Frozen

If this movie could have a tagline, it would be "Fuck Winter."

Except not, because this is a Disney film. Despite being gnawed up and spat out by committee very obviously, Frozen manages to hold its own and become a very solid film overall despite its numerous obvious flaws.

Anyone who does a little digging knows how much a Disney film changes from it's first idea to the final product. Frozen is based off of a fairy tale called The Snow Queen and the original concept art had it much darker and probably a few shades more intelligent than what it turned into later. It sacrificed quite a bit of the story and the plot is very bare bones, much to the chagrin of literature lovers everywhere. It's also very rushed and several things that should have been key elements (the magic trolls, the bad guy) seem like they were included last minute for no real reason and the plot could have advanced without them, or with simpler contrivances in their place. Some of the characters seem to exist only for the sake of a single song. Which is fine, because the sound track carries the film. I foresee a very nice, tidy Broadway run for this adaptation that will rake in a hefty sum and sell out for months.

And of course, there's the part everyone was dreading since the teaser trailer came out: The snowman. Olaf the snowman is one of the least logical and least visually appealing characters to grace a silver screen, and out of all the conventionally attractive and cute things at work here he seemed like the least likely candidate for "the face you want to advertise your movie with." To their credit, although Olaf was obviously shoe-horned in to sell toys and be cute, he's a very quiet and subdued character that actually ends up being one of the least annoying things about the film. Doubly so when you consider that the other characters are aware of how creepy looking he is and react realistically to that fact. I can also appreciate the desire to have a non-conventionally pretty character in a movie ruled mostly by Broadway stars and Barbie dolls.

Despite how much it was whittled down and despite its obviously rushed parts here and there, though the film did trim quite a bit of story, it made up for this in character. It was full of emotion, and it felt its emotions fully. It was incredibly expressive and very, very pretty. It was one of those musicals that, although hokey and cornier than corn pudding, sang its sweet little heart out and ended up being a remarkably cathartic and warm film, despite its icy theme. I was really gearing up to hate this movie after all the craptacular advertising it got but after watching it I can't bring myself to hate it no matter how much I can find wrong with it because it believed in itself too fucking hard. Corporate packaging did its best to ruin it but its honest center, focused on the characters and their development and emotions, managed to rescue it from the stupid, and it ended up being possibly the best animated film this year. If not for technical reasons, because it was the most memorable.

It's up for a few Oscar nominations for original song, and I wouldn't mind one bit if it got one. Being trapped here in what amounts to be frozen tundra, myself, at least now I have some catchy ass tunes to sing while I scrape the beautiful crystalline ice fractals off my fucking windshield every morning.