WARNING! SPOILERS BE AHEAD FOR YE
Don’t read on if you haven’t seen these movies…
If any of you are super huge fans of Frozen, don’t hate me. Because I think that you will find my reasoning convincing. And I will also say that the title was somewhat misleading…
Why Frozen was Good
Here’s what was good about Frozen: The animation, (some of) the characters, and (of course) the music.
The animation is super slick, even if the Caribou has weird hybrid elk antlers…
The landscapes were flawless as far as I could tell, the character movement was graceful, and the weather changes were intense. I was captivated by the movement on the screen, and it was fairly entertaining.
The characters of Olaf and Sven carried the movie. Olaf was extremely funny, giving comic relief in a pretty one dimensional setting. Sven provided some comedy, but was much more relevant as the physical embodiment of Kristoff’s conscience.
The music was great. As always, Disney knows how to write songs for a musical. I think Frozen ranks right up there with Aladdin, The Little Mermaid, and The Lion King as far as the music goes. Pretty hard to screw that up with all of the great musicians and composers that Disney can pay.
Why Frozen was Bad
It was bad because of a weak storyline and rushed plot points. We spanned a decade or two in a few minutes, showing Elsa isolate herself? Come on. They never had dinner together? “Let it Go’ was a huge change in Elsa’s character? She went from isolating herself in one palace to isolating herself in another. She let go of the gloves people. The gloves. That’s all. And what’s up with Anna falling for some random player at a party? I liked Elsa’s reaction, but is Anna just below the average IQ line? A sloppy plot led to a few one dimensional characters and some pretty cliche storytelling. When the funny snowman and sentient caribou are the best characters in the movie, something is wrong.
Why Captain America: The Winter Soldier wasn’t bad
The writing, the visuals, and the great characters.
The writing was impeccable. The subtitle of this movie is ‘The Winter Soldier’. So you think that the whole movie is going to be about the mysterious assassin. And that would be fine if Captain America was this new hero that everyone was getting into. But he isn’t. He’s been around. The Winter Soldier has been around. So the writers of the film had to go well beyond anything us fanboys and girls could imagine. Of course there are cheesy lines and the inevitable Stan lee cameo, but we expect those in a Marvel movie. A strong plot is a good plot.
The visuals. OMG. Fight with legendary UFC fighter GSP? Check. Hellicarrier jumping? Check. Explosions? Check.
The Characters. Chris Evans continues to grow into his character and as an actor in general. ScarJo is her usual self. Sam Jackson delivers a solid Sam Jackson. Which is a bunch of talk about actors and not characters…But Cap has to deal with some heartbreaking stuff in this movie and it makes him stronger. And not so much of a boy scout. More like a libertarian juggernaut! And the supporting characters get a little more screen time and plot space. And the villains are awesome. Go see it.
To Wrap Things Up
Now I will concede some points: Frozen is a children’s movie and maybe shouldn’t be scrutinized so hard. Maybe. But I think a few other animated children’s movies put out by Disney would disagree. It is possible to get over that hump.
Cap 2 had a whole Marvel Universe behind it to help move the plot along. However, so did Thor 2 and it wasn’t that great. Let’s hope Avengers 2 is on top of them all.
Just some thoughts. Go see Cap and give Frozen a rental. You’ll be glad you did.
Silly Robots 