Before Disney's Frozen even hit the screen, Disney had found themselves in hot water. While Pixar had offered female characters with meaty, unique roles Disney had found itself battling a princess problem - the perception that Disney princesses put forward an image of women who were dependant on men for their actions and were helpless without them. While there had been a few attempts at doing otherwise (Mulan, and Beauty and the Beast to some extent) the idea that Disney had perpetuated princess characters with stereotypical super-model bodies lamenting the man of their life.
Disney has fallen into that category far too often, and with reason - it used to work at the box office. But as movie goers have more options for films aimed at kids, it is easier to chose films that represent what they want to see as a family and Disney's old model doesn't always work.
Disney gets a lot of flack for it's portrayal of female characters, which is sometimes deserved, sometimes not. Disney has had a few powerful female characters, and more than a few who aren't, but people tend to remember those who aren't, because of the portrayals of body type and the basic storyline: Girl Meets Boy, Girl Loves Boy, Boy falls in love with girl.
Disney's Frozen, however, goes in a completely different direction. While fans of the original work 'The Snow Queen' may view this as a terrible adaptation - I don't find it an adaptation in any way, more an 'inspired by' as it is significantly different in almost every way - but it stands out as a break from most of the Disney norms with an absolutely non-Disney ending.
The story begins with two young sisters, one empowered with the ability to control snow and cold. In an accident, the older sister inadvertently harms the other, and as a result the younger sister (Anna) loses her memory of her sister's magical powers and the older sister, Elsa, finds herself suffering under the weight of her gift, which causes a lot of anxiety and fear of harming another person.
The film builds and takes on a lot of stereotypes of previous Disney films - the silliness of finding 'true love' right away is debunked, the fact that people aren't perfect and we are all flawed, finding strength in who we are, and that 'true love' doesn't mean you need an guy to ride in on a horse, and sometimes those who truly love you are family members.
Frankly, this is one of the best scored Disney vehicles I've seen in years, and one of the most solid musical efforts since Menken & Ashman stopped providing Disney production values.
'Do You Want to Build a Snowman?'
And 'Let it Go' are FANTASTIC numbers.
This is the kind of film you can be pretty happy to take your kids to go see and walk out with a lot to talk about. There are some great messages here that go against the grain of previous Disney works, and a soundtrack that ranks amongst the best I've heard all year.
Absolutely an enjoyable way to spend the weekend.
(Don't worry, back to political writing Monday)