One Year Later, Frozen is Still a Classic

Disney is no stranger to marketing their successful products.  In fact, more often than not, they over market their products until they have saturated virtually every single dollar from it.  These products can range from successful animated movies, Disney Channel shows, Radio Disney stars, and now both Star Wars and Marvel characters.  But it can be easily seen how their animated products get the most marketing in the likes of Television, Movie Theaters, and the various Disney Theme Parks.  This is because, no matter how many likes a Zac Efron or Hannah Montana video gets, or no matter how much money they draw from TV shows or Live Action movies, the company's entire existence lives on Animated Films.  Animated bonanza's like Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Cinderella, 101 Dalmatians, The Jungle Book, The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin and The Lion King are the cornerstones through which the entire company exists.

Last year, Disney released arguably their most successful, beloved, and downright most sensational film since the likes of The Lion King.  In the span of a few months in theaters, Frozen shattered virtually every single box office record on the planet previously held by other animated films.  It's cultural appeal is equally as insane.  Little girls are everywhere either singing or dressing up as Anna or Elsa, watching the movie, playing with the dolls, or bugging their parents to buy them the Disney On Ice tickets.  The baby craze is also insane, with the sudden and worrisome spike in the names of Anna and Elsa to be named the newest generation of little girls.

And Disney absolutely killed it.  They let Frozen guide and govern virtually every single decision they made, one of which included shutting down the popular Maelstrom attraction in Epcot and making way for a new Frozen themed attraction.  But there's so much more.  The fandoms, the constant commercials, the upcoming Broadway show, and dozens of other amenitites drove me to nearly destory my Blu Ray copy of this film.

But this most recent Sunday, I sat down, turned on my Playstation 3, took out my Kingdom Hearts 1.5 HD Remix disc, and put in Frozen.  I hadn't watched this film in nearly 8 months, and I was very curious to see if the film had the same kind of effect that it had on me when I first saw this film in theaters.  I turned off my light, and watched the movie from start to finish.  The result...

People are gonna be pissed at me, but this film is, despite the horrific amount of marketing and annoying kids in Target and all over the country going nuts for it, STILL a marvelous masterpiece of epic proportions.  The songs, despite horrible YouTube dub after horrific YouTube dub, are still as electrically charging as most 1990's Disney songs.  The story is still solid, the characters are still engaging, the animation still beautiful, and the overall film is still one of the greatest animated films made in decades.

How is it then, that I one can both loath and love something like this?  After all, I still refuse to shop in my local Target because of the oversaturation of this movie.  And yet, when I watch it with a friend, a family member, or even by myself, I still love it.

I think it's because NO other animated film made within the last few years (outside of How To Train Your Dragon 2 and ParaNorman, which kicked ass BTW), has the same kind of appeal this one does.  Most are far less than stellar followups to much superior movies (Monsters University, Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted, Cars 2, any Ice Age movie made after 2002 really) or simply just not strong enough to carry on much more successful legacies (Wreck It Ralph, Brave).  Frozen hearkens back to films that we all grew up with, be we kids from the 1950's or kids from the 1990's.  It echoes films like Dumbo, Peter Pan, Cinderella and Pinocchio, while also making us remember the Renaissance films such as The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, or Beauty and the Beast.  It also stands as a unique film, because unlike most fairy tales, the character that probably goes through the most emotionally (Elsa), does not need a significant other in her life to solve her problems.  She just needs her family.

But here is the question: Should the craze surrounding this movie really die?  I mean, really?  It's better than kids sitting around talking about that pigshit awful Beavis and Butthead show (or whatever, the one with the platypus), or playing and fighting over crappy movies (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles or Planes comes to mind).  And were we also, unintentionally, part of our own crazes when we were kids?  I mean, I remember a day when we were doing worksheets in 4th grade and our teacher put on The Lion King soundtrack.  Within instants, we were all singing the songs.  We would pick up chorus parts, tap out the beats and tempo on our desks, and all try embarrassingly at dubbing Lebo's intro to the movie.  My Dad also reminded me just how much Aladdin and Lion King merchandise I still had at his old apartment.  Should we yell and complain about Frozen being as hyped and as loved as it is just because we can't enjoy it like the kids can?  Should we really boycott Disney because they are overly marketing a highly successful product, which could probably market itself?  Should we really argue, when we too were enveloped in the likes of The Little Mermaid and Hercules while our parents yelled at us and said we didn't know what good movies were, like Alice in Wonderland and The Jungle Book?

Here is a final note to the 3 major classes of people out there.  For the Frozen Fanatics, enjoy your movie, but keep it down a notch.  For the haters, just remember that not too long ago, you were probably just as crazy about something that lots of other people detested.  And for Disney, can't you market Big Hero 6 yet?????