‘Frozen’ makes viewers feel warm all over

Some reviewers get a kick out of watching a bad film, because it gives them a legitimate reason to give it a witty and well-deserved kick in the pants—but we’d much prefer to see a good film and just sing its well-deserved praises!

That’s why we were so happy to catch “Frozen” last week—it’s a gorgeous gem of an animated feature that goes a long way in making up for all the disappointing animated productions we’ve seen of late.

The visually and emotionally eventful film tells the story of two princesses with magical powers that take a turn for the worse, resulting in an accident that makes their parents curtail their powers so they can’t hurt anybody else again.

Unfortunately, this drives a wedge between the two royal sisters, and once Elsa becomes queen upon the death of her parents, she turns herself into a recluse. Despite her best efforts, however, the negative effects of her awesome powers unintentionally make themselves felt, plunging the kingdom in a vise of ice that makes the film’s resident villains entertain dark thoughts about exploiting the populace’s unhappiness to gain control of the troubled country.

Botched romance

For her part, the younger sister, Anna, gets into her own share of scrapes, including a botched romance with an initially super-charming prince who turns out to be a villain in princely garb!

In addition, while attempting to get reunited with her self-exiled sister, who’s become a veritable Ice Queen, the feisty princess has to fight off  the movie’s increasing number of villains, with the very welcome help of a goofy ice merchant and his trusty reindeer.

Another ally is a snowman character who gets so much screen exposure that, by the end of “Frozen,” we’re sure that we’ll be seeing him again soon in other TV-film Disney productions.

Aside from being an eventful and visually thrilling movie, “Frozen” gains more plus points by being a musical film, with a number of original songs that are so good that one of them was even nominated for a Golden Globe.



The singing is great, the characters are empathetic, the plot details are interesting and even exciting—what more do we want to see and hear in a full-length animated film?

But, even exceptional movies have their less than praiseworthy moments, so we should share that the midsection of “Frozen” is a bit flabby and sluggish, especially the scenes involving Trolls who are looking for a good wife for their human “adopted” son.

The long detour features a song that doesn’t deserve the extended treatment it’s given, so we’re only too happy to see those Trolls toddle away!

Come to think of it, even the film’s finale sort of feels stretched and overwrought. But, the film as a whole is so entrancing and winning that we quickly overlook its occasional downers and just focus on the good stuff—which stays with us long after we’ve left the moviehouse!

source: entertainment.inquirer.net

Talking turkey

Many animated feature films are about weird creatures engaged in far-out activities and antics, but “Free Birds” strives to be more relevant and potentially significant by latching on to Americans’ traditional Thanksgiving feast and celebration for its thematic fulcrum and linchpin.

This savvy decision makes the movie less ephemeral, giddy and silly than other efforts, so the production is more consistently viewable.

Another plus factor is its decision to factor in a subplot that involves its feathered protagonist’s mission to prevent the extermination of native-American turkeys at the US colonies’ first Thanksgiving feast.

Miles Standish has had to be transformed into a villainous character to make this possible, but worse historical sins have been committed in the perverse name of cinematic entertainment, so what the hey—!

New colony

As this movie reimagines it, turkeys in a huge fattening “factory” choose a young “turk” to escape the facility with a few eggs to start a new colony of “free birds” elsewhere—but, their hero ends up a big zero when he loses hold of his cache of eggs!

He loses all hope of helping his beleaguered species—until he unexpectedly ends up as the token, symbolic bird that no less than the President of the United States ritually “pardons” every year at Thanksgiving, and is allowed to live forever—at the White House, yet!

Despite his cushy good fortune, however our feathered friend can’t forget his original mission—and is able to fulfill it after a series of amazing events—like, would you believe, stowing away on a revolutionary time machine that takes him all the way back to the first Thanksgiving feast, way back when?

It’s all fantasticating fluff, of course, but the Thanksgiving theme continues to keep the loopy storytelling on relatively even keel.

On his new adventure in the distant part, our hero meets a flock of other rebellious birds who bravely oppose Standish and his mangy and hungry cohorts.

Naturally, his new friends include a young “tomboy-princess” who not only makes him feel gooey all over, but eventually gets to lead her rebel army to victory! —How’s that for a politically correct denouement?

Rigorous challenge

Before that happens, however, the flick’s resident human villains are allowed to have the run of the place, to force our heroes to do their best to rise up to the increasingly rigorous challenge.

—Not to worry though, the film is decidedly rooting for the good guys—and birds—so “no animals were hurt (or baked) in the course of making this movie!”

In any case, this is an animated feature, so if any turkeys are shown meeting their Maker—don’t worry, they’re all of the digitized sort.

Now, about that big Thanksgiving feast at the end of the film: How did they pull it off without the usual baked and stuffed turkey treats? No spoilers here, but let’s just say that they were replaced by a more modern gustatory offering that involves—a delivery boy!

source: entertainment.inquirer.net