Overrated and over-hated

Rating: 6/10 (7 September 2015)

Does this movie live up to the level of hype it got at first? I don't think so. For one thing, there are a lot of things about the characterization that are just plain sloppy. Elsa goes from being extremely reserved to "letting it go" so fast it felt unnatural. There needed to be more balance, nuance and subtlety in her character and less "going from zero to sixty" in a very short time. Another issue was Prince Hans, who was nothing but a huge cheat. The entire point of him was, "Ohh, he's a villain! You didn't see that coming! HA HA!" There was nothing about his character that was naturally developed or made sense. The whole point was to trick the audience, and that's it.
Another huge issue in characterization is Anna and Elsa's sisterly relationship feeling very, very unrealistic. Elsa isolated herself from her sister for YEARS and YEARS, from Anna's view, for no reason. Anna acts WAY too friendly with her considering that, as far as Anna could tell, Elsa was being a jerk and abandoning her for no reason. This is especially severe considering that absolutely horrible parenting resulted in the two daughters being locked up in their castle for most of their lives. This movie seems to assume that familial relations will magically create strong relationships, but a lot of the strength of familial relationships comes from spending such a huge amount of time together, which Elsa and Anna obviously didn't. This might be one of the biggest problems in the movie, in my opinion. After all, sisterly love is one of the biggest themes in the movie, and yet they're not going to actually have it make sense or explore how sisterly love forms. In this movie, it's something that's just "there".
Another problem is that the "twist" of the magical love needed not being romantic in nature was rather predictable and not much of a twist to me.
There were also some things in this movie that just didn't make much sense, such as Elsa's powers, i.e. apparently being able to create life without even trying to, and how exactly she thawed everything out, etc.
Overall, this movie felt like it was trying very hard to hit all the right notes with the public, and its success at doing so probably explains its immense popularity. And yet, there are many things about this movie that really need to be better before I'm willing to call it a "great" movie.
At the same time...does this movie really deserve the level of backlash it received? I don't think so. It's understandable, considering its popularity, but still undeserved. There's no way this movie deserves to be called terrible or rated one star. Despite its weaknesses, it's still pretty enjoyable and immensely watchable overall. It has absolutely wonderful aesthetics, some great humor, catchy songs, likable characters, and a storyline which - despite its specific failures - is still fairly enjoyable in a broad sense.
Overall, it isn't nearly as good as its hype might suggest, but it also just plain isn't as bad as some of its dissenters insist. If you watch it without letting the over-hypedness bother you, you'll probably enjoy yourself. Just don't expect too much.