Sunday, December 1, 2013

Project Disney- Frozen



Project Disney: The plan is to tackle all of the Disney films, re-reading the classic stories and tales that inspired many of them and to look at how the changes the filmmakers made, the new elements they introduced and the essential elements they kept. We will, of course, be talking about the films as movies as well, saying why we enjoy them and what some of our favorite moments are, but our focus will be on looking at them as adaptations. For the films that are not drawn from any one work we’ll be looking at some of the possible literary influences that we see in the stories.  Project Disney is inspired by Picture Me Reading.


Project Disney this week is Frozen based off the story The Snow Queen by Hans Christian Andersen.  I must admit... the story vs movie are sooo different this time around.   The Snow Queen (written in 1845) is told in seven different stories. It begins with a mirror that is created by the devil which shows people the ugly side of everything.  Some demons get a hold of the mirror and attempt to take it to heaven but as they get closer the mirror falls to earth breaking into millions of pieces.  Splinters from the mirror go everywhere including into people's eyes and hearts.

 The story then follows two characters, Kay and Gerda.  Eventually a shard from the mirror gets into Kay's heart.  He then meets the Snow Queen who takes him away from his village.  Gerda notices he is missing and goes on a hunt to find him.  In the book we mainly follow Gerda who encounters a few bumps on her way to find Kay.  We never really learn why the Snow Queen takes Kay.  He is the only child in her palace when Gerda gets there.  Gerda tells Kay she misses him and her tears melt his frozen heart and they return to the village that they came from, though now they are grown ups. I find it interesting that the story by Andersen isn't really about the Snow Queen and what she's doing, it's all about Gerda's adventures.

The movie created by Disney is very different.  There are two sisters, Anna and Elsa, who are princess in a wonderful snowy land.  Elsa's parents discover that she has an uncontrollable power to create snow and ice.   One day Elsa and Anna are playing and Elsa accidentally strikes Anna with snow/ice and then Elsa begins to hide her powers so that no one knows about them or gets hurt again. As the girls age... Elsa must go to her to her coronation to become queen and shows her powers by accident to the people there.  She then runs into hiding leaving the kingdom in a frozen snowy land.


Now Anna takes most of the role in the movie.  She must go and hunt for her sister and try to convince her to fix the kingdom... only to find out that Elsa doesn't know how.  I liked the whole sister aspect of the film.  There really isn't a villain character ... Elsa is the "Snow Queen" who is born with these powers.  There is of course a prince and a love story.  Also a silly snowman.  Though I didn't find this film as funny as say... Tangled the humor was still good.  The look of Frozen in an animated wonderland was stunning to look at on screen.  The music was good too.  I loved the outfits in the film, the beautiful Russian dresses.   I do miss old animation faces from Disney movies... not these big eyes they put on film now.  They used the same type of eyes in the movie Tangled on Rapunzel.


It's interesting to me that every trailer I saw prior to the film's release didn't show the princess and queen at all really.  In fact... the previews I did see only really showed the snowman.  I had no idea what this film was going to be really about before going to it.  Disney is really trying to market to a different crowd these days.   Overall I enjoyed the film, personally I liked Princess and the Frog and Tangled better (out of recent Disney films).  This film is beautiful though.. amazing animation and perfect to see in winter!

Check out my other Project Disney:
Cinderella
Peter Pan
Treasure Planet
Sleeping Beauty
The Great Mouse Detective 
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
The Princess and the Frog
Pinocchio 
Fantasia 
Beauty and the Beast
Lady and the Tramp
Alice in Wonderland
The Rescuers
The Rescuers Down Under
Tangled
Oliver and Company
Mulan
The Little Mermaid
Bambi
The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
Winnie the Pooh (2011)
Robin Hood
Hercules
Pocahontas
Dumbo
The Black Cauldron 
Mary Poppins
Lilo and Stitch  
The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad
Make Mine Music
Tarzan
Fox and the Hound
Melody Time 

23 comments:

  1. They really did change the story up with this movie! I really loved Frozen though - the music overall really appealed, and I thought the story was so touching. I thought they were trying to break the record in "Up" for making the audience cry early in the movie (Up still wins though). Great review, I'm glad you enjoyed it!

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    1. I really thought this was a touching movie too. I can't wait for it to be released on bluray so I can watch it over and over!!

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  2. I've been debating this one. Thanks for your thoughts.

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    1. You should go and see it... really it is sweet and just perfect for the holidays!!

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  3. This movie looks so pretty. I am looking forward to bask in its beauty. I am glad to hear that it is sweet too! :)

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    1. You will love it... really it is fun. It gets rid of the evil villain and makes everything a miss understanding instead.

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  4. You have a Disney project?! SO MUCH AWESOME. I haven't seen this yet (I figured if I could only convince my boyfriend to either go to Frozen or Catching Fire, I was definitely picking Catching Fire) but it looks pretty cute!

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    1. Yes... I love Project Disney. I am half way through all the films!! It has been so fun to watch the movie and then read the book it's based off of and compare the two.

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  5. I absolutely love Disney movies and princess. I love this movie, Elsa and Ana are my two new favorite princess

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    1. They are some of my two favorite princesses now too!! I love that they are sisters too. It is really fun to see this then to just have one princess to love.

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  6. Interesting! I loved Tangled, and knew this wouldn't exactly live up to it but I am glad it was an enjoyable film. Anderson's original tales are always so much more depressing than the Disney adaptations! This one sounds like a lot of fun.

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    1. I can't wait to see it again. I need to see it twice to really get a feel for it. I find that when I watch a movie in the theater I love it and then when I watch it at home it can be a different experience.

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  7. I just watched this movie last Monday and OMG, it's so beautiful. The whole musical thing really clicked with the story. I even downloaded Demi Lovato's Let It Go afterwards. that's saying something because I am not a music lover but Frozen really made an impact on me. I didn't even watch Les Miserables because I just couldn't stand the awful singing but Frozen was just wow.

    I loved that it's about 2 sisters who actually love each other so much. It's so unlike the other animated films where sisters are usually rivals. And another thing that I love about this is that Kristoff actually taught Anna not to be like our YA heroes and heroines, you know... engaging with instalove. Hahahah.

    High five to the both of us.

    Charlotte at Thoughts and Pens

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    1. I didn't even listen to Demi Lovato's song!! I need to go and do that right now. I too love that this YA movie is more of a good role model for kids. The prince isn't going to save you... it's going to be the ice guy. No for real though... a normal guy can be someone perfect to be. This film made me appreciate even more that I have a sister.

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  8. I was bugged by the big eyes too! Trying to be Japanese anime or something?

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  9. The eyes were sometimes crazy. I hope this isn't a new thing for Disney with the next few movies. I just want the princesses to have normal eyes!!!

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  10. Oh nice post! I find I enjoyed Tangled a bit more as well! It just had a better sense of humor I think!

    I haven't read the complete set of stories about the original Snow Queen! I did know that this movie was to be based on it. I remember reading one shortened version of the Snow Queen with the girl going to rescue her friend from the queen.

    It was a very cute and enjoyable movie though! And again, nice post!

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    1. The book is actually a short story so you may have read the original story. I can't remember but maybe 50 pages long. I always love your Disney posts Jessica!!

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  11. I haven't gotten the chance to see this one yet! But I hear everyone talking about how good it was...I'm nineteen, and I'm jealous that my baby cousins got to see it and I didnt..is that weird? Anyways, I'll have to pick this one up on DVD! Thanks!

    Lisa
    Want to win $10, a mystery box of books, or Eleanor & Park AND Fangirl??
    http://turningpages94.blogspot.com/2013/12/review-commenting-giveaway.html

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    1. No way... I am in my 30s and I love Disney. Age doesn't matter I promise you!

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  12. Ah! I loved this one :D My son thought it was a movie all about a snowman when the trailers aired and I had to tell him what it was about. Anna was adorkable and Olaf was hilarious. Elsa so brave and strong. I read that Elsa was initially supposed to be the villain in this one. I really like the direction they took with it :D Jaclyn @ JC's Book Haven.

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    1. The trailers were really deceiving. I didn't know Elsa was going to be the villain! Interesting. I think this movie made a lot of money at the box office so my hope is that Disney makes another 2D animated movie soon. I looked through their calendar and didn't see one anytime soon. Looks like just CGI ones coming up.

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    2. You're right...I haven't heard of more 2D animated yet, but I'm excited for the live-action Maleficent and The Descendants :D I do hope they have an animated one in the works though.

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