"Let it go."
Hello everyone!
Way back.
Well, okay, not WAY, WAY back, but I'm certainly going a couple of years into the past with my movie choice for tonight. I have an explanation, however!
I dearly want to review Frozen II on this blog, but it turns out - because I started blogging AFTER this franchise started - that I don't really have Frozen itself on here yet.
Well, this won't do, said my brain.
So here I am tonight, taking us back to when Disney went and practically remade itself in the 2010s by launching arguably one of its best movies of all time, both in terms of monetary revenues and general storyline, which diverged from the usual thing Disney's known for.
Since then, there have been a bunch of others following a similar vein, but it more or less all began with Frozen, and its subsequent success.
Grab your long johns and a thermos, people. The cold is about to bother us, Frozen-style.
I've done a few Disney movie reviews over time so you'll be able to find links to those at the bottom of my post.
Frozen, however, is a different ballgame entirely.
We're introduced to the kingdom of Arendelle somewhere high up in the Scandinavian countryside, where the king and queen have two daughters, Elsa and Anna. Elsa possesses magical powers with which she can create ice and snow, and these are often used to play with her younger sister, because nothing is more fun than building snowmen in your room in the middle of the night, am I right?
Unfortunately, the happy montage can't last forever and impetuous Anna, daring Elsa to go further and further, causes her sister to react in fear when she worries her baby sister might fall, and accidentally hits her with a bolt of magic.
The royal family rushes to a nearby colony of rock trolls, ruled by Grand Pabbie, who helps bring Anna back from unconsciousness, saying the head can be reasoned with, while the heart is the more difficult thing to fix. He does, however, alter Anna's memories so she forgets all about Elsa's powers, and then tells Elsa she needs to learn to control them, or else she will fear all her life that something might happen, which will become her enemy.
I'd argue here that Elsa was well on the way to controlling her powers since the accident was just that, an accident, but, you know.
The king and queen close the palace off from the rest of Arendelle and isolate Elsa, who's terrified once her powers start growing further, and goes to great lengths to suppress them, even voluntarily sundering herself from her sister, who doesn't understand this isolation and is of course hurt by it.
Things come to a head during their teenage years when their parents are lost at sea, and a sort of quiet existence settles over the palace walls until Elsa turns 21, at which point she's to be crowned Queen of Arendelle.
The palace is opened up for the first time in years and EVERYONE AND THEIR MOTHER is invited to come gawk at their Queen like she's a zoo exhibit (if you look closely you can actually see the couple from Tangled are visiting, too). The guests also include Prince Hans and the scheming Duke of Weselton, who both have their own agendas.
Hans runs into Anna - literally - and Anna naturally falls for the dashing young man at first sight, so after the coronation (before and during which Elsa is terrified someone will notice her powers and tries to keep herself distanced from the lot of them) the two of them seek Elsa's blessing to marry.
In what is probably the most celebrated line after 'let it go', Elsa denies them the request, saying that Anna can't possibly marry a man she's just met.
Considering the fact she's been locked up in a palace all her life and has no clue about life outside, I'd say Elsa's definitely right on this end.
Of course, little sisters being as they are, a fight ensues during which Elsa loses control of her powers, and the Duke of Weselton loses no time in branding her a monster, forcing her to flee Arendelle. Desperate, and determined to prove them all wrong, Anna hightails it after her, enlisting the help of Kristoff (an iceman) and his reindeer Sven to get her up the North Mountain. On the way, they also run into Olaf, a friendly snowman whom Elsa's powers unintentionally created, and he promises to lead them to the mountain.
Said mountain has, at this time, become the location Elsa chooses for her hermit home, acknowledging her powers and deciding that she's not returning to Arendelle, but what she doesn't know, and what Anna explains to her once she arrives, is that she's accidentally locked Arendelle in what looks to be eternal winter (Game of Thrones characters are all going psht, girl, please).
Elsa is remorseful, but doesn't know how to undo her act, and when Anna continues to push, she once again accidentally unleashes a bolt of power, this time hitting Anna's heart, but she doesn't realize this when she kicks the lot of them out of her new crib.
And while Kristoff races to his adoptive family - the trolls - Hans makes an appearance up the mountain.
Anna's horse returned without her, so he went on the hunt, but of course what they actually find, or who, is Elsa, who begs them to leave her alone, though that doesn't happen, and they clap her in irons and drag her back to Arendelle to imprison her (why couldn't they just leave her alone when she voluntarily left them behind to not hurt them? Your guess is as good as mine).
While this is going on, Grand Pabbie explains that only an act of true love can save Anna now, so Kristoff takes her back to Arendelle where Hans can kiss her - except that doesn't happen.
See, Hans wants Arendelle for himself - sans the two sisters, so he put Elsa in chains, convincing her that Anna's dead, and leaves Anna to die, convincing everybody Elsa killed her. Elsa manages to escape, and Olaf frees Anna from the locked room she was in, and everything comes to a head in the storm raging outside.
Hans is determined to kill Elsa, whose shocked emotions upon being told her sister is dead stop the storm, and SHE might have been dead just as much if Hans had his way, but Anna stumbles in between them, freezing entirely as she stops his sword.
Elsa is completely devastated and wraps her arms around her frozen sister, which thaws Anna out, proving that the "act of true love" doesn't have to be between romantic interests, but can be between family members just as much, as their love might be even stronger in some cases.
This also helps Elsa understand she doesn't need to fear her powers, but can accept and love herself and her sister, and everyone around her is the answer, and she defrosts Arendelle. Hans and the Duke are given the boot, and the kingdom prepares to celebrate, with Elsa promising never to close the palace gates again. Anna gives Kristoff the sleigh she owes him, and the two kiss, while Olaf gets his very own flurry to survive in the warm climate.
And in the frozen palace up the North Mountain, the snow monster Elsa made to guard against intruders finds her crown and puts it on its head.
Ta-da!
A lovely family movie with wonderful messages hidden within (overruling the 'lock your kid away when they aren't the same as everybody else' which IS problematic, I'll give you that), Frozen takes a step away from traditional Disney movies in which the princess usually waits for the prince to rescue her. In this one, the prince is the bad guy, the good guy isn't even remotely royal, and two sisters can be a kick-ass team without any man to help them out.
Overall, however, it's a story of finding yourself, finding peace with yourself, and a way of saying there's nothing wrong with being different.
Different is just the new normal, after all.
xx
*images and video not mine
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