EatChildren
Currently polling second in Australia's federal election (first in the Gold Coast), this feral may one day be your Bogan King.
Having stewed on this movie for a little while now, my overall opinion is that it's not the most cohesive or perfectly constructed Disney film, and disappointingly fumbles with a lot of the tremendous thematic potential it has, but that potential being there and the overall quality relative to Disney's recent weaker years elevates the film to something very enjoyable and memorable enough.
It's the kind of movie where I feel all the pieces are there, and most of these pieces are very strong, but as a complete cohesive work they don't quite come together. Watching snippets of scenes and songs you get the feeling of a really strong narrative heavy with progressive themes, but when compiled together it's all a bit fractured. Hearing the movie was rushed forward through production, it's indicative in the work itself.
If I had to distil my issues to bullet points:
- Elsa's character needed deeper development, particularly the triangle of her relationship with Anna, her internalisation of her powers, and her upbringing. There's pretty obvious allusions to sexuality, depression, and other personality issues that are at a height of discussion in modern, progressive societies, but it deed need further exposition. Her character arc hints a lot of potential but gets routinely fast tracked between extremes with rapid, unsatisfying resolutions. There's a deeper story there with more complicated social nuances and I wish they'd spent more time with it.
- The above plays second fiddle to Anna's adventure. I really like Anna and I feel her story plays an important role, particularly in the bait-and-switch of classic Disney tropes and acting as a vessel for Elsa's redemption, but a good portion of her story is just adventuring fluff. I think the film does absolutely need that stuff, especially since it's a family friendly Disney adventure, but it kinda puts into contrast what was missed in favour of more shallow, simple narrative.
- Last third of the film has no songs, and it's weird. Musically the narrative is very obviously structured like a Broadway; duets, dialogue exchanges in song, choir, crowd, etc. Almost every number would translate note-for-note, word-for-word to a stage. I really liked it, but because of that style of music having the last third totally absent just doesn't work. It would be like watching Les Mis and having the musical performances stop 2/3rds through and the tail end of the production just be a typical play.
- Really, really loved the visuals, animation is astounding (especially the faces), but I do think Disney is still having a wonky time finding a really unique visual identity in 3D. I can see they're trying to translate their classical character art to 3D characters, but it sometimes gives the world an eery, overly realistic quality next to toy-like characters. It's not a massive complaints, but I think Disney should experiment a bit more filters and stylised lighting/shadows/colouring/tone instead of taking the more traditional, basic path of realistic lighting with stylised proportions.
That's about it. It's a great film, and a strong Disney film. It seemed really confident with Disney's historic legacy and identity as storytellers, but at the same time not afraid to play with such imagery. Fully embracing what Disney is, while also progressing and staying relevant to a modern world. The underlying message of the narrative; love conquers all, be true to who you, and most importantly love the people around you regardless of who they are is a good one to send to kids in the world of today. It's a story of bonding and personal honesty, and I dig it.
But yeah. Great movie, but I do think it could have been something even more amazing.
It's the kind of movie where I feel all the pieces are there, and most of these pieces are very strong, but as a complete cohesive work they don't quite come together. Watching snippets of scenes and songs you get the feeling of a really strong narrative heavy with progressive themes, but when compiled together it's all a bit fractured. Hearing the movie was rushed forward through production, it's indicative in the work itself.
If I had to distil my issues to bullet points:
- Elsa's character needed deeper development, particularly the triangle of her relationship with Anna, her internalisation of her powers, and her upbringing. There's pretty obvious allusions to sexuality, depression, and other personality issues that are at a height of discussion in modern, progressive societies, but it deed need further exposition. Her character arc hints a lot of potential but gets routinely fast tracked between extremes with rapid, unsatisfying resolutions. There's a deeper story there with more complicated social nuances and I wish they'd spent more time with it.
- The above plays second fiddle to Anna's adventure. I really like Anna and I feel her story plays an important role, particularly in the bait-and-switch of classic Disney tropes and acting as a vessel for Elsa's redemption, but a good portion of her story is just adventuring fluff. I think the film does absolutely need that stuff, especially since it's a family friendly Disney adventure, but it kinda puts into contrast what was missed in favour of more shallow, simple narrative.
- Last third of the film has no songs, and it's weird. Musically the narrative is very obviously structured like a Broadway; duets, dialogue exchanges in song, choir, crowd, etc. Almost every number would translate note-for-note, word-for-word to a stage. I really liked it, but because of that style of music having the last third totally absent just doesn't work. It would be like watching Les Mis and having the musical performances stop 2/3rds through and the tail end of the production just be a typical play.
- Really, really loved the visuals, animation is astounding (especially the faces), but I do think Disney is still having a wonky time finding a really unique visual identity in 3D. I can see they're trying to translate their classical character art to 3D characters, but it sometimes gives the world an eery, overly realistic quality next to toy-like characters. It's not a massive complaints, but I think Disney should experiment a bit more filters and stylised lighting/shadows/colouring/tone instead of taking the more traditional, basic path of realistic lighting with stylised proportions.
That's about it. It's a great film, and a strong Disney film. It seemed really confident with Disney's historic legacy and identity as storytellers, but at the same time not afraid to play with such imagery. Fully embracing what Disney is, while also progressing and staying relevant to a modern world. The underlying message of the narrative; love conquers all, be true to who you, and most importantly love the people around you regardless of who they are is a good one to send to kids in the world of today. It's a story of bonding and personal honesty, and I dig it.
But yeah. Great movie, but I do think it could have been something even more amazing.
