Frozen is arguably the worst Disney film ever made. It should be titled "Han's Tale."

Rating: 1/10 (24 March 2014)

By "worst Disney movie" I do not mean the worst movie ever made. I hold Disney to a higher standard. So when I saw this film, with all of its hype, I came out of it not only disappointed, but utterly frustrated. This film, save its visuals, does very little right.
So when we think of Disney, we think of a few major plot devices: the predictable romance, the villain who drives the conflict, and the moral that the film presents. Unfortunately this movie fails in all of these regards.
Regarding romance it surprisingly includes it in the tale. I know Disney makes alterations to classic fairy tales, and often adds romance to enliven them, but the Snow Queen is an exception to the rule. The focus of the tale is not on the romantic element, but the mystery of the Snow Queen, and the mysterious mirror that reflects evil in souls. This concept alone is fascinating, but is never portrayed in the movie. When making adaption of the tale (and there have been many attempts, mind you) this element has to be kept in mind.
I'm often a fan of a Disney alteration, but unfortunately, this is not an easy story to adapt. I can see why Walt Disney put the project on hold, and Disney itself did not revive in during the Renaissance. The relationship between Elsa and Anna is poor and often non-existent, considering the parents strangely agree to wipe Anna's memory and thus destroy the relationship between the sisters. Arguably, this upbringing is an unintentional villain in the story.
And regarding the villain, the film should be about Hans. Hans is the most interesting and compassionate character in the film, but they decide to antagonize him for the cliché desire for power. The twist is poorly thought out, because while it is supposed to debunk Disney's banal attempts to incorporate "true love" romance into their films, this was not the film to be doing it. Often times characters will develop a relationship in Disney's films; the only exceptions are Grimm fairy tales in which romance drives the story. We're supposed to hate Hans by film's end, even though he has arguably the worst motivation in Disney history. He has many brothers, and wants to take over a kingdom? I'd say let him, he shows more superior leadership traits than either Anna or Elsa.
Anna and Elsa would be ineffective leaders anyways. Anna delegates power to (arguably better leaders) but still outside of the bloodline (didn't they have a regent or something? There's a time-gap in the film that explains very little of Arendelle). Elsa evades her responsibilities as queen, freezes the kingdom over, and forces her people to the brink of starvation, and they love her in the end? That doesn't make much sense to me. Hans' idea to charge Elsa with treason at least is more justified than anything Anna has to bargain with; Hans is a much stronger character.
The moral is designed to be a feminist sympathy, which fails horribly. It is ironic that in a so-called "feminist" movie that encourages "lesbianism" (in Elsa's case)that the female characters are even worse than in traditional fairy tales. Elsa and Anna are annoying, stupid, and take little accountability for their actions. I suppose the message was supposed to be "love your sibling" and all the fluffy, Disney crap but it seems like last minute drivel. And to make this movie even more unbearable, they have to denigrate the male population, with side villains such as the Duke of Wesselton, who is made to be scrawny, but notoriously crafty politician, sworn to "cheat" the poorly elected leadership. Hell, at least he knows foreign policy and economics. What do Elsa and Anna know about the politics of the kingdom? They were sheltered for fifteen years! If I were the citizens of the kingdom, I'd sure as hell overthrow Elsa and Anna's regime. At least Hans and Wesselton can run a freaking kingdom properly.
All in all, Frozen is lucky the Academy plays to the fancy of whatever's popular and dynastic, as Frozen defeated several films who are probably equally deserving or far succeed it. I have not seen Miyazaki's "The Wind Rises" but I must say his films are probably better and more fascinating than most Disney films (save Hunchback of Notre Dame or The Lion King). Frozen is a terrible movie, and in my opinion, should be giving its academy award to the people who devise better stories than this one.
**EDIT** I have seen Miyazaki's The Wind Rises, and I must say that in about ten minutes (the Earthquake scene) I got a better story and a better display of character than in the whole hour and forty minutes of Frozen. Shame on Disney for making such a shallow movie. I am sure I am not alone in advocating Disney to return its Oscar to Miyazaki, whose film is miles ahead of this pile of ***.