Review of Frozen: This Ain't Your Father's Disney Musical

Once upon a time, Walt Disney Pictures made animated features based on fairy tales where there was a beautiful princess who had to be saved by a Prince Charming, and it all ended happily ever after.

Then Enchanted came along and made a bunch of money. and Disney decided that the old formula could be revamped and improved. That's why Brave won Best Animated Feature at the Oscars last February.

The likely winner in 2014 is Frozen, a new spin on Hans Christen Anderson's "The Snow Queen" and Disney musicals in general. There's the beautiful princess, and two handsome love interests. However, the villain isn't where you expect.

It begins in Arendelle, where there are two princesses, Anna (Kristen Bell--yep, Veronica Mars could have done her own musical if given the chance) and Elsa (Idina Menzel). Elsa has the power to produce winter, but it causes an accident that almost kills Anna. The King and Queen decide to keep the sisters separate, and erase the memory of the accident. The castle is also closed to everyone. After the King and Queen die, Elsa is about to take the throne. While she looks cold, she is struggling to keep her icy touch in check. The pressures overcome her, and she puts the kingdom under eternal winter.  She's forced to leave and build her own Castle of Solitude.

Meanwhile, Anna wants to marry Prince Hans (Santino Fontana) after knowing him for one entire song. Elsa objects, which caused her power to go out of control. Anna endures very cold conditions to get her sister back with some help from Kristoff (Johnathan Groff), an ice deliverer, and his reindeer named Sven. Kristoff is also skeptical about Anna thinking Hans is "meant to be".
To serve as comic relief, there's a talking snowman named Olaf (Josh Gad) who wants to experience summer...although he's not aware of what that's like. There's a great song where he dreams of being in summer and getting a tan.

What's great about this movie is that Elsa is not the villain. She is the victim of a power she'd give anything to lose, but thinks pushing people away is the only thing she can do. Her fear amplfiies that power to disastrous results, and freezes her sister's heart. When Anna is told that true love can save her, she thinks kissing Prince Hans will solve everything.

She is right. True love will save everyone. Where it really comes from makes this a very different kind of Disney musical. It's a great story, with Disney princesses taking charge of the "happily ever after" part. It also has two songs that could get Oscar gold. My choice would be "Let It Go" over "For the First Time in Forever", but "Reindeer Are Better Than People" may be a cult hit.

UPDATE: here's "Let It Go", thanks to YouTube...



Before the movie, there is what seems to be a Mickey Mouse cartoon from 1929 called "Get A Horse". After a minute or two, it's more than that. We see the original Mickey Mouse emerge from the screen..in 3-D. That genre-bending touch could lead to the Mouse's first Oscar for Best Animated Short. He won in 1932 for being created, but not in competition.

As far as the trailers are concerned, there's going to be a flood of new animated movies. There's The Nut Job, about squirrels hoping to break into a nut shop to survive the winter, the Lego Movie, about a Lego piece who is "the chosen one" for some mission, and Walking With Dinosaurs, which might remind people of The Land Before Time. There was also the trailer for Muppets Most Wanted, where Kermit is mistaken for a jewel thief. Even with Tina Fey with a ridiculous accent, Ty Burrell with a pencil-thin mustache, and Danny Trejo somehow appearing, I'm not sure about this one.

I also saw Hunger Games: Catching Fire recently. This franchise will succeed through the end thanks to Jennifer Lawrence. She's born to be Katniss, and her performance is the best thing about this movie. he movie is wise to show that just because she and Peeta survived the 74th Games doesn't mean they go back to their lives as nothing happened. The scars from that experience reveal themselves time and again. She's also identfied as a threat to the status quo at Panem, and a symbol of revolt. She'd rather not have this status, but the more the government responds in severe ways, the more she's willing to fight. Her last defining moment in this movie is proof of that. It should be interesting how they turn Mockingjay into two movies, since the overall plot goes from a game to a war.

Kickstarting My Heart's Desires, The Sequel

This blog is written just after the end of Rifftrax's diabolical plans to convince people to pay them to humiliate Twilight live in theaters this summer.
Turns out, it's worse than diabolical....it's a dream come true to thousands of people. That may have been obvious after the original goal of 55 thousand dollars was hit in just one hour.

Final tally from the Kickstarter campaign: $264,860 from more than 6100 people who hate sparkly vampires and living dead girls (hi, Kristen Stewart, despite your "I love Rock's Modern Life" speech at the Kids' Choice Awards). That's about 480 percent above the goal.
The extra cash will be used for a cool presentation, and additional blackmail in the form of embarrassing videos  funding. In case Lionsgate says no (killjoys), it's possible another major movie may be the target, such as Catwoman (which might make us appreciate Anne Hathaway more..or even at all), Son of the Mask, The Happening or even The Wicker Man (Nicholas Cage version) or Eragon. Nevertheless, it is going to be one major Rifftrax event. If Bella and Edward are on Rifftrax's crosshairs after all, will the Transformers be far behind?

Kickstarter has gotten a lot of attention because it helped bring the Veronica Mars movie finally come to live. The goal was much bigger, two million dollars, to show Warner Brothers that they want the Noir Nancy Drew to have a better fate than the final episode several years ago. Right now, it's raised four million, and may get a lot more now that overseas donations have been approved. It has more than two weeks to go, and the more cash it gets, the better quality we get.

Come to think of it, anyone want to ask Kristen Bell to be at the Rifftrax Major Event. Judging from her appearances on Craig Ferguson, she may be able to riff with the Rifftrax crew.

Kickstarting My Heart's Desires

Whoever came up with the idea of a website where people can help fund new records, films or products must be feeling pretty good right about now.

Kickstarter has been getting more press than usual since Kristen Bell and Rob Thomas used it to raise cash for a Veronica Mars movie..and it worked a lot better than they expected.

They had hoped to raise two million, and they're at three point four million as of  5 PM Pacific on March 15th. This is even before they get foreign fans in this. Canadian fans are contributing now. This is all because the CW thought watching rich teens with adult problems is more cool than a Noir Nancy Drew whose thinks she ruined her ex-sheriff dad's life in the final episode, and never got the chance to redeem herself. This movie is supposed to give her that chance, and apparently a lot of people want to see that.

When you think about it, the big studios a lot of movies that go directly to DVD, Netflix or whatever. That's why someone was allowed to do a prequel of The Dukes of Hazard before they became the hell-raising family that CBS gladly aired. Why not make a movie that provides a proper ending to beloved TV shows? Dead Like Me managed to do that, but the result wasn't as good as people hoped. The fact that Mandy Patinkin wasn't in it may be one reason. Farscape, on the other hand, did get its final act thanks to fan support. It didn't need Kickstarter.

The success of the Veronica Mars project only suggests the CW should have given her the chance to make it up to her dad, and solve one last crime that stains her home town of Neptune. She may be "exiled" by the elite in Neptune after saving the day, but as long as she has a future in law enforcement...and that some "elite"  may eventually come to her and desperately ask for her help with another town scandal...it would be worth it. Hopefully, that will be coming soon. The demand is there.

However, I don't think it will lead to the revival of a lot of shows. There's a long list of shows people want to see again, and some viewers figure Kickstarter will make it happen. Joss Whedon's shows, sadly, can't be included. First off, he's busy with Avengers 2 and being Mr. Marvel Movies. Also, special effects cost a lot. That's why we'll also have to leave out Pushing Daisies (darn it), although Bryan Fuller has said in Twitter that he'll give it a try. If he can get around the bill for special effects, I'd chip in.  Zachary Levi is suggesting bringing back Chuck, so that we'll know Sarah got her memory back for certain. That's plausible, and wouldn't take too much special effects. Shawn Ryan, famous for The Shield, hopes he can revive Terriers, about a couple of private eyes. Imagine adding Veronica in the mix as a "prequel" to her movie.

However, how about Wonderfalls, so that we get that second season where Jaye is mistaken as a shaman and winds up in the looney bin because wax lions and stuffed animals give her cryptic clues about something or other? I'd also like to see more of The Middleman, because goofy superheroes beats teen serials on ABC Family. Come to think of it, whatever happened to the Gilmore Girls? ABC Family should consider answering that question, and an episode of Bunheads doesn't count. Otherwise, it's Kickstarter time. A few people even asked Lauren Graham about that on Twitter.

If not that, I am still hoping this will happen:

Want a reason? Just look at Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part 2 | RiffTrax. That's enough of a reason.

 

It had hoped to bribe Lionsgate with 55 thousand dollars from the people, figuring that's enough to get the rights to Twilight, so that it can finally get the proper respect. It's up to 225 thousand, because the need to sucker-punch this embarrassing teen vampire romance is much stronger that the need to see the comeback of a teen detective. Both are long overdue, but still....

 

If Mike Nelson and his pals do succeed, the Transformers and GI Joe won't be too far behind.

 

It's all thanks to the internet, and the creation of Kickstarter, which is also good for producing independent comics, CDs, projects and even inventions.

 

I'm still waiting for Lust for Life and Eliza Dushku's documentary on Albania, but I'm sure both are coming. I did get Eliza's autographed recipe in exchange for my support. That keeps my faith, and that's why I'll see movie revenge and a big comeback soon enough.