FanGirl Fridays!

Welcome back to another edition of FanGirl Fridays, where i geek out out some of my favorite things in popular culture. I know this is probably the third time I have written about this but I have to talk about my love for...

Frozen

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I honestly am obsessed with this movie and listen to the soundtrack almost everyday. This movie reminds me of the older Disney Renaissance, where movies like The Lion King and Beauty and the Beast emerged. I would probably put Frozen at least in my top five of movies because it had everything I loved in a movie, let alone a Disney movie. The music was fantastic (and Oscar winning!), the animations were breath-taking and the characters were complex and interesting.

In typical Disney fashion, it has a super depressing beginning with Elsa isolating herself after nearly killing younger sister Anna and the parents dying in a shipwreck during a storm (most of this occurs during a bridge of a song). Although I would have liked to learn more of how and why Elsa got her powers, I still really enjoyed the overall film. I think that by not making Elsa the easy villain kept me guessing and wondering what was going to happen next.

The story follows Anna at Elsa's coronation and the fallout that happens as a result of her ice powers emerging. Elsa runs away, finally embracing her power, while her sister joins up with ice salesman Kristoff and his trusty reindeer Sven to try to bring her back to the kingdom. They also come across the lovable Olaf, a snowman created by Elsa who longs to feel the sun in summer (not knowing the consequences). Other characters such as Hans (the perfect prince) and the Duke of Weaselton (Weselton! haha in-movie joke) help make the movie even more memorable.

The music is another wonderful piece to the film. They evoke the sadness and loneliness felt by both Anna and Elsa (who don't realize the other is going through the same experience) and also the wonder into breaking free of the current situation. Do You Want to Build A Snowman is a great opening song that introduces Anna and has her literally grow up before our eyes. For the First Time in Forever also express Anna's excitement and Elsa's dread at finally be reintroduced to the world after 10+ years. Of course Let it Go is the most popular song, but I enjoy most of them (except Fixer Upper, it seems like it doesn't fit) like Olaf's ode to summer ("In Summer"). In many of the iconic Disney movies, they seem to have incredibly fun and easy to sing songs, which I think that Frozen fits.

Without giving the ending away, the best part of Frozen is the fact that it focuses on other versions of love that the characters experience (companionate and familial). It evens states at one point that it is ridiculous for a character to fall in love and get married to someone she just met, obviously poking fun at well-established Disney tropes of the princesses. The presence of strong female characters reminds me of another of my favorite movies, Mulan, as Elsa decides to break free and embrace her "otherness". The movie also has a great twist (that I didn't see coming) that ties a lot of the characters together. Although I would have loved a little more of the ending, I left the theater (which was full of children, btw) completely satisfied and in awe of Disney. I believe that this movie and Tangled are helping to Disney to take back the animation throne from Pixar. And I can't wait to see what they come up with next.

FanGirl Fridays!

It's Friday so that means I geek out and talk about things important pop culture wise in my life. This time, it's Disney Animated Movies (including Pixar).

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Ever since I was little I have always loved Disney movies and to this day I still watch them when they come on ABC Family. I also go out of my way to find them on either Amazon or Netflix, so it's safe to say that I'm a fan (or a fangirl, perhaps). To bring the point home, I've seen 43 out of the 53 Disney Animated Features and 10 out of 14 Pixar Movies (I don't care for Cars at all). I can honestly say that I have re-watched a decent portion of those movies in the last few years.

The first movie I remember seeing in theaters was Toy Story (1995!), which I absolutely loved. One of the best moments for me came later when I was watching Toy Story 3 for the first time and was able to relive my childhood through some of my favorite childhood characters. I think that Disney is probably the reason for my love of  musicals due to all of the interludes during the movies. I even loved the movies made during the down period of Disney which occurred in the 80's after The Black Cauldron (ok, this was a failure box office wise)  and also included movies like the Rescuer's Down Under, Oliver & Company. As a kid I didn't know any of that stuff and watched what ever VHS' I could find multiple times over (90s kid alert!). The reason why it was a bad time was because things like The Land Before Time (another fave) were getting released around the same time and blowing the competition out of the water. Honestly, I can say I have a ton of favorites from Mulan to The Great Mouse Detective to The Lion King and Finding Nemo.

Some say that animated movies are for kids and I definitely don't think that's true. They cover many powerful topics like death, forgiveness, friendship, love and being/loving yourself to name a few. They're movies that everyone can enjoy because they understand different things about them depending on age and experiences. Like Frozen for example, some little kids may have just been hooked with Olaf the snowman but beyond that is an amazing story about two sisters coming together. Not to mention that romantic love takes a sideline in this story instead of being the primary motivation/endgame of the character (see: every Disney Princess prior to Mulan). There's just so many lines and characters and songs that always can bring a smile to my face. There's a point towards the end of "A Bug's Life" (or maybe it's the bloopers) where one of the grasshoppers gets so scared he sheds his skin completely. I can't even remember how many times I re-wound the tape to watch this hilarious scene. The best thing about Disney/Pixar is that there is always a movie to fit your mood. I could seriously go on forever but I'm sure I will do a Favorite Things list andlater down the line, a re-watch of every single movie which I would absolutely love to do.