now entitled "That happened" had our characters land into the soft pillowy snow after their encounter with Marshmallow to then be suddenly attacked with a flurry of snow and wind. Kristoff then shouted, "Now we just have to survive this blizzard!" and Anna finished with, "That's no blizzard, that's my sister!" as the camera panned up to Elsa in all of her icy glory. Now, however, if you went on to the official Disney Animation Youtube page, you would see a slightly different video with no Elsa in it at all, which fully matches what you see in the final film version. I wanted to find the original clip for you, but I have a feeling that Disney sought to remove every trace of it that was ever around. Even when I type to search for this particular clip on Youtube, the webpage crashes. Coincidence? I think not!

And neither is this! I am now officially convinced that Rapunzel is cousins with Anna and Elsa.

Anyway, I can't help but think back to when Tangled was coming to theaters. Disney had made some fairly entertaining promos - one of them even got their own poster. And I wondered if maybe this little bit of Elsa's awesome ice magic was merely developed to be used for promotional material.

We got to see Rapunzel dangle Flynn/Eugene out of her tower, and apparently she was enjoying it. But if you think about it now, do you really think Rapunzel would have done something so cruel?

I certainly don't.

And that is possibly what came into play for Frozen, but on a grander scale, and not spawning from trying to generate interest for the film. It wouldn't make much sense for Elsa to shoot ice magic at her own sister after she accidentally struck her and was mortified by the whole thing. Yes, she created Marshmallow, but only so that she could be assured that her sister would be escorted off of the premises.

So perhaps kind of late in the game, the creators decided to cut that footage. But Anna's line kind of stuck with potential moviegoers, and those moments have still found themselves as tidbits in current Frozen trailers. And every time I get a glimpse of Elsa in this footage, I get that darned pang of curiosity.

I still don't have The Art of Frozen in my possession. It may answer all sorts of questions for me. At the same time, I feel that it will leave just as many unanswered. If the Blu-Ray does not have a serious making-of documentary on this project, I will be very, very disappointed. Disney already dropped the ball with Tangled on that front. Are they embarrassed about the amount of times they tackled this project and it didn't go anywhere? They shouldn't. They should also know that there will be fans out there that will want to know more. I just sincerely hope that we will not have to wait 20 years before we get an honest behind-the-scenes-look at the making of this film.

There's still so much more to write about Frozen...it's yet another reason why I've held off. I just had to focus this post on my new favorite character! But don't worry, I haven't forgotten about Anna and the rest of the characters. I'm actually really excited to talk about Hans with all of you - some people do not give the filmmakers enough credit for the creative genius that they put into this character!

In the meantime, I hope you all have had happy holidays and will have a happy new year!

Thinking About Movies, Part 3: Let's talk about Disney's FROZEN!

Hello my wonderful readers!

Yes, I've been MIA for a while. I've had a lot of out-of-towners visit for extended periods of time (they arrived just before I went to D23, which made things even more complicated), plus a few others things have popped up here and there. Then there's work, some new and some gone. I no longer work for Examiner, so at least I don't have to send you guys over to another website. I'd rather write for myself and make nothing than write for someone else and make next to nothing ;) Anyhow, all of this shifting around has prevented me from writing all that I've wanted to. I'll eventually do a write-up on the D23 Expo from this year. It will have lots of pictures. And I really want to write about the Imagineering Pavillion, as it was, in a word, amazing - and I want to stick up for MyMagic, as the Imagineers there were very helpful, and seriously, they've thought of everything to make things more convenient for guest while keeping them safe.

But what I've really wanted to talk to you all about is this November's upcoming Disney film Frozen. I've been talking about this movie a lot here, and it's easy to understand why - this is a "Disney Princess" blog. But this will be an exciting film to see because 1) the film has been an on-again off-again production at the studio, 2) the people working on this production have bucketloads of talent, and 3) the film looks to be in the same vein as Tangled in that it is a fairy tale, but it is also fun, action-packed and has a bit more of a contemporary feel.

Since the new trailer has premiered today, I felt that this would be the perfect time to talk about this film a bit more, bringing in some things that I found out at D23 (I went to both the big Animation panel on Friday and then the special Frozen presentation on Saturday) and also bringing in some speculations that I have after seeing this new trailer. With that, let me include the video of that first.

I am so excited for this movie. Any concerns that I had with it before are gone - everyone at Disney says they feel that they have something really special, and that's something that they only say when they have a film like Beauty and the Beast. You're going to instantly love Olaf. He's going to be the new "it" character. Girls and women are going to love both Anna and Elsa, and it is going to be truly refreshing and amazing to see Disney tell a story about the power of sisterly love. The music is fantastic. The team behind it was sitting in the audience at several D23 events (they're just as big of fans as the rest of us!) and they are truly proud of their work. They should be. The type of lyricism is going to be something that really knocks your socks off. They've brought in the witty humor from Book of Mormon but kept things tasteful for a Disney audience and story.

If you've seen any of the D23 press from the major Animation presentation, you've more than likely heard that Idina Menzel sang live, "Let It Go." Going into the presentation, I didn't expect to see Idina there - but as the presentation progressed, it was clear that any big stars that were available to attend were there, and as Frozen continued to get built up, the audience was hoping for Idina to make an appearance...then John Lasseter came out, picked up the microphone to move it to the center of the stage, and the audience was screaming. I've never had such a fan girl moment in my life. I love Broadway and Disney - never in my wildest dreams did I ever think I would have the pleasure to see Idina Menzel sing live on stage, let alone a Disney song! I will never, ever forget that experience. The song is beautiful and moving, You're going to love Elsa (John certainly does - apparently he listens to it over and over again.)

One more thing I wanted to point out. The love triangle is really intriguing to me, and I'm happy to see that we have a beefier Disney love interest for once (Jennifer Lee, one of the directors, couldn't contain her excitement about the "mountain man" either at D23) - Kristoff's design reminds me of Bastion, who was a potential significant other for Rapunzel in that film's earlier stages.

Oh-kay. With that, I'm going to give you a nice summary of this film, which will include spoilers!!! If you do not want anything from the movie spoiled for yourself, do not continue reading on! Also, anything that I share here has been openly shared - anything that the creators requested to keep secret, stays a secret. In any case, this is going to be an amazing film. We'll start after the break.











Once upon a time, in the land of Arendelle, there lived two princesses that were also sisters, Elsa (the eldest) and Anna. Elsa and Anna were best friends and incredibly close. In their happier times, they built a snow man together, and they named him Olaf. The two girls loved each other very much, but one of them had a secret - Elsa had unique and mystical powers in which she could control ice and snow. Being very young, she had difficulty controlling these powers, and was also afraid of anyone finding out, for there was a prophecy that had been told that someone would put their kingdom into eternal winter.

One day, while Anna and Elsa were playing, Anna made Elsa laugh. Unfortunately, whenever Elsa would laugh or lose her temper, her ice powers would reveal themselves - and poor Anna got hit with them by accident. Anna then became very cold, and nearly lost her life. She was saved and her memory of the incident disappeared, but as a result, she gained a streak of white in her hair, and Anna and Elsa's parents decided it was best to separate the two sisters for their own safety. Elsa was forced to shut out her sister - and the rest of the world - and constantly wear gloves to keep her powers in check. As long as Elsa kept her emotions at bay, her powers would not reveal themselves. She grew up living mostly in solitude, and became a very proper, elegant and controlled princess that the kingdom grew to admire and respect. Anna, on the other hand, never understanding why her sister shut her out, grew up lonely as well, but very awkward and always needing to insert her foot into her mouth.

Time went by, and eventually the day of Elsa's coronation arrived. Many important dignitaries came to Arendelle for the occasion, including a handsome prince that Anna met the day of. They are smitten with each other, and that same day, the prince Hans asked Anna for her hand in marriage. Elsa's coronation went off without a hitch, and during the celebration, Anna asked for Elsa's permission to marry Hans. Elsa was, obviously, shocked that her sister would accept a proposal from a man she'd only known for a day, and told her that she would not allow Anna to make such a rash decision. Anna got upset and confronted her sister, and unfortunately, Elsa couldn't hold back her feelings any longer - her powers were revealed in front of everyone. Elsa fled the kingdom, found a place far away and was finally able to "let it go" and let her abilities thrive and create a beautiful castle made of snow and ice, where she could hide herself from the world.

Time went by, but the kingdom's temperatures didn't change. Anna, determined to bring back warm weather and re-connect with her sister, decided to go off an adventure and save her kingdom. However, the environments were treacherous, so she enlisted the help of a man that knows everything about ice - Kristoff. Kristoff was a guy who preferred to keep to himself (save for hanging out with his pet reindeer Sven), but considering that his business was doing poorly due to the amount of plentiful ice available, he knew he needed to help Anna end eternal winter. On the way, they ran into Olaf - who, as it turns out, Elsa created soon after she created her ice kingdom. What Elsa really wanted was a more intimidating snowman to protect her from the outside world, so Olaf went out and Marshmallow (the very scary-looking snowman) was born). Olaf dreams of what summer is like - he obviously had never experienced summer, but wished to help aid Anna and Kristoff in their quest.

Anna and her friends fought through the harsh winter environment and Elsa's powers to keep them at bay, but finally Anna reaches her sister's new home. Elsa is now very different - she is free to be herself and is a new woman.

What happened next? Well, if the creators revealed all of that, then they'd be revealing too much. But from what I've seen, here's what I think happens.

Anna tries to convince Elsa that she needs to come back home and work with her to figure out how to end eternal winter and resume her rightful place on the throne. Elsa and Anna start to bond again, but something terrible happens - Elsa's powers hit Anna again, and instead of just one white streak of hair, her entire head of hair turns to ice white. She is getting too cold again. Elsa is horrified and begs Kristoff to get Anna away from her and save her. Olaf makes a great sacrifice to save Anna. Hans is not who he appears to be. Anna realizes that she is really in love with Kristoff, and Kristoff isn't interested in being so alone anymore. And because of the power of the love of two sisters, everyone in the kingdom is saved and they all live happily ever after.


That's all I have to say on Frozen for now. I'm sure I'll be writing even more about it before it's released, but until then, see you guys next time!

Disneyland's Fantasy Faire Simply Magical!

The new princess meet and greet for Disneyland, entitled 'Fantasy Faire' opened Tuesday, having gone through different sets of previews last week. I decided to enjoy it like the average visitor instead and had quite a lovely time on opening day, and wrote a review for it here.

As this is a princess blog, it shouldn't be that big of a surprise that I love the new offerings. But I am a die-hard Disneyland fan, so I'm also from a group of fans that tend to get a little picky about things like theming, paint and whether or not that audio-animatronic is working properly. When a figure from its a small world goes missing since before the holiday overlay last year, I notice (I'm looking at you, yodelers).

That said, we fans debate on these issues extensively and do not always agree. I've noticed a significant amount of griping coming from MiceChat over this new area, and I have to say that on this issue, I have to disagree with them. I hear complaints ranging from the new Royal Theatre tent's colors being too bright that it intrudes on Sleeping Beauty Castle drawing your eye to criticizing the area for aiming specifically towards girls, to which I say the California sun will tarnish that tent's colors rather quickly and that as we are a patriarchal society, we constantly devalue anything that is inherently geared towards the female gender while ignoring the fact that most things we do have are aimed at a white male audience (Carsland, anyone?) and receive very little criticism for it.

Look, we're not all going to enjoy the same things. It is impossible to please everyone at the same time. Walt was very noble in attempting to create a place where families can enjoy something together as a family, and even though not all of you will appreciate the new Fantasy Faire, there will be many more that do, and Disneyland is still a place where families can go and enjoy the day together. I'm sorry that the Carnation stage is underneath everything and swing dancing has been moved to Downtown Disney, but really, is it honestly the end of the world when a prime piece of Disneyland real estate remains dead for most of the day and suddenly gets some new life into it that we all know will be enjoyed by a significant percentage of visitors? There are plenty of places to swing dance. Honestly, you could swing dance anywhere if you really wanted to. My boyfriend has chosen to be cute on many occasions by randomly dancing with me in places like the mall parking lot. But you can't meet Belle from Beauty and the Beast just anywhere, and it's cruel to expect families to wait in 45 minute lines out in the Anaheim heat with no protection or relief from the elements while Aurora is dying in her velvety heavy long-sleeved gown.

Swing dancing may still come back to the area - Disney hasn't made any sort of official announcement yet. This is a new area that they are displaying to guests and they need time to access the area for any tweaking or additions they wish to make before complicating things with dancing on the floor every night. Then add to the fact that the new Tangled Tower has a very beautiful effect at night that you can only really appreciate if it's quiet and not too bright out there. Let the new area stretch it's legs a bit before crying foul play.

In short, I'm sorry you're upset if you feel a piece of Disneyland history has been taken away from you, or that a tradition that you've celebrated in that area is no more, or at least on hiatus for the time being. But Disneyland is not just for you, it's for everyone, and Disney has to play to it's major audiences. Far more critical to the Disneyland experience is meeting your favorite characters, and for a great deal of people they are the princesses. This gives the heroines a royal set-up for families to enjoy, and it has been themed very well. The stage is now also actively being used and is doing what a theatre should do - bringing the magic of live performance to an audience. The new shows are actually very well done, and you should come out to see them, no matter what age or demographic you are.

Disneyland will continue to change. It cannot stay the same forever if Disney wants to continue to entertain guests. That doesn't mean that change should happen for change's sake. In this case, the change was logical and has proven to be a successful one. Now if you really want to gripe, just take a look at Tomorrowland and look at the remnants of 1998... ;)


Thanks for taking the time to stop by. Be sure to subscribe to me here and at my new site (you'll find the link through the link at the top of the article)! See you at Fantasy Faire!

The Oft Frozen Journey of the Snow Queen

EDIT: Due to the fact that those supposed Frozen posters of Anna and Elsa were fake, and that Disney has requested their removal in many places online, I have chosen to remove the images that I originally used of them in this article. From what I have heard, the actual models were rather close to what the final character designs were, but I guess we'll have to see - Disney has to release some sort of teaser trailer soon, right?

Not too long ago, Disney gave us a first look at a piece of concept art for Frozen.

Ominously (at least that's how I felt at the time), Elsa, the Snow Queen, was left out of the image while we got a look at Anna (her sister) and Kristoff.

I suppose I've had high hopes for the Snow Queen's design. This animated film has been a long time coming, so there's quite a bit of old concept art out there.

My favorite.

The majority of the old concept art for the Snow Queen shows a very beautiful yet cruel-looking character, or at least someone that you might not feel too comfortable having dinner with. Which is probably part of the reason why this project has been so plagued with problems story-wise.

This film has had several stops and goes...going all the way back to the 1930s, believe it or not (though back then it was supposed to be part live-action and part animation). The project was once called "The Ice Queen" as well as, of course, "The Snow Queen." I'm fairly confident that the project is now called "Frozen" because of how well Tangled did. Those guys in marketing must be convinced that due to the name change for Rapunzel's story and somehow "hiding" the fact that the film was a princess story, instead of making it obvious with The Princess and the Frog, Tangled did better than they thought it would.

In fact, when Princess and the Frog didn't do quite as well as they wanted, that's when Disney chose to rename the Rapunzel film. Disney has wanted to make as much as it did when The Lion King came out ($312 million). Never mind that the film was competing with Avatar at the time and that that's when the economy truly went down the tanker...

That was also one of the instances when the Snow Queen project was shelved. A princess and traditionally hand-drawn film? Oh no, that simply wouldn't do! In fact, mere days before Tangled was released, Ed Catmull stated that Disney was done with fairy tales for a while (though I will emphasize here that after nearly everyone freaked out from what he said, he went on record saying that he didn't mean that Disney would never churn out a fairy tale film ever again). But he and John Lasseter, who oversaw Disney animation, canned not just the Snow Queen film, but also a version they were planning of Jack and the Beanstalk. It's kind of ironic, considering that, once upon a time, John was very eager to actually direct the Snow Queen project, actually wanting to direct a princess film.

Then Tangled was released and earned over $200 million domestically, and the big boys that scoffed at fairy tales and princess stories were reminded why Disney became a powerhouse in the first place. Yes, it helped that Flynn/Eugene was an actually interesting character and the film had some action and adventure - but that never changed the fact that the film was still a fairy tale centered around the story of a princess. The Princess and the Frog had an interesting male character (and was just all-around solid with great word of mouth) as well, but perhaps featuring Flynn more prominently for Tangled's promos helped.

There is something to be said for setting the bar too high for your own good, though. Disney/Pixar cannot expect to get the same set of numbers at the box office every time. Instead of focusing so much on how much of a box office blockbuster they create, they should be more focused on the creative quality of their films (not that quality has gone awry yet per say). And as we all know, Disney makes the majority of its money from their films in the long-run, not simply the time that their films are out in theaters. Merchandise is a huge money-maker, especially where the princesses are concerned. 

Anyhow, Tangled proved that the world still wanted to see Disney princesses and fairy tales, which is why the Snow Queen project made a comeback. But perhaps Disney is trying a little too hard to replicate Tangled's success. Besides the name change, the new Disney Princess Anna looks an awful lot like Rapunzel.

So what if they gave Anna blue eyes and strawberry blonde hair instead of green eyes and regular blonde hair...they still look like they could be sisters.

Is this the price of doing this film in CG? Are all of the girls are going to have the same head shape, eyes and nose? People have noted how similar Ariel and Rapunzel are in design, but honestly, after seeing Anna I feel it a bit less. If Disney took the film in a more unique art direction, it would not be so obvious. But at least all of the snow will look luminous...

The original Hans Christian Andersen story actually features children (Kai and Gerda) as main characters. I'm not sure why Disney decided to drop this idea...perhaps they were hung up on creating a romance. But they did toy with the idea. As for the name changes, while I have heard some criticism regarding the matter, I do not see a big problem with it. As someone who has family from that part of the world, I can safely say that all of their names are very Danish.

I am happy to see that Kristoff is a slightly burlier man. While not quite a Bastion (a shelved concept for Rapunzel's beau), he's not as thin as he was in his original concept art.

They have strayed quite far from the original fairy tale, and that is their right as creators of entertainment. But they do seem to be pushing further and further away from the original fairy tale and original concept. The Snow Queen, or Elsa, looks like she came straight out of one of the CG Tinkerbell films or even from Dreamworks. Here's the brand new poster of her (sorry about the awkward logo).

It's true that once Disney decided to toy with more serious animated features, their box office revenues began to dip. Somehow The Lion King, which took the plot of Shakespeare's "Halmet," was able to find a strong balance between comedy and tragedy, and without feeling like it was some sort of formula. But once Pocahontas and The Hunchback of Notre Dame were released, audiences dropped from the numbers they had built from earlier in the Disney Renaissance.

It's a shame, really. I actually love Pocahontas and Hunchback. They both have sweeping scores, beautiful animation and I felt that Disney made some bold choices with those films. Perhaps part of the problem was that they weren't dedicated to being serious enough...the moment where they would try to implement comedy or cut certain songs were possibly where things went wrong. But in any case, trying to make a film for everyone is shooting yourself in the foot. 99% of the time you just can't please everyone.

Disney is definitely leaning towards a comedic feel, however. Besides a one-antlered reindeer, there will also be a talking snowman named Olaf. He's a snowman, and this film will be released for the holidays, which means a bunch of Christmas merchandise tie-ins. Not quite sure how I feel about him yet.

I still have high hopes for this film, regardless of all the changes it's gone through. Part of what can help ensure that this film isn't just about some cold-hearted [insert derogatory female term here] and coming across as woman-hating, Jennifer Lee, who co-wrote the script for Wreck-It Ralph, will be co-directing this film alongside Chris Buck, as well as contributing to the film's script.

Besides the script and direction, the music and casting sounds promising. Kristen Bell will voice Anna, and Idina Menzel will voice Elsa. Both have great musical theatre chops, though obviously the latter is more well-known for it than the other. While we saw Idina in Enchanted (and was even animated as a fairy tale version of herself), playing a leading role in a Disney animated feature must be a dream come true.

As for the score and lyrics, Broadway vets Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez (a married team, aww) are taking care of it. You can bet that the lyrics will be very clever and probably quite funny.

So while Frozen may not be the film we all expected it to be from the beginning, it will probably be successful in that it will entertain audiences. And that's really the most important aspect in all of this, right?

And in the meantime, I'll be anxiously awaiting that secret 2D animated film that Ron and John are working on for (I believe) 2014.

A New Redhead for Us to Love - Merida!

This Friday, the general public officially gets to experience Merida’s world when they see Brave, the new film from Disney, and the Pixar division’s first princess film.

This is all pretty ironic, considering that in November of 2010, Disney’s Ed Catmull had stated that Disney was not planning on doing any more fairy tales for a while. Disney expected Tangled to not do so well at the box office…of course, they were proven wrong. So now we are getting Brave, and Disney has put the story of the Snow Queen back on the table.

Granted, Brave got the renamed title treatment that Tangled did. Originally, the film was called The Bear and the Bow…not necessarily princess-like, but the title was not as quirky or solid. Tangled was renamed because Disney feared that calling the film by its title character (who is, in fact, a girl and a princess) would have scared boys away. Who knows if it was the name change or the simple fact that Flynn was actually made into a solid character? In any case, the film did well and the boys at the office were reminded why Disney became a household name in the first place.

So the girls are back. And with every successive film starring a princess, Disney seems to get better and better with portraying a strong and independent female that little girls can idolize and women can relate with.

I have felt some trepidation regarding this film, I must admit. I love Pixar’s films; the stories are solid and heartwarming, harkens back to classic Disney films, and the animation impresses me with every viewing. However, this is the first time they will be featuring a female lead as the main protagonist, and the first time that they are dealing with a fairy tale. The original director for this film, Brenda Chapman, was to be Pixar’s first female director, but due to creative disagreements, was fired from the film. While it is not unusual for these things to happen while working on an animated film, it comes as a nasty sting here, especially towards women, who are still not getting an ample amount of creative expression in the entertainment industry. As a woman, it gets frustrating to hear about people fearing to alienate the male populous regarding entertainment when females have felt that alienation for most of history itself.

So I can’t help but wonder what specifically happened here. Was her presence actually hurting the film, or was it something that was just harder for the male-dominated studio to relate to and understand? Is it not crucial that a female perspective is expressed in Brave, considering that for the first time Disney is showing the complicated relationship between a daughter and a mother who is not a villain?

I can’t help but think of the film Incredibles. It is a fairly entertaining and solid film, but the one aspect of the movie that I have always felt wasn’t quite right was the mother/daughter relationship. This is not something that can be simply explained to men, and is not something that they can generally understand. And when working in a creative environment, it can be difficult for some men to relinquish some control and listen to a female perspective, even if it would make the final product stronger. The glass ceiling is still very present, and I’m hoping that in the case of Brave, it will not hurt the film.

I have mostly positive thoughts for this film, though. It is fun to see a princess that is not really interested in sitting pretty, but rather being active and adventurous, one who takes charge in controlling her own destiny. That is the stuff that solid films are made of. The fact that Merida is an archer is just, well – cool! I was happy to see at Disneyland when the merchandise for Brave had just been released that of all of their items, they were mostly sold out on the archery sets (and I’m not going to lie, I kinda want to get one for myself - FYI, the online Disney Store is already sold out of them!). And from what I have seen in the previews, the dynamics between Merida and Queen Elinor feel more natural and honest.

Some have complained that while Disney is trying to push the fact that Merida does not want to get married (and really, who could blame her from the selection she’s offered?), the film is still centering its plot on marrying Merida off, and if they really wanted to be progressive, that issue would not have been included in the film. However, I disagree with this sentiment – sure, it would be nice to see a female protagonist just doing her own thing without the focus being on making her an accessory to someone else, but we are dealing with a fairy tale that takes place in an age where this is simply what happened to young women everywhere, princesses especially. Marriages were used to bond other families, tribes and kingdoms together. Women were expected to carry on their bloodlines and have as many children as they could because the life expectancy of children making it past adolescence was perhaps 1 or 2 in 5, and just living in general your life expectancy was to make it to 30. Heirs needed to be produced to ensure that the family name and bloodline could carry on. Yes, it is a fairy tale, but it is set in a certain time period to make the story more believable to general audiences. And let’s be honest – we still have parents arranging marriages in this day and age all over the world, or in more modernized places, mothers pushing their daughters to get married because they want grandchildren.

I am also very, very happy that Kelly Macdonald voiced Merida. Reese Witherspoon was originally supposed to voice the character, and while I love her, she is not Scottish. A Scottish accent is not easy to fake, so it is better to hear some authenticity.

While Brave appears to be expressing a similar style to Dreamworks’ How to Train Your Dragon (a fantastic film, but from a different studio), the sweeping images of the Scottish highlands in the trailers remind us that we will be seeing a film from the animation geniuses at Pixar. While the merchandise and final trailer have mostly given away the film’s plot, I am excited to see this movie and welcome a new redhead into my heart, one who hates having her wild mane brushed, acknowledges corsets for what they are, and is incredibly brave. That’s the kind of girl modern females are aching to see.

So, are you planning on seeing the film this weekend? Are you one of the lucky few that have gotten to see it in previews? Or is Merida scaring some of you boys away? J

Beauty and the Beast 3D, Tangled Ever After, and Star Wars: The Phantom Menace That Won't Go Away

I recently visited the movie theater to let my nostalgia get the best of me and watch Beauty and the Beast in 3D. It seems like only yesterday that I detailed here the drama that seemed to be unraveling with this particular release. I’m just thankful that it is finally back in American theaters, entertaining new and old audiences.

Tale as old as time, but still entertaining audiences.

I was very excited for the pre-show, too. In a turn of marketing genius, Disney decided to create a Tangled short featuring Eugene and Rapunzel’s wedding.

Disney Bridal by Alfred Angelo: Rapunzel Dress

Disney Bridal by Alfred Angelo: Rapunzel Veil

The short was like any good old-fashioned Disney short: short, sweet, and full of slapstick and clever gags. One that didn’t hit me until later was Rapunzel’s veil. In many ways, it has bothered me that Tangled seems to suggest that Rapunzel’s hair can’t grow at all now that it has all been chopped off. Eugene acted very nobly, to be sure, and it had to be done, but because of his cutting tool he did a fairly choppy job (which is realistic, and I honestly respect the animators for the end result). But just because Rapunzel lost the flower power doesn’t mean that her hair is just dead. I would prefer to look at it as her being reborn, getting to start her life anew with the family that she’s been separated from this whole time. And while the poor girl has been through a lot and has more important things to concern herself with than hair, it must have still been hard to come to terms with the loss of her long, golden locks. She put her hair to good use and could do things with it that no one else could do. And just in general, when a woman gets a drastic hair cut, it can have a strong effect on her emotionally and psychologically. Therefore, I have a hard time believing that Rapunzel was 100% fine with the way her hair looked on her wedding day. But the length of her veil says everything, in a sweet and subtle way…while Rapunzel decided to mostly skip having a train for her wedding gown, her veil takes up the length that her hair would have. It was clever, symbolic and beautiful. Overall, the short was a fun addition to my evening.

The blonde doll is available now, but you will have to wait until March 28th for the brunette (and pay a lot more).

 But now, on to Beauty and the Beast. I detailed here before that the prologue had supposedly been altered in Australia and New Zealand. I am happy to report, however, that the original prologue is what is playing in movie theaters across America today: “If he could learn to love another, and earn her love in return…” In fact, the film is exactly like the original (meaning no “Human Again” add-on) except it is in 3D and the film quality has been greatly enhanced.

 As for the 3D itself? Not too shabby. It really opened up the scenes (which were, of course, dynamic to begin with, but enhanced with the 3D). Beauty and the Beast is filled with detailed, beautiful and sweeping environments, so it was really cool to see it popping out a bit more. It was by no means gimmicky or in-your-face, and felt fairly natural to watch. It was rare that the 3D bothered me…the two most notable moments were when Belle enters Beast’s castle for the first time and looks up into the ceiling (her face ended up looking completely flat for some reason, which looked odd) and during “Gaston” at a time where the trio of blondes stood together but were completely still (I had never noticed their lack of animation at that moment before, but the 3D made it very apparent). With that in mind, I will probably go back to the theater to see this at least one more time, as Beauty and the Beast is my favorite film and I enjoyed noticing all sorts of things that I hadn’t seen before.

3D, but tasteful!

 Would I be willing to go see another Disney film re-done in 3D again? Depending on the film, yes. This fall Finding Nemo is slated to be released in 3D. I know it will look gorgeous…so this will essentially have the same appeal as Avatar (which got way more attention than it deserved, in my opinion). But if Disney thinks I’m going to want to see every Pixar film in 3D, they are seriously mistaken. I sincerely hope that the Cars franchise stays far, far away. Hopefully they learned something from the second film doing abysmally at the box office. They can have their fun with Carsland at Disney California Adventure, but let’s leave it at that, shall we?

There is another film being shown in 3D format for the first time next week: Star Wars: The Phantom Menace. Do I really need to see this film in 3D? Yes and no. No because Disneyland already has the attraction Star Tours in 3D, which opened last summer to great fanfare and utilizes many possible scenarios from the prequels, like podracing. I am not a fan of the prequels…and if you think they are worthy of a significant amount of praise, then I suggest you head on over to RedLetterMedia (be forewarned – this guy does some really bizarre vignettes for his character and it is by no means child-friendly, and he has a weird sense of humor, but the guy knows what he’s talking about).

So why do I have to see this disgrace to the Star Wars legacy and movies in general? If this release does not do well, then NONE of the other Star Wars films will be released in 3D. Granted, this saves any of the films from being tampered even more by George Lucas (well, temporarily, anyway), who seems completely determined to ruin his own franchise…but I’d be lying if I said I was not interested in seeing the original trilogy in 3D (even with the recent tragic addition of Vader crying “Nooo!” when he grabs the Emperor in Return of the Jedi). They really should have started with the release of the original trilogy (IV, V and VI), but of course they couldn’t possibly do that! Ugh…so, of course, Lucas and his band of cronies who don’t dare tell the man that he’s making bad choices force fans like myself (and, honestly, the majority of true Star Wars fans) to shell out money for films we do not want to see in order to have the opportunity to see the ones we really love. Greedy gungans (or gungas, according to George in an interview).

Hey Ani!!! I'm obnoxious!!!

 So, as much as I hate to advertise for this abomination, as a Star Wars fan I am asking you to go out and see this film so that we have a chance to see the real Star Wars films (that we’re not ashamed to call ourselves fans of) in 3D.