For clarity, I'm not saying Frozen is shit specifically because of Let It Go.
I'm saying Frozen is shit because of the general shitty writing that had an idea (importance of sisterly love) it didn't know how to develop so it just didn't develop it and instead told us it was important while the movie wasted half its screentime beating up on a trope (love at first sight) that hadn't been seriously used since 1989.
And its twist that is so poorly implemented it's obvious and makes no sense at the same time.
It's so busy patting itself on the back for being soooo much better than those beloved classic films that it forgot it was supposed to use that hand to write a coherent movie.
Screw it, I’ll be the Frozen fan today.
No, the conflict of the film was very much centered around the sisters. It began with them being close and Elsa accidentally hurting Anna, which kicks off the entire plot. Do You Want to Build a Snowman builds on their distant and ‘cold’ relationship where Anna tries to have some connection with her sister only for her sister to remain behind a closed door at all times.
Hans works as a strong showcase of Anna’s lack of connection and is used as a wedge between the two sisters. Anna is so desperate for any form of affection that she jumps at the first man she sees that will give it to her. Elsa brings a level head into the situation that she shouldn’t be marrying a man she just met, but Anna takes it as Elsa continuing to disapprove and act cold towards her. This causes a lashing out where Anna pretty much shoves Hans to the side to tell off her sister for years of neglect.
The two sisters and their distant relationship makes up the entire core of the film. Anna’s mission is to get Elsa back, while Elsa is trying to isolate from causing further harm after lashing out. This then culminates in the end where Elsa and Anna realize their relationship was true love, not in the romantic sense, but in the familial sense. It makes the film come full circle.
Also, should be noted that Olaf was the creation of both sisters, so much of his actions were indirectly connecting them, including his more vague speech about what love is.
Two modern (relative to typical disney princess time periods) royal children had zero tutors, chaperone, friends, or relatives and spent their entire childhoods alone with no preparation for their future duties despite Elsa clearly becoming queen with no issue. (This is a minor one but still stupid)
The parents didn’t know how to handle Elsa. The girl nearly killed their preschooler and there is no telling how people would have reacted knowing about her powers. The dinner scene with the Duke highlights the general fear she would cause if known, so it makes sense the castle was under lockdown till they could figure out how to conceal Elsa. Not saying the parents were correct, but it was a fairly complicated situation that doesn’t have a true right answer.
Their daughter turned out to be a weapon of mass destruction in a sense, I don’t know how anyone would reasonably go about dealing with that.
Legit, they should've just kept to Elsa being the Snow Queen villain. If they wanted a redemption arc for her or turn her into a sympathetic character, they should've planned that out better instead of getting that "Oh shit" moment halfway through production after recording her villain song and scrambling to do rewrites while on a strict time limit. Jennifer Lee never once saw her job as overseeing animation, she saw it as your typical live-action production and thought they were interchangeable, and her influence in the company is going to take years to undo.
Frozen could have been great with minor changes…
Hans is the most glaring issue and even he feels like small reworks could have improved him. Firstly, remove the “if only someone loved you.” You could easily play out the scene with the kiss not working and having him go off to find Elsa to try and find any solution. You can even have him and Elsa come to the conclusion that Hans needs to kill her to save Anna, just rework the sword swinging scene to seem more regretful on Hans part, like he really did exhaust all options. It fits with his character throughout the first half and like the rest of the film, adds some layer of complication to him and the situation.
This would then need to lead to Anna needing to adult up and tell Hans he isn’t the one during the ending. If Disney had the balls to play out a break up without doing the usual contrived Hollywood, my former Ex is abusive/evil, I would have a lot of respect for them. It would be a formula change, similar to Enchanted, but it works given the context of the film. She barely knew Hans and jumped to quickly into a relationship, only to find that Christoph was a better fit.
For a second change, either remove or minimize the role of the Trolls. Jesus, their segments were the worst of Reneissance Disney leaking in. They did not need that musical segment.
