The Disney film that knew how to be 'important'...

Rating: 7/10 (21 August 2016)

My girl was born the same year than "Frozen", I don't think she'll ever recall her first experience with the film and that she used to dance and turn while singing "let it go!" over and over, but I suspect she'll still have enough toys or perfumes or plastic glasses reminding her, and indirectly her daddy, of the Frozen-mania that defined her childhood. So, it's not the movie lover or the Disney fan but the father of a little girl who'll review the film.
Now, a simple question, did I enjoy it? I did, not as I enjoyed recent Disney films like "Tangled" to name this one, but I'm in no position to judge my personal enjoyment because in the end, millions of children (I suspect a vast majority of girls) went to see the film, it ended up being the highest grossing Disney movie ever, crossing the billion mark, and there are probably millions of two-year old Anna and Elsa who owe their name to "Frozen". So we're not reviewing a film, but a phenomenon.
Indeed, just when we thought our eyes saw everything and that we had enough fairy tales stories for three generations, "Frozen" transcended its appellation as Disney animation, even inspiring a new term "New Renaissance", like a rebirth of Disney magic that the success of "Inside Out" confirmed. And it's such a smash hit that I wish I could be as enthusiastic as a witness of history in motion, but I can't because I didn't enjoy the film that much, but I understand why I didn't enjoy it and I understand it doesn't really matter. When a film is so successfully commercial, no constructive review can deny this one merit.
That'll sound like an odd name-dropping in a Disney review but I saw an interview of French director Jean-Pierre Melville and he said that an artist must face the fact that his work of art is a product, and as a product, it's got to be successful. Not that an artist should compromise himself but the creation has to provide something tangible to the viewer, a sensation, a feeling, an effect, otherwise, it's a pointless effort. Watching "Frozen", I couldn't help but think what a smartly marketed film it was. It feels like your ordinary fairy tale; you get the castle, the princess, the Charming Prince, the kiss of true love, the funny sidekicks, but that's just the packaging, you ain't seen nothing till you really see it.
We don't have one princess but two, two sisters, siblings' relationships have always been tense in Disney's films but in "Frozen", it's the soul of the story, Elsa is a princess gifted with the power of turning things into ice and snow with her fingers, but after an accident that almost caused her sister's death, she's locked away till her coronation on her 18th birthday. Anna is the free-spirited jovial little sister who has a love-at-first-sight moment with prince Hans. There is a lot of exposition before the story takes off, but we get very soon that we're not heading toward the conventional Disney story: there's something too 'convenient' about the Prince and as if Elsa felt it, she refuses to give her blessing for her sister's marriage claiming that she can't just marry someone she just met, thus throwing away decades of Disney teachings!
But this is nothing compared to the revolution to come, there have been female protagonists 'leaving' their place: Ariel, Jasmine, Rapuntzel but when Anna leaves the castle, the town, her responsibilities, her musical number "Let it Go" strikes as a hymn to individuality and total purposeless freedom, some even saw there a subtle metaphor of coming-out. The writer and co-director Jennifer Lee said the film belongs to the public and any interpretation is welcome you bet, I want to say. This is the kind of ambiguity that can only hit the jackpot, the song is gutsy enough to be ambiguous, but the tone is still family friendly, it's a win-win. And it's so catchy that you just can't get it off your head. The film then ventures into very familiar territories, Anna looks for her sister, meets ice salesman Kristoff and his funny sidekick Sven and then, the quartet is completed with the adorable Olaf and I can't just resist him, if only because my daughter loves to hug Olaf-shaped pillows from furniture stores.
"Frozen" feels a little shaky though in the writing; Elsa is the heroine but she's the closest to an antagonist, so the only antagonist possible was Hans, and it was awkward to see him turning into such a hateful bastard while he looked sincere in his introductory scene. Still, he wasn't a villain to measure up with the film's ambitions, but was Kristoff any more important in the "hero" role? It's funny that such a movie so conscious of its 'significance', had needless characters story-wise (don't even get me started on the trolls) but you better believe the makers knew what they were doing, and I got it with the kiss of the true sisterly love that provided the happy end: "Frozen" was all about Elsa and Anna, two sisters maybe that was the closest to lovers a Disney film could get, it's just as if the script was written by Lisa Simpson (remember, Equalia?), Elsa and Anna instantly made Belle and Ariel look like Snow-White and Cinderella.
Feminism, girl-power is the new message of animation and as a man, I'm getting a little tired of it. "Frozen" was so wrapped up in its message it affected the story, but I guess when you have a vision for a film and stick to it, it always pays off. I'm pretty sure that in 10-15 years, young women will be reminiscing about Anna and Elsa as the film will represent a pivotal part of their life and as a girl's daddy, I can't ignore it. "Frozen" simply knew how to be important.