Okay, my two cents on how
Frozen compares to
Tangled. (don't blame me, these films beg to be compared anyway. Disney wanted to duplicate the succes of
Tangled and that's what they got). Oh and there are
spoilers here. The spoiler bars annoy me and I stopped keeping track of what qualifies as a spoiler now. Also, my thoughts are a bit all over the place, so forgive me.
So I guess pacing is the reason why I prefer
Tangled. I will agree that as a whole,
Tangled is nothing new. It followed the formula of
The Little Mermaid and
Aladdin largely. I'd say it's a better Musker/Clements film actually than
The Princess and the Frog even though they didn't even direct it. It felt like their style. It fits right in with Disney's 90s fare. Seamlessly. If it had come right after
The Lion King it would have been a monster sized hit.
I loved the animation in
Tangled more as well. Maybe it was Keane's influence, but Rapunzel was a marvel of technology and personality. Wonderfully animated and Mandy Moore gave a very down to earth charm that I could have never predicted to come from her. It was engaging from start to finish and by the time they finally worked in that famous line: 'Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down you hair'... I smiled, because as Disney fanatic, I knew the trouble they faced adapting the story. The line wasn't forced, it was integral to the story. But it was there. And the entire climax was beautifully tense yet intimate. I believed Flynn and Rapunzel loved each other, unlike say Tiana and Naveen. They always felt a bit more contrived.
Predictable or tried and true, doesn't matter. I find
Tangled to be an incredibly well crafted film. And while the songs are on the weaker side, there's still no one who knows better than to make songs work as a framing device for the story than Menken. He knows which song needs a reprise and where it should be in order to push the story forward.
Tangled does this so well.
Now on to
Frozen. There is MUCH that I love here. I may prefer the animation in Tangled, but I won't deny that the animation is gorgeous obviously. The characters are all well written and engaging. I loved Olaf. He was more than a sidekick, he was the manifestation of Elsa's love for Anna, as she created him for Anna after years of not being able to. The story, in the end, works quite well. I think my main complaint would be that the film tries to fit a big story with lots of plot points and developments into a rather short film. There's no time to even think about anything because the film is already moving on to the next set piece. The wolves? They should have just animated that for the 'boy trailer' and keep it out of the film (although I will admit the exploding sled made me laugh) as it serves no purpose other than to show Anna is tough. Something that we had already established. I get that they needed a threat along their journey, but this was somewhat... cliché. If they had turned the Duke into a bigger villain, we would have had an actual threat on their journey while having the twist come as a bigger surprise, though I guess I outsmarted the obvious on that front. Because there were massive gasps during the reveal. sheeshhhh
The songs, are obviously a step up over
Tangled's songs. Sadly, as storytelling moments, they're rather awkward at times. With a few jarring transitions). They're telling a whole load of story in the beginning through a variety of songs. That's fine, but the movie needed to be longer in order to justify these moments and let the audience breath. Menken has had top-heavy scores as well, but they've not had these fast transitions from one song to another quite like
Frozen. It was
Princess and the Frog all over again in that respect. Albeit with much better songs. (I'll defend
Almost There until I die, but the rest? You can keep them).
Fixer Upper was
Dig a Little Deeper 2.0 though. Okay, but served no purpose. And that reprise of
For The First Time in Forever? It was way too Broadway-talky-singing to be in a Disney animated film. It didn't work for me.
But again, the songs themselves, are mostly glorious.
For the First Time in Forever is a better Alan Menken piece than anything in
Tangled or maybe even
Enchanted.
Do You Want to Build a Snowman and
Let it Go are highlights as well. Especially combined with what's going on the film. Disney at its finest. Kristen Bell gives the better performance of the two leading ladies, but then I'm not a huge Idina fan. Yes, her voice is huge, but also slightly overrated. The actress who does the Dutch and German voice of Elsa has a bigger voice (she was Elphaba in those languages plus on Broadway and West End as well). Josh Gad is obviously amazing.
The plot twists? I have no problem with them. Everything works well, and the conclusion with all characters crossing paths in the blizzard, was tense and beautifully done. I would put it right next to
Tangled's climax inside the tower.
So yes.
Frozen is great. It's a labour of love for sure and I'm happy for its succes. As it is currently on its way to outgrossing
The Lion King's original theatrical gross to become Disney's #1 non sequel animated film of all time. Sure, it won't match
The Lion King when inflation is accounted for, but in terms of ticket sales, it's outpacing
The Little Mermaid and
Beauty and The Beast. That is a huge deal.
But for reasons mentioned already and something that I guess just comes down to personal taste,
Tangled was a more instant love affair for me.
Still, the tables for WDAS and PIXAR have turned 180 degrees. What a difference 7 years make.
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