Disney Frozen...a Review

 by Al Kessel


You know the story...You've got a brother, or a sister, and you're the best of friends. You do EVERYTHING together, you play, you build snowmen, you sing, you dance. Then, something tragic happens and you drift apart. You realize your powers to control winter are just to darned strong and getting stronger every day. So, your parents decide to hide you away from the world - even your best friend/sibling - until you can control it. It happens to just about everyone when we're young...well, except for the power over the whole winter thing...

In Disney's latest animated motion picture, that is exactly what happens to our heroines. As children, Anna (voiced by Kristen Bell) and Elsa (voiced by the wickedly talented Adel Dazeem...err, I mean Idina Menzel) are the best of friends. Anna, being the younger sister, idolizes her big sis Elsa and Elsa just adores Anna. They love playing games, especially games that include Elsa using her secret blizzardy-wintery-snow-and-ice-making powers! Elsa loves to cover the room in ice so Anna can slide around. Loves building their favorite snowman Olaf for Anna. A perfect life. Until a tragic accident that Elsa causes nearly kills her little sis. An accident that causes her parents to keep Elsa protected from herself (and, I'd posit, everyone safe from Elsa), until they can figure out how to control those powers. Of course, years, and years pass by and the distance between Elsa and Anna grows, much to young Anna's dismay. 

Anna, Olaf and Kristoff

And in true epic fashion, one day, their parents (King and Queen of Arendell) perish at sea, leaving the young girls to be raised by the castle staff! Anyway, the day finally arrives, and Elsa comes of age and is crowned the new Queen. Of course, she's still wary of coming in contact with people and keeps to herself during the coronation ceremony. Anna, quite the opposite of her introverted sister, meets a young prince, decides she wants to marry him and begs her sister for approval. Elsa disapproves, gets in to an argument with Anna (who accidentally removes Elsa's glove), and in the heat of anger, Elsa unleashes her powers with a vengeance! And as she runs away into the wilderness, all of Arendell is turned into the a brutal winter wonderland. 

To prove her sister isn't the monster the villagers fear she is, Anna sets out, with the help of ice delivery dude Kristoff, to find Elsa, have her return summer and live happily ever after and, or, as Elsa would say "Let It Go".

Elsa Blasting Some Chill

Of course, there's a LOT more to this movie than what I skimmed over here, but if you're a regular reader of our blog, you know we don't like to give too much away. So, if you want more detail, you'll need to see the movie yourself. And, if you've already seen Frozen...well, then you don't need ME to explain it, now DO you?! :)

Disney Frozen IS a cute movie. Joyce and I didn't get to see it in the theatre when it was first released, so this screening was our first viewing. Now...over the many months since Frozen had been released, there's been a lot of hype concerning it, especially the main song, 'Let It Go'. Which, by the way, we've heard MANYMANYMANYMANYMANY times over the last few months! And, Mr. Travolta didn't help THAT any, now did he! Anyway, when we popped the Blu-Ray in, we were a bit concerned that Frozen wasn't going to live up to all the incredible hype and awesome recommendations by everyone. And...I'm sorry to say, it didn't. Now, before you leave the blog and banish us to the frozen wilderness for all of eternity, hear me out. I didn't say it was a bad movie - no, FAR from it. We LOVED it. The animation was, for lack of a better word, spectacular. Disney has pretty much perfected animation. Character movements were incredibly realistic. The scenery, all the way down to the finest of details were unbelievable. The story was great (based on the Hans Christian Andersen fairytale The Snow Queen), and the voice acting was terrific. We LOVED Olaf (voiced by Josh Gad). But...at least in the beginning, there is WAY too many musical numbers. As you probably know, I'm not much for musicals. I just don't really love them. But in most Disney musical movies, the songs don't outweigh the non-musical scenes, so I actually don't mind them. But, in Disney Frozen, especially in the first half of the movie, every few minutes there's another musical number, and I personally feel they don't all serve the story well. But, that's just me. Now, I mentioned earlier that for us, Frozen didn't live up to all the hype. I remember many people who saw it in the theatre post on social media that it was the BEST Disney animated movie ever. Ah...well...I disagree. Perhaps technically (animation/production) it is, but I'd have to toss out movies like The Lion King, Bambi, The Jungle Book, just to name a few that I feel are a little better. However, Disney Frozen is DEFINITELY a new classic. 

Olaf, Always Looking At The Bright Side

All of the voice cast were spot on in Frozen. Kristen Bell was perfect as Anna. Idina Menzel (whom I've never heard of before) was terrific as Elsa. But, my all time favorite character in Frozen is of course, Olaf, as voiced by the very funny Josh Gad. Although Olaf isn't given a great deal of screen time, I felt his character brought a lot of heart to Frozen. His simple, yet deep meaning way kind of epitomizes the Disney Spirit for me. He's always looking on the bright side of things, always willing to lend others a hand (literally) and always the voice of positiveness. 

All in all, Disney Frozen is another great and epic Disney animated adventure. It is definitely a must see for the entire family. It has many things for children and adults to admire. Disney Frozen will be released on March 18th, 2014 in the following:

• Two-Disc Blu-Ray Combo Pack (Blu-Ray+DVD+Digital Copy) MSRP $29.99
• One-Disc DVD MSRP $15.99

Bonus Features Include:

• The Making Of Frozen (Blu-Ray, Digital)
• D'Frosted: Disney's Journey From Hans Christian Andersen to Frozen (Blu-Ray, Digital)
• Breaking The Ice: The Real Making Of Frozen (Blu-Ray, Digital)
• 4 Deleted Scenes (Blu-Ray, Digital)
• Original Theatrical Short - "Get A Horse" (Blu-Ray, Digital, DVD)
• "Let It Go" Music Videos by Demi Lovato, Martina Stoessel and Marsha Milan Londoh (Blu-Ray, Digital, DVD)
• Frozen Teaser Trailer (Blu-Ray, Digital, DVD)

Now, just a few thoughts about the bonus feature "Get A Horse". Usually, we don't review the bonus features, but we thought this one deserved a mention. THIS cartoon short makes the purchase of your very own copy of Frozen well worth it. If you don't want to be spoiled on this part...stop reading now and skip down................."Get a Horse" starts out just as one of Walt Disney's original shorts used to. In fact, the animation, the music, the look and feel of this short looks exactly as if Walt himself had created it. It stars Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Pete and all of Mickey's friends. Of course, Pete is causing all sorts of trouble and is trying to kidnap Minnie. Well, things happen and...Mickey is thrown out of the original cartoon and into the color world of 3D animation! I won't give more away, but this short is a wonderful blending of old school animation and new school 3D animation. And it is SEAMLESS! Trust me, you're going to LOVE this short, so don't skip over it.

So, we recommend that you add Disney Frozen to your Disney collection, but, if you haven't seen it yet, and have read all the build up on it, just be aware that it may not live up to EVERYONE'S accolades. But...it IS a great movie! Enjoy - Al 

The Happiest Blog On Earth - Welcome 2012

Well, what can I say? The 2011 Holiday Season has come and gone, and 2012 is now here. Wow. I’m sure this is being said well over a million times today…I just can’t believe it’s 2012! Still, it’s true. I can’t believe it. Seems like just 365 days ago I was saying the same thing about 2011. Sorry, my attempt at a little New Year’s humor.

So, now that it’s a brand new year, I’m sure many of you have some lofty ambitions and resolutions, huh? Lose weight; spend more time with family; get organized; visit Disneyland more; be nicer to people; stop sending angry signals to the aliens living on the dark side of the moon (ok, just checking to see if you’re paying attention!). Making New Years Resolutions is fine and I certainly don’t want to disparage anyone from setting some goals for themselves, but I personally don’t partake in this annual tradition. Why? Thanks for asking…because the way I look at it, making a resolution in the heat of the moment, and let’s face it, making a resolution to do something in direct response to reflecting on the past year and looking ahead to the new year, is really the heat of the moment, is just a bad idea. I feel it’s just setting some unrealistic expectations that I know will fade away within a few months at best. And yes, I’ve seen this not only in myself but many, many, many of my family and friends as well. We always set these resolutions (perhaps at times under the influence of some Holiday beverage?) and have the best of intentions, but once the newness of the new year (and that Holiday beverage) wears off, well, so does the drive to complete your daunting task. Did you know that according to statistics, that the odds we will stay faithful to our resolutions are pretty slim:

·         75% make it through the first week

·         17% make it to the six month mark

·         8% actually successfully complete resolution by year end

Interesting numbers, but please don’t get me wrong. Making a New Years Resolution is actually a good thing, even if the odds are stacked against you. It’s a start. Puts you in the right frame of mind and actually helps you set more realistic goals. I for one like to just make changes, and not because it’s a new year, but because they NEED to be made. How about you? What’s YOUR take on the whole New Years Resolution thingy? If you’d like you can send a comment to us at talespodcast@cox.net. And yes, we’d LOVE to hear from you and share it on our podcast.

So, that aside, Joyce, Kate (the pup) and I had a pretty nice Holiday Season. Christmas was awesome – just the three of us – and New Years was awesome as well – again, just the three of us. Christmas dinner was our traditional honey baked by Al ham and homemade macaroni salad, Hawaiian rolls, veggie and for dessert, cherry pie! Then we watched Elf, or as Joyce calls it…Buddy The Elf. Great Holiday movie. Then topped off Christmas Day by turning out all the lights and just watching the Christmas Tree glow. Awesome!

We took some time off work and just relaxed around the old Mouse House, but one day we decided to find some snow. Now, many of you may remember that we live in the Phoenix, Arizona area, so snow is sort of scarce. We piled up in the car and drove about two and a half hours north, to Flagstaff. And snow we found! It was awesome. We decided to go to this place called, cleverly enough, the Snow Play Area, and pay $12 per car load to, well, play in the snow! It was worth it. Kate had a blast, which kind of shocked us. The last time she saw just a little snow she hated it, but not this time. She romped, hopped, jumped, and generally had a great time. So did Joyce and I. By the end of the day, we were all three pooped out, but grinning ear to ear.

Now, we’re back to work and digging in to a new year. We’ve got a lot of plans for our website and podcasts in 2012, so we’re busy planning those out, but rest assured, they’re going to be EPIC. If you enjoyed Tales From The Mouse House – Disneyland Podcast in 2011, you’re going to LOVE it in 2012! And if you haven’t heard the show yet, now’s a great time to give it a try. If you like Disneyland, you’ll love our podcast.

Well, a blog that looks back (sort of) on the previous year wouldn’t be complete if I didn’t mention some names of those who played special parts in our lives in 2011. These folks epitomize to us what it means to be true friends and family, folks who’ve helped us, prayed for us, showed us that Disney Magic IS real and CAN be given away. So, in closing, I’d like to say thanks and send lots of love and stuff to the following awesome people:

·         Joyce – my beautiful wife of course!

·         Rick and Amy Moyer – awesome friends I consider family.

·         Lisa Robertson – a TRUE Disney spirit if there ever was one

·         Mr. Daps – ANOTHER absolute True Disney spirit

·         Kenny Mittleider – my adopted little brother, fellow geek and now Disneyland buddy

·         Simon “Hawkeyemeds” Meddings – my UK brother and awesome creative talent

·         Steve Jobs – For creating the many cool and useful toys that I use everyday!