Review of the DVDs Frozen and Frozen II:

From the moment I saw the murky figure appearing above the ice and then having the saw be plunged through that frigid surface as a chorus of male voices begins the song, “Frozen Heart,” I really, really liked the Disney animated film, Frozen.   It has everything a movie goer hopes for as the lights go down and a movie begins.  A compelling story that holds your interest throughout with a climactic moment that genuinely tugs at the heart.  A musical score that is not only one of the best for an animated film, but for any film.  The movie came out in 2013 and I have yet to tire of “Do You Want to Build a Snowman,” or “Let It Go.”  It has characters that you grow to love and care about, Anna, Elsa, Kristoff, Sven, and, of course, Olaf. And it has those that you are glad to see done in in the end.  Anna’s smackdown of Hans was righteous! I even got a kick out of the incidental character, Oaken, and his family in the sauna.
There is nothing not to like about this movie.  It did win the Academy Award in 2014 for Best Animated Film, but I thought it was the best film, animated or no, of 2013.  There was nothing that I saw that year that was more entertaining, more inspirational, and more memorable than Frozen.   I ask you, “What film won for Best Picture in 2014?”  If you are like me, you would have to look it up.  I couldn’t remember, but Frozen I remember.  And to this day, seven years later, find it a joy to watch, over and over again.
Now, I was hoping to be able to say the same about its sequel, Frozen II, but I can’t.  The story is good, but not as scintillating as the original.  And the climactic moment did not tug at the heart as in the first.  But what really told me that there was something amiss in Frozen II was when I was driving home with my daughters after seeing this sequel and both were singing, “Let It Go,” and “Do You Want to Build a Snowman”.  That was a dead giveaway!  I cannot name you one song from Frozen II.  They were not memorable at all.
I am not saying Frozen II is not worth seeing.  It is.  Parents and children have much to garner from Elsa’s journey into the unknown.  Just don’t expect something as good as Frozen.  You will be disappointed.  The original set the bar high.  Too high for this sequel, and perhaps any others.

Reviewed by Richard Dick, Library Assistant, O’Kelly Memorial Library


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Review of White Doves at Morning by James Lee Burke:

Image
In White Doves at Morning there is the wedding of two of my most favored things when it comes to reading, novels by James Lee Burke, and a period in our nation’s history that I frequent repeatedly, the Civil War. And there is the added touch that two of the central characters of the story are actual ancestors of the author, Robert Perry and Willie Burke. At the outset of White Doves at Morning we are on the cusp of the most brutal conflict in our nation’s history between the north and the south over the issue of slavery, with the latter playing a major part of the storyline through two characters, Flower Jamison, a slave herself, and Abigail Dowling, a transplanted abolitionist from Massachusetts. Like other novels by Burke there are the villains that embody the evil of that time, most notably Todd McCain, the town’s hardware store owner, and Rufus Atkins, a plantation overseer, as well as ambiguous characters like the slave holding, plantation owner, Ira Jamison, who seems to be jus
Read more

Review of A Morning for Flaminos: A Dave Robicheaux Novel by James Lee Burke

Image
I mentioned in my review of the Harry Potter Series that it was important to read the books in order. It’s not that you wouldn’t get something good out of each if you didn’t, but one book adds to the previous ones in terms of characters and plot flow. To not read them in order would leave you in the dark about a number of things. And those gaps would only be filled as you go back and read the ones that came before. But there is another reason for reading a series in order. You find out things, important things, that make you aware of what happens in the previous books. And so when you get to the ones that came before much of the surprise is gone. You already know what is going to happen. For me this was absolutely the case relative to James Lee Burke’s lengthy series featuring the character of Dave Robicheaux. At times I felt almost omniscient, knowing what was going to happen and powerless in stopping it. After all this is a mystery series. The last thing you want to know in
Read more

THE SEA GLASS COTTAGE by RaeAnn Thayne

Image
Olivia is leaving her home and job in Seattle to take care of her mom, Juliet, who has sustained serious injuries from a fall off of a ladder at work. Olivia hopes to be back in Seattle in a few weeks. Back to her job, friends, and the life she’s most familiar with. Along with her teenaged niece, Caitlin, taking care of Juliet should be a piece of cake... supposedly. Juliet is the owner of the local home and garden center in a small coastal town of Northern California, Cape Sanctuary. Everyone for miles around knows her and appreciates all she does for her clients and friends, including the new and single fire chief, Cooper, who knew Olivia as the little sister of his best friend all through childhood and into high school, Natalie, who is Caitlin’s mom. Caitlin was born without knowing who her biological father was. No one is shown on her birth certificate. It seems that Natalie had her secrets, and Olivia is determined to find out everything she needs to know since Natalie
Read more