"Look! The Sky's Awake!" - Thoughts on "Frozen"

Note: This review will contain some SPOILERS, so if you have not yet seen "Frozen," go and get that accomplished already.  In 3D, if you can.  Because it's worth it.  Like "Avatar" was worth it.  I'm getting way ahead of myself.

Movie #67: "Frozen"

Okay, first thing's first.  Yes, I was as wrong about Olaf the Jar Jar/Poochie-looking Snow Goon thing as I was about Ray the firefly in "The Princess and the Frog".  I still don't quite understand the marketing of this movie, but let's not focus too much on that now.  Just know that they did a fantastic job misrepresenting this particular character as well as the film as a whole.  Very like Ray, Olaf is the heart of this movie.  He has a lot more in common with the enchanted objects in "Beauty and the Beast" than with, say, the lemur-things in "Dinosaur" or that damn robot in "Treasure Planet".  His design is intentionally silly for reasons that will be clear maybe five minutes into the movie, and his personality (half innocent little kid, half accidentally-newly-created sapient being) is adorable.  He is the emotional center of the movie, the Morality Pet of the two sisters.  But I'm getting way, WAY ahead of myself.

It sounds like a broken record by now but "Frozen" is outstanding.  OUTSTANDING.  I took my cousin, my other cousin, and her preteen daughter for a Crazy Disney People Girls' Night Out/Christmas Present in a recently refurbished movie theater.  (They upgraded their projectors and sound systems, swapped out the old flip-down chairs for reclining leather seats, and put in huge new screens; the old theater from when I was a teenager is amazing now.)  We sprang for the 3D showing and did not regret it one bit.  Every single one of us was enthralled from the opening chorals to the end-credits stinger.  That right there is a sign of a great movie.

I hate to harp on the marketing some more but as usual, they did a stellar job of NOT representing what this movie is and/or how you will feel when you watch it.  (Just, ugh at the TV spot where one of the biggest, most emotional songs is interrupted by something silly because LOL we know you're too cool for songs in a throwback to Bronze-Age Disney musicals.  That'd be my vote for worst trailer for an animated film this season if not for the "Frisson all up and down my arms --> 'Oops, I stepped in yer "fear"!'" ad for "Walking With Dinosaurs 3D".)  That "how you will feel" bit is important.  Look at that still above.  I could have just posted it, said "THIS, this right here is why I love 'Frozen'", and saved myself a lot of typing.  It hit me square in the childhood. 

I have a couple of nitpicks, but I feel bad for even bringing them up because it feels like pointing out lose threads in the Unicorn Tapestries.  They could have done a more even balance of songs; the first half of the movie makes the second half look a little sparse, musically.  The (spoiler) death of the King and Queen could have used a little room to breathe, as could (HUGE spoiler) Hans' betrayal, which also really could have used a little more foreshadowing, though it did make the entire theater gasp, for what it's worth.  Then there are the trolls, who are already probably the most polarizing part of the movie from what I've read in other fans' reviews.  I loved their opening scene, especially how they hint at a larger mythology going on here, and I LOVE their design -- but they really started to give a bad Minion vibe somewhere in the middle of their second scene and song.

But never mind all that.  I'm going to not only call this the most visually stunning and musically terrific "instant classic" Disney movie since I saw "Beauty and the Beast" as a preteen all those years ago -- but also the most emotionally resonant.  I love the relationship between the two sisters.  And I was especially thrilled by the surprisingly psychologically dense subtext that helped define that relationship.  Here come the big spoilers: If you think about it, Elsa has basically lived her entire life haunted by the guilt of accidentally causing her little sister what's basically the magical equivalent of permanent brain damage.  (Remember, the troll healer literally has to alter Anna's memories to save her, and it doesn't look like they're ever fully restored -- I feel like a much stupider movie would have had her fully regain them for a super-dee-duper happy ending.)  She's terrified of harming Anna even more, and the specific reason why everything goes to hell in the climax is because her worst fears are actually happening.  That's some heavy stuff, and between it, the "You really ARE a bad guy" scene in "Wreck-It Ralph", and Mother Gothelle's emotional abuse, I'm okay with Disney movies getting crazy dark again.

So, incredible music (sweet mother of Walt, they're no longer afraid to do the three-songs-practically-in-a-row thing anymore!), staggeringly gorgeous visuals (oh my God that snow!  That ice!  The Rosemaling!  That scene where Anna dances with the paintings!!!) and endearing characters (I'll keep this one quick: there isn't a single dud character in the main cast).  Just, go see this.  Really, I ordered the soundtrack right when I got back so there's that.

And the short before the movie!  I almost wish that I had no idea at all what was going to happen because it turned out none of my cousins did and I felt a little left out.  I could hear their whispered reactions go from, and I quote, "Aww, I love Mickey Mouse!" to "Wow, I wonder how old this is?" to "😮" and finally "😍"   You know, I've often wondered what it would have been like to be in the theater for one of the first screenings of Chuck Jones' "Duck Amuck" and I think now I have an idea.

Before I close this out, I really need to give major props to the Rotoscopers for doing a better job promoting "Frozen" then Disney's own marketing department.  For more posts in this ongoing series, go here, or click the Chronological Disney Animated Canon tag below.

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Art of the Day!  You're still a unicorn to me, Tsintaosaurus.

Okay, let's talk about how freakin' adorable the new Mickey Mouse shorts are.

Because that doesn't really demand much elaboration.  All of the new Mickey Mouse shorts released so far are indeed freakin' adorable.  Here they are in a (hopefully region-free) official playlist.  Now this is how you effectively revive a classic character.  See how easy this is, Warner Bros.?



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By now it's Punch-a-Climate-Change-Denier-in-the-Face Hot, which means it's time to think of this year's summer series. I'm still debating what it's going to be, and rest assured I do eventually wish to do all of these ideas, the question is, which do I do first?

* - Jurassic Park Revisited: This would be me reading the original Jurassic Park novel from 1990 on my trusty little Kindle, and (hopefully) figuring out a way to share passages from said trusty little Kindle.  Passages that are now very strange after twenty-three years of paleontology marching on and that I will make (again, hopefully) hilarious comments about.  While, naturally, respecting the memory of author Michael Crichton.  Who, infamously, was a bit of a climate change denier.  Awkward...

* - Defending the Disney Princesses: In the (not exactly) immediate wake of Princess Merida getting her cheeks liposuctioned and having a vat of glitter dropped on her, I revisit the films in which the Disney Princesses debuted and voice my dissent about the way these characters are currently marketed.  See, one of the most frustrating fallouts from the Disney Princess thing is how utterly divorced these characters are from their original films and their original personalities.  To the point where otherwise reasonable adults -adults old enough to have loved many of these movies in childhood mind you- are remembering them wrong.  I want to try and set the record straight.

* - My Summer (or Autumn?) in "Fraggle Rock": It's remarkable that I haven't done this one yet!  This would be very like the DC Animated Universe retrospective from WAAAY back in the early days of this blog (anyone remember that?  Cause I didn't...)  Except this time I'd have the good sense to discuss significant episodes at length.

That right there doesn't look like a bad schedule.  Of course I'll also have the not-at-all-annual Animated Trailers post and Random 90's Animation reviews whenever any of the remaining films become available.  And I could probably stand to write something about the live-action Disney movies I've been watching, but this will be after I fill in all the gaps in my live-action Disney knowledge, because it turns out most of the classic live-action Disney films I've watched aren't as interesting to talk about as I thought they'd be.

Until then, here's this week's Sketch of the Day!  I don't think I've shared these magical peeps yet?

Rollin' in the Dip - Thoughts on "Epic Mickey"

Note: click all Flickr-hosted illustrations for the big/legible versions.

A few years ago, the Disney fandom was blown away by some really strange concept art that appeared online with very little explanation and looked like this. Some people freaked. Some people loved it.

And a very small, very specific portion of the fandom, myself included, completely lost their sh*t especially after more plot details surfaced. The game, which we now knew to be titled "Epic Mickey", involved Mickey Mouse being trapped in a weird, twisted version of Disneyland populated entirely with forgotten and lost Disney characters.



(Well, not in this sense, but that would have been amazing.)

Furthermore, Mickey would take on different characteristics depending on how the player approached different parts of the game. And Mickey would be able to manipulate the very game environment with pencils, erasers, ink, paint, thinner, brushes and so on. Hate dealing with enemies? Erase them! Or melt the floor out from under them! Or paint a big box around them, trapping them!

Now, as the game made it's way to the market, some... compromises were made. The game's overseer, Warren Spector, later explained that he learned where Disney draws the line by initially going way the heck over it. Focus groups (if we could ever point the finger at any one entity, then focus groups are essentially the one reason why we can't have nice things) were not one bit happy with the weirder initial aspects of the game, leading to whole swathes of ideas being scrapped.

So "Epic Mickey" in it's current form is... not what I was initially led to expect. Now, it is a pretty good game, but there were times when it almost stopped being fun and became more of a chore. You know what, let's start the review proper with all the things I disliked in "Epic Mickey". First off, this (go here for big):



Let me level with you. I am terrible, terrible I tell you, at both targeting and platforming in video games. "Epic Mickey" has quite a few enemies that require rather accurate aiming to dispatch; the fact that the Wiimote isn't always intuitive doesn't help here. And there is a lot of jumping from platform to platform over roaming monsters, bottomless pits, and rivers of what is essentially The Dip in all but name. And so help me, if the title of this post didn't alert you, there are so many levels where the floor is Dip as far as the eye can see.

So many...

So Goddamn many...

And I wouldn't even complain about this much -- if it weren't for the real Big Bad in the game...



(Thun-dun dun-dun thun-dun dun-dun, thun-dun dun-dun thun-dun dun-dun)

MICKEY: "There's paint thinner / all over the floor.
Rea-CHIN into the distance / to the other shore.

Tiny platforms for me to jump across.
I CA-nnot see them though / I'm at a total loss.

One slip in / and I will meet my end.
Too BAD the camera is, like, just nobody's friend.

There's paint thinner / all over the floor.
Rea-CHIN into the distance / to the other shore.

"This crazy camera I can't see 'round the bend!
Just one missed jump 'round here an' I will meet my end!
This Goddamn camera it makes me motion sick!
Whoever programmed it is just a total --"

CHORUS: "Mickey's gone 'round the bend!
Will the madness ever end?
It only takes a little slip
to go rollin' in the Dip!

"Mickey is gettin' sick!
The camera is such a dick!
It's like a bad acid trip!
Rollin' in the Dip!"

MICKEY: "There's a gear puzzle that I must resolve. (Wo-O-oah!)
Must thin them crystal clear so they do not revolve. (WO-o-ah!)

Turn my body / into paint black and white
If I screw up / and don't solve this puzzle right.

I will slowly / dissolve in that goo.
Killin' me horribly just like that Squeaky Shoe."

(Repeat CHORUS and ad lib to end.)



Honest and no kidding, whoever programmed the virtual camera in this game needs to just sit in the corner and think about what they have done.

If the camera in "Kingdom Hearts" was annoying at times, here it almost feels like the camera is actively working against you. It changes angles randomly as you're making a string of difficult jumps (ie, Mickey had to move forward a second ago, suddenly he has to move to the right). It gets right in Mickey's face during battles with roaming monsters (good God, the confrontation with the giant blobby brute in the castle's tapestry room!) And while you do have some minimal control over it, that ability craps out at the most inopportune times (usually when you are anywhere near anything that can be affected by Mickey's paintbrush). The camera is the real villain of "Epic Mickey". Try to argue it.

And as far as the Gear Puzzles... They kind of reminded me of the three elemental monkeys in "Pokemon: Black and White". Whoever came up with the idea must have REALLY loved it, so they just keep showing up everywhere and getting in the way. Only difference is the monkeys were pushovers and the gears ended up killing my Mickey over and over.

It's worth noting that I am an obsessive-compulsive Save-er.
Normal Person: "Neat, I beat the lead boss! Save!"
Me: "I just read a new line of dialogue from that NPC - SAVE!!!"
"Epic Mickey" has a rather infamous "autosave" option. As in, you cannot control where the game saves and there's a very real chance that the only time the game does save isn't until after you've beaten a level. The idea was to force the player into not backtracking once she had crossed some turning point or other. The reality is oh, so much fun... (I'm just glad I finished this game prior to Season Premier, er, season so the TV wasn't compromised by not-videogame-understanding-people.)



So with all that said, there is an awful lot to love in "Epic Mickey". Let's go on to the good.

The paintbrush gimmick is clever as hell and results in some genuinely cool moments. There's something inherently satisfying about filling the local Goomba equivalent's maw with paint, converting him to Team Mickey, and watching him run off to headbutt his former fellows while you go do something that's actually important. I love how the rescued Gremlins often help you in return during difficult boss fights. And speaking of the Gremlins, I love, love, love how "Epic Mickey" showcases characters Disney barely acknowledges.



(OK, not all of them, but still.)

Honestly, since I am a total geek for Weird Disney Things and I own a Wii, it sometimes felt like the game was made just for me. There are tons of obscure Disney references packed in every level (many are listed here) and each new level is preceded by a mini-level based directly on a classic cartoon and not necessarily one most people would be able to name off the top of their head. People, there is a mini-level based on "Plutopia" for goodness sake!

And as with the original "Kingdom Hearts", the story of the game is downright heartfelt and moving. I hope that ultimately this prompts many, many unexpected "starring roles" for Mickey and friends outside of the game world.

Plus there's something deeply cathartic about a game that lets you trash the dolls from "It's A Small World" for prizes.

Yet more DCAU thoughts and a *very* strange early 90's Disney Thing.

"Justice League Unlimited"
This is a series that hits the ground running at top speed. I've only seen the first few episodes of the first season so far and I'm already ready to gush. The sense of continuity is incredible and it's like a reward for having watched every one of these series. It even redeems the "Superman" series for me; "For the Man Who Has Everything" is easily the best episode "Superman" never got to have (and yes, it made my eyes rain. What? I'm a chick!)
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Which brings us to the promised *very* strange early 90's Disney thing: "Mickey's 60'th Birthday Special". This very weird film is the way Disney chose to celebrate Mickey's 60'th anniversary back in 1989-90 or thenabouts. I'd have loved to write a full review of it. Unfortunately, the quality is pretty bad. I know video doesn't preserve well, but you're a Princess among Disney geeks if you can watch the whole thing (and if you do, keep an eye out for more Roger Rabbit love).
Most importantly, it's an excellent demonstration of why I love YouTube and why I am very happy that it was invented in time for my generation to really appreciate: I could have sworn I had dreamed this as a kid. You'll see why soon enough.