Frozen

I rewatched it because I really wanted to see if nostalgia was doing most of the work in my rating, and yeah, I really don’t think so.  1. Frozen has memorable songs, lead characters that are funny with unique/likable personalities, supporting characters that make me laugh, and it has a generally nice atmosphere. I think Olaf is funny, Anna is as relatable as Disney princess get, and Kristoff and Sven’s dynamic is totally fun. Also the Duke of weselton dancing makes me laugh out loud every time. 2. I think the biggest thing I realized on this pass is how well paced this movie is. It stays focused to its themes throughout while managing to introduce new elements through out, all of which are payed off. Each scene ether pays off something that came before (which makes the advancement of the plot continually satisfying) it or introduces something that again, will be payed off later (The trolls and the “love magic” for example being set up immediately). 3. And I don’t mind the Hans plot twist, I think it works. Think “Hans is a mirror”. He mirrors the emotion of which every character he’s interacting with. I think there really are people like that, and maybe it’s exaggerated but yeah, this is an animated kids movie. (The Super Carlin Brother’s Pointed the mirror thing out). Here’s what I think. Hans plan originally was to kill Elsa secretly so Anna doesn’t know (and no one else). Then, he can mary Anna and be king. However, once Elsa turned out to be magical and he had leadership thrust upon him for ariendelle, he realized he could be the hero of ariendelle by killing Elsa, and since Anna showed up on deaths door, it worked perfectly where he can be in charge by himself. And he only reveals a plot to kill Elsa himself and to make it public once he sees Anna in such poor condition. I think his plan makes sense, and is aligned with is “mirror” personality. He’s a brilliant actor/improvisor  4. Act 3 converges in a really awesome way, I love how all of the characters are literally running towards each other, demonstrating how cohesive all the plots lines are. Hans’s plan, Anna and Kritoff’s romance, and Elsa and Anna’s Sister love thing stories are all coming to a climax in one scene. That’s good storytelling  5. To those who think frozen II is a better movie than the first, I will remind you that the new side characters do NOTHING, the movie gives Kristoff nothing to do (Lost in the Woods ends before the halfway mark and he does not appear until the last 10 minutes), and the climax does nothing to serve the emotional journey of Anna and Elsa (Anna randomly guessing that destroying the dam will free the Forrest makes no sense and why does that bring Elsa back to life? Also it’s never really explained why Elsa dies she just sorta freezes at the end of Show Yourself). It’s a messy movie covered by catchy tunes (many of which are in fact better than the original) and the general increase in animation quality from 2013-2019.  6 Again, sue me for the 5 star rating of frozen, I think this is Disney animations second best movie ever. This is really important. Being overplayed does not make something “bad”. Being tired of something is entirely different than disliking something, and I wish more people made that distinction.