The Wonderful World Of Disney

Rating: 8/10 (12 April 2014)

Another magical cartoon from Disney, meant primarily for kids but with plenty throughout for adults to appreciate too – as is the case with the best cartoons made over the decades whether by Disney, MGM, Hanna-Barbera etc. It adapts Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale, adds a few nice shouty songs and special syrup resulting in a nearly masterpiece. It's full of stereotypes and clichés, is image-rich and plot-weak, sweet and short and glib and witty and unrealistic and a fantasy which thankfully "says nothing to me about my life". Even if I'm a crusty old guy do I have to like the crusty realism so prevalent nowadays? With variable success I try and follow Thumper's injunction - if you can't say somethin' nice, don't say nuthin' at all.
Queen Elsa has dangerous magical powers to freeze things, becomes cold and closed in her attempts not to hurt people or things but eventually flees to an instant ice palace high in the mountains when inadvertently creating a perpetual winter. The only trouble with the film is that either she or the weaselly trader should have been an evil villain instead of unwitting ones for a greater freezing frisson. Sister Anna would then had an external battle to match her internal one. Favourite bits: the relentless sound and vision witticisms in Love Is An Open Door; the trolls Fixer Upper welcoming of Kristof; the great action graphics with Hans and Elsa at the ice palace; Anna freezing to death but more worried about Olaf melting; the heart-warming moral perfectly portrayed in the best Disney tradition. Talk about sistas doing it for themselves! On another note, I find that Disney's conception of female beauty has got so atrophied over time that the handsome males now look far more normal. But I join the Corporation in distancing myself from Kristof's crass bogey-men comment which got right up my nose. The cgi cartoonery is unremittingly excellent and as suitably cold as ice, even breath-taking – where will all this technology lead to?
Can I say something crazy? The best non-Pixar cartoon of the last twenty years - wonderful stuff! The most positive and worthwhile film I've watched in years: Love is all around indeed, at least until the warm glow engendered melts away. 'Twas just the same with Snow White too. So kids, if you want to keep the fantasy alive, watch it again.