Revisiting Disney: Frozen

Courtesy: justjared.com

'Frozen' - the name leaves you feeling all cold. When you watch the movie, you not only realize that the movie is christened well; you also grow in love with everything that's happening on the screen. What you see is all cold but what you feel is so much more. Walt Disney's Frozen, according to me, is one of the coolest animation feature films to have been made!

Frozen revolves around the lives of two royal sisters - Elsa and Anna. It tells the tale of the struggle princess Elsa goes through to keep a power that she has under control. The story reflects on how you end up messing up big time in your effort to hide and control something you fear. The after effect of such an effort from Elsa leaves an entire kingdom frozen. The rest of the plot deals with how Anna, a daring optimist, who has undying faith in her sister, sets out on an adventurous journey to free the kingdom from this wrath.

I have never felt or seen snow, except in pictures and movies. It's human to nourish a need to see the unseen. Whenever I have expressed this desire, I have heard from people who have seen it all, that the sight of snow is exciting only the first time. I am told that after the first sight of snow, it gets mundane unless you play with it. Whether you are like me or like my snow matter expert friends, Walt Disney's Frozen has everything that it takes to make you fall in love with the sight of snow, ice and frost. The visuals are extremely picturesque and delightful. Directors Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee definitely prove extremely gifted to have been able to conceptualize such awesome visuals.

Another aspect of the movie that I would give an A+ to is the music. It's been a long time since I have truly enjoyed songs in an animated movie. According to me, Frozen has songs that can match up with the kinds you have in The Little Mermaid or Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. ‘Let it go’ and ‘do you want to build a snow man’ are my personal favorites. Having said that, I must also mention, that the rest of the songs are no way fared poorly. They are all treat to your eyes and ears.

The characters that Disney comes up with always find their way effortlessly into my heart. They are all so cute! Among all others, in any given movie, there will be one that is rather outstanding. If it was Sebastian in The Little Mermaid, Grumpy in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and Maximus in Tangled; it has got to be Olaf – the snow man in Frozen. He is not just cute but has been developed with so much uniqueness. Highly witty and awfully ambitious!

The climax left me spell bound! A Disney classic breaking out of its own tradition! I am extremely impressed that through Frozen, they have done away with the traditional concept of true love.

From my review so far, you would have gathered that I love Frozen for its strong story line, breathtaking graphics, beautiful music, adorable characters and brilliant climax. I have reserved the best for the last...

What I love the most about Frozen is its soul. The message that it imparts is amazing. It rings a bell that we all have some trait or the other which we hate/fear/deny. Traits that we have dismissed to be cursed ones. Frozen sets an example for us to believe in ourselves as a whole. When we accept our true self along with every bit of shortcoming and imperfection instilled in us, we can use it to our advantage and make it our greatest virtue.

To work wonders – just be yourself because you are worth it!

Revisiting Disney: Tangled

Disney's fairy tale versions have never ever failed to amuse and amaze me. The elements they add into their movie adds flavor to the original story. The most fascinating part is that their version actually makes the age-old fairy tale seem to be an outline story. All fairy tales, I am sure, is extremely dear as they have added a lot of color and dreams to our growing years. Experimenting with a conventional story line is quite a risky job. 

Unlike other fairy tale versions that Disney has created, Tangled has quite a few deviations from the original plot of Rapunzel. Tangled enhances the original Grimm brothers’ story of Rapunzel, especially since it provides a more justifiable reason for Rapunzel's extraordinary hair length and her being locked up in an isolated tower.

In short, the adaptation is amazing and enchanting. Disney cartoons have always been entertaining, intriguing and a visual splendor. Tangled is no exception!

The Plot:

Mother Gothel uses the healing powers of a magical flower to stay young and rejuvenated. Yes, kinda like the botox effect! However, before long, her secret flower is discovered and is used to heal the queen who is both ill and pregnant. The queen recovers and very soon gives birth to cute little Rapunzel with golden hair. Mother Gothel realizes that the healing power of the magical flower is now instilled within the princess’ golden hair. That’s right! It works the Newton way… energy can neither be created nor destroyed; it’s transferred from one form to another. In this case, it is from flower to hair. Old Mother Gothel kidnaps the child and rears her as her own in an isolated tower, so that she can make good use of the power Rapunzel’s hair possesses. Little Rapunzel grows into a zealous teenager and along with her grows the urge to see the outside world. She meets Flynn Ryder, a bandit who scales this tower to escape the royal guards. They strike a deal in which she gets to see the world. The journey that unfolds forms the main plot of the movie.

The Screenplay:

Dan Fogelman has done a brilliant job with the screenplay. Like I mentioned before, as you see the movie you know it’s a lot different from your fairy tale but that doesn't stop it from completely consuming you with what’s going on screen. The dialogues are hilarious. I try chalking out a personal favorite, but there are SO many. The opening dialogue of Flynn Ryder, the sequence of dialogues Rapunzel delivers while she contemplates if getting down the tower was a good or bad thing to do, Flynn’s dialogue about his ‘wanted’ poster, Mother Gothel’s ‘Skip the drama, stay with Mama’ – the list runs endless.

If there’s any shortcoming I can think of – it’s just one. What’s with absolutely no lines for the king and queen?

The Music:

The music does justice to the movie and is definitely portrayed well. However, none of them are catchy enough to stay and dance on your lips. When I say catchy, the songs on my mind are the ones like the Bear Necessities from The Jungle Book or Under Da Sea from The Little Mermaid, etc.

The Direction:

I’d give a golden star to both Nathan Greno and Byron Howard. The art is amazing. It felt like a traditional animated hand-drawn film and yet it had the 3D effect. That was simply brilliant! The expressions of the characters are hilarious. Maximus, the royal horse, Pascal, the pet chameleon and Flynn Ryder needs special mention. They are the ones that bag most of the laughs and applause. The voice direction was perfect. From Rapunzel to Mother Gothel or the thugs, all of their voices completed the look and feel of the characters that they were portraying. I liked the narrative style with which the movie moves forward.

Any flaws? Well! When I spied with my little eye, I caught Rapunzel’s inconsistent hair length. It kept varying from scene to scene. Also, the scene which portrays Rapunzel’s self-realization was vague, in my opinion. A little more detailing in that area would have been a good idea.

The Cast:

My review would not be complete without kudos to the complete cast of Tangled especially Mandy Moore (Rapunzel), Donna Murphy (Mother Gothel) and above all Zachary Levi (Flynn Ryder/Eugene)

The Verdict:

It’s a 9 on 10 from me.