What Frozen Does Differently and Why I Like it

Hey everybody! First of all, I'm going to try and post at least once a week from now on. Whether that happens or not is uncertain, ha ha.

So I recently saw Disney's newest film, Frozen, and I was surprised by many things that this movie did that are different from previous Disney films. I know critics have given different thoughts and views on how these changes made the movie better or worse, but I'm going to talk about some of the more controversial points of Frozen, and why I liked them. Oh, to anybody who hasn't seen the movie yet, be warned that there are spoilers ahead! Just go watch the movie already!

Elsa and Anna. Source: www.neontommy.com

First of all, let's talk about how Anna's act of true love involved sacrificing herself to save her sister. This act then broke the curse of the frozen heart, saving Anna's life. I absolutely loved this part! It says so many good things about the characters and the story. I'll admit when the troll magician talked how an act of true love would save Anna, and they all immediately said, "true love's kiss," I literally groaned in the theater. I'm not even kidding. Don't get me wrong, the whole true love's kiss thing is a nice trope, but that's kind of the problem. It's been done before. Multiple times. Some examples include: Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, The Little Mermaid, Enchanted, etc.  And the movie made it look like that's what was going to save Anna. So when the act of true love turned out to be Anna saving her sister, I was very happily surprised. I think it worked really well and it turned a trope into something new and interesting.


The other thing I loved about Anna's act of true love was that the love wasn't a romantic one. This may not seem like a big deal, but I think today's media puts way too much emphasis on the whole romantic love and not enough in other types of love. I think Disney tends to do it sometimes too, with the whole idea of true love saving all. We tend to gravitate towards romance when we think of true love.  But true love doesn't have to be romantic. And that's what this movie shows. Anna's love for her sister is no less powerful than a romantic love. It's a great message that I think doesn't get said enough.

Hans and Anna. Source: disney.wikia.com

And now let's talk about Hans. Holy cow, Hans. While I suspected he was a baddie, I was still a little surprised at his turning. I think the main reason why is that this is a huge deal in a Disney movie. I don't think Disney has ever had a prince go bad. Some people don't like it at all, saying it's not good for the little girls to see a prince go bad, but to be honest, I like it. There are plenty of movies and stories about good princes who save the day. Why shouldn't there be one where the prince turns out to be the bad guy? And if it teaches people anything, it teaches that things aren't always what they seem. And that you shouldn't go and get engaged to a guy after knowing him one day because he could turn out to be a power-hungry maniac. Good lessons, I think.

Finally, let's talk about Kristoff. By definition you could say he's the "disney prince" though he isn't actually one, but he is the favored love interest to Anna. Even though she's engaged to Hans, it's clear in the movie that she'll likely end up with Kristoff. The thing that Disney did differently with Kristoff is that he wasn't directly responsible for saving Anna at the end. Some critics slammed that element, saying that Kristoff was useless and had no role. To put it simply, I don't agree. Let's just take a look at the things Kristoff did: he helped Anna reach the ice palace in his sleigh, he fought off a bunch of wolves, he went up against an ice monster, he took Anna to the troll magician to try and help her, and then he brought Anna back to Hans in order to save her frozen heart (of course they didn't know at that point that Hans was bad). If he hadn't brought Anna back, she wouldn't have been able to save Elsa from Hans and both sisters probably would've died. Tell me again how Kristoff is useless?

Kristoff and Anna. Source: disney.co.uk

It's true that Kristoff wasn't the one who ultimately saved Anna from frozen heart curse; Anna saved herself in that regard. But I think that's okay. Does the romantic interest have to save the girl every time? And to be honest, I don't know if Kristoff kissing Anna would've saved her. The fact that she just realized that she had feelings for Kristoff doesn't really qualify as true love in my book. True love needs to be something deeper, from knowing a person for a long time and loving them despite their weaknesses and imperfections. Anna already had that love for her sister, so it made sense for that love to save Anna.

Now this doesn't mean that I don't have issues with some elements in Frozen. I didn't like the little rock trolls at all, mainly because I thought they were really annoying.  I also had issues with the fact that Elsa's and Anna's parents treated Elsa's gift like a curse and kept the girls isolated from the people. And the fact that the parents were out of the picture so quickly in the story bugged me a little. I would've liked to have seen more interaction between the girls and their parents. I also felt that the pacing of the movie slowed down a bit halfway through the movie. It wasn't too bad; it just felt a little slow at certain parts, such as the whole rock troll scene and the scene where Anna realized her feelings for Kristoff. They just didn't flow as well as other parts of the movie.

So overall, I think Frozen does a great job with making an interesting story and creating likable and compelling characters. I also like how this movie pushes the limits of the usual Disney movie conventions. It's true that Frozen isn't a traditional fairy-tale Disney movie, and people may not like that. However, I think those unusual elements really worked for the movie and they're what made the story interesting to me. And while some things could have been better, I think Frozen did great in pushing tradition a little and showing us a different side of the usual fairy tale. So those are my thoughts. Feel free to comment if you have opinions on this idea. Just be respectful, please! Well, that's all I have to say. Until later, folks!