SCROOGED

Its Christmas everybody, and to keep up with tradition I'm going to review an adaptation of "A Christmas Carol". The only thing is the adaptation I'm going to review is very different from the many other adaptations of the story. Instead of this adaptation following the traditional story of Scrooge and his encounter with the three ghosts, this film adaption is a comedy set in modern times that stars Bill Murray called...



As much as I'm sure that there are plenty of other modern day adaptations of the classic Dickens story that are played out for laughs (Especially on TV Christmas Specials) the one that people usually think of right away when they think of a modern day version of "A Christmas Carol" is this film. Actually I can't think of any other modern day telling of the story that's just as a famous as this film, and when you have an actor like Bill Murray as your star who's best know for playing cynical characters to have him once again encounter ghosts, it does sound like the perfect comical modern re-telling of this timeless Dickens story despite sounding like a cheap cash-in on "Ghostbusters" (The film's tagline actually says "Murray is back among the ghosts. Only this time, it's three against one"). Still as much as the film sounds like its marketing off of Bill Murray's "Ghostbuster" fame and yet is still being remembered and shown countless times on TV every year, is it actually a good movie that's a smart and fun modern twist of the famous Christmas tale that we all know and love? Well, before I start talking about the plot, I just want to let you know that this review will be different from the other "Christmas Carol" reviews. Instead of me walking through the film and talking about every key scene and moment from the story and how the film executes it, I'm just going to review this movie like every other review. I know the film follows the same exact formula that the classic Christmas story is known for, but since the film has different characters and that the story itself is set a different time with a few new twists, I feel like it's best for me not to give too much away. With that said, ON WITH THE REVIEW!

Set in 1988 in New York City, Bill Murray plays the successful, yet selfish, greedy and cynical youngest TV executive in history Frank Cross, who's forcing his staff at the "IBC" network to work on a live televised broadcast of "A Christmas Carol" during Christmas time. One night as Frank is working late in his office, his old boss Lew Hayward (John Forsythe) comes back from the grave to warn him that he must change the error of his ways or else he'll suffer the same doomed fate that he's suffering. The following day during Christmas Eve as Frank is trying to run the televised broadcast, three ghost visit Frank to help him change his ways and embrace the Christmas spirit as each of them show him segments of his life during the past, present, and future.



Casting Bill Murray as a comical and self-fish modern day Scrooge is just as hilarious as it sounds. We all know how great Murray can be at playing selfish and cynical characters and this performance is no exception. Every time you see him yell at people, boss his employees around, and give snarky comments to everybody that he meets (Including the ghosts) with his I don't give a crap attitude is just priceless. He really plays the mean side of his character so well that you hate him, but at the same time can't help but laugh at him for being this bossy asshole. The best part about both the film and Murray's performance is instead of just seeing Murray act as a jerk in the opening act and having him being visited by all three ghosts in one night or having him encounter each of the three ghosts back to back that lasts the whole day, each of the three ghosts come to visit Murray as he goes on with his day and give him time after each visit to think about his encounter with the ghost that he just met. The idea of having each of the three ghosts appear as Murray goes on with day is a new and smart twist to the classic Christmas story that gives us more time to associate with Murray's character and watch him slowly change as he goes on with his day, while also making the appearance from each ghost less predictable and more of a surprise.



Outside of Murray's scenes of being a complete selfish ass to everyone that he encounters, seeing him breakdown during and after each visit is also very fun to watch due to the amount of energy that he puts into it. I also love how subtle and yet at times humorous Murray's reactions to the things that he witnesses in the past, present, and future are. They're not emotionally powerful or even that depressing for that matter, but you do get a sense of Murray's grief, even when he tries to humorously shrug it off. As much as I praise Murray's performance, in the end when he finally changes and redeems himself, I always find myself a bit mixed on this. On one hand he has some really funny moments, and seeing him get together with everybody he knows, talk about the spirit Christmas (that's mostly Murray ad-libbing), as well as leading everyone in a sing-along of "Put A Little Love In Your Heart" is pretty nice and a bit uplifting. But on the other hand though, the speech he gives does goes on a bit too long, and above all there's hardly any subtly and gentleness in his redemption. In many other Christmas films and Specials (Especially in many film adaptations of "A Christmas Carol") when we see a character like Scrooge or George Bailey from "It's A Wonderful Life" change, they have their moments when they act crazy and overjoyed after learning the lesson that they've been taught, but there's still enough subtly and actual emotion put into both the character and performance that you feel everything that they feel which as a result makes you feel just as emotionally happy as the character is. With Murray on the other hand, he seems more like he lost his mind and is suffering from a nervous breakdown rather than feeling like that he actually learned the true meaning of Christmas. Even how he delivers that message as good as it is, he makes it sound like he’s forcing the message rather than inspiring people with his message. To make matters worse, he interrupts a live airing of a Christmas show aimed for millions of viewers just to talk to the people that he know and love through the camera instead of actually approaching them or waiting for the Christmas show to nearly rap up (he interrupts the part when Scrooge finds out it’s Christmas, couldn’t he have waited once Scrooge tells Bob Cratchit that he’s going to raise his salary), and he hires a former crazy drunk employee with a shotgun to hold people in the staff hostage just so that he can give his speech. Do you see the problem yet? Like I said, a decent half of Murray's redemption does feel nice (I always get chills when he and the cast all sing together), but on the whole it just doesn't feel as emotionally touching as seeing someone like Scrooge, George Bailey, or even the Grinch (The cartoon) change their ways. Well it could be worse; at least Murray's transformation isn't as painful and boring as seeing Jim Carrey as "The Grinch" learning the true meaning Christmas.



Aside from the fitting casting choice of making Murray the modern day Scrooge, the rest of the cast are just as suitable for their roles. Starting with a few of the characters who are similar to the characters in the Charles Dickens story, Alfre Woodard plays Frank’s over worked and under-payed secretary Grace who has a son named Calvin (Nicholas Phillips) who remained mute after seeing his Father die. Woodard's character is obviously supposed to be the film's Bob Cratchit and she does a wonderful playing the modern day Bob Cratchit, while still given a performance and character that's fresh and new. I also really love the idea and concept of having her Tiny Tim like son not being able to speak, instead of being a crippled sick boy who's slowly dying. That's another twist to the classic story that I really admire the film for changing that's new and fits perfectly with the modern day setting of "A Christmas Carol". Still I'd be lying if I said that I was touched by the kid not being able to speak because I wasn't. As good as the idea is, and as hard as the kid and the actors interacting with the kid try to make this concept sad, it to me felt more like an afterthought, instead of coming across as emotionally powerful. As Frank enjoys working his secretary to death, Frank has a brother named James (John Murray) who he keeps neglecting around Christmas time, who is of course supposed to be based on Scrooge's only living relative his Nephew Fred. Much like how I praised Alfre Woodard's character and performance for being similar to the character in the Dicken's story that her character is based on, but still comes across as a new character with the modern day twists that her character is given, the same can be said about John Murray's performance as the Brother. He carries nearly the same personality and role that Scrooge's nephew played in the original story, but he's still given enough material to make his character standout on his own, and the idea of having our modern day Scrooge have a Brother who he grew up with, instead of a young Nephew is another interesting twist to this modern day re-telling of the story that I admire, and it seems very fitting to give Bill Murray's character a brother, since the guy playing the brother is Bill Murray's actual brother.

 

The film isn't completely filled with characters that are clearly based on the characters from "A Christmas Carol" because there are plenty of original characters as well. There's Robert Mitchum as Frank’s boss who Frank hates with a passion and yet feels intimidated by him which is always fun to watch as Mitchum plays it straight, while Murray tries to keep on his good side. You also have John Glover as the young cocky and full himself assistant that Frank’s boss hires who clearly wants Frank's job and the rivalry that he and Frank share is just as fun as seeing Frank kiss up to his boss. Out of all the supporting characters in the film that are not dead, the character I always get a huge laugh out of is Bobcat Goldthwait as the timid yes-man that Frank fires. Watching Goldthwait's character go from a shy and nervous yes-man, to a homeless drunk with a shotgun is so hilarious to watch that it never fails to make me laugh, especially when seeing the amount of abuse he goes through just to get a bottle of whiskey. The only supporting character I actually didn't care much about is the homeless guy Herman (Michael J. Pollard) that Frank encounters. Pollard's performance isn't bad and there is a scene that involves his character that I found to be both humorous and sad that makes Frank realize the impact of what a simple gift can bring, but I don't know, a part of me feels like that the film really didn't need him, and the interaction that he and Frank have together when they first meet as funny as some of it is, it mostly felt awkward and kind of forced. And when we do get to the scene when we're supposed to feel bad for the guy, as good as the scene is, it just kind of felt out of nowhere. I feel like if they gave Pollard's character a little more screen time and show at least another scene of him trying to interact with Frank as Frank once again tosses him aside, it probably wouldn't feel as random and might make his tragic scene a little more sad and warranted.



As good as most of Murray's interactions with the other characters are, the relationship that I found to be the most intriguing is Murray's relationship with his old girlfriend Claire (Karen Allen) who is based on Scrooge's old girlfriend Belle. I really love that the film doesn't decide to just show us our main character's past relationship with his old girlfriend to only never see her again like in the original story, we actually get to see the two get reacquainted and try to build their relationship again. Out of all the changes to the story in terms of characters this to me is the most ingenious and effecting parts of the movie. Every time you see Murray and Allen together on screen they make such a charming couple that it's hard not find yourself engaged in their relationship. Every emotion that they have for each other really does seem real, instead of feeling phoned in. Even when they get one or two moments where they keep breaking up that feel rushed and forced, you still feel the emotional connection between them. I also find it really interesting that he and his girlfriend are the complete opposite from each other. Frank is selfish and only does his job for the money and fame, as Claire is caring and loves to give and help people without pay, especially around Christmas, which makes the idea of them getting back together a lot more difficult and giving Frank more of a reason to change.



I mentioned earlier how this film is obviously marketing off Bill Murray's fame from "Ghostbusters", and with good performances from the characters aside, are the ghosts that Murray encounters cool, imaginative, scary, and fun, instead of feeling like their rejects from "Ghostbusters" that now have the title of the three ghosts from the Dickens story, my answer to that is a big yes! These ghosts are so creative and fun to watch that the performances and effects are what make them so memorable. John Forsythe as Frank's old boss Lew Hayward who's the modern day Jacob Marley, at first plays his role as Frank's dead boss for laughs, but once he starts warning Frank about his fate that's when he starts becoming as frightening, intimidating, and sympathetic as the Marley character that we're all familiar with. The Makeup that they put on Forsythe is also really cool to look at. There's so much detail put into it that it looks very realistic and frightening, and the special effects that are used when we're in his presence are really impressive. Another ghost that I find to be very creative is the Ghost Of Christmas Future, who's design is faithful to the classic Dickens character, but has plenty of new twists to make him new and original, like giving him a TV for face and having poor souls trapped inside his chest, and the effects for the ghost are just as amazing as the effects used for Forsythe as Frank's dead boss. The ghost that I always get a kick out of whenever I watch this film is David Johansen as the Ghost Of Christmas Past, who's a New York City cab driver that takes Murray back to the past in his cab. The concept and effects for the ghost are just as creative as the other ghosts that I just mentioned, but David Johansen's performance is what makes this ghost so fun to watch with his crazy and eccentric personality as he constantly makes fun of Frank for his decisions as Frank tries to defend himself but in the end fails at doing so. The only ghost that I really didn't care too much about was Carol Kane as the Ghost Of Christmas Present who's a happy fairy that resembles Glinda The Good Witch from "The Wizard Of OZ" who loves to beat up and annoy Frank. As funny as some of the slapstick between them is, it feels unnecessary. I get that the idea for the ghost is for her to be the opposite of sweet and gentle, despite that she looks and sounds like she is, but the slapstick to me just seemed kind of forced, and the design and idea for the ghost isn't as creative and cool when compared to the other ghosts. Also as much as I enjoy Carol Kane in many other comedies, the voice she puts on along with her over the top childish behavior just gets irritating after awhile. The score for the film is composed by Danny Elfman (Who also composed the music for "Beetlejuice" that same year) and before we knew him best for his Christmas scores in Tim Burton films like "Batman Returns" and "The Nightmare Before Christmas" that were both dark and fun Christmas films, this would be his first which surprisingly isn't a Burton film. The score like the other films I just mentioned does bring that comical and yet dark and edgy Christmas atmosphere along with that Christmas choir, and what makes this score so special and interesting is a lot of the cues that's used in the score would later be re-used in some of his other works, including "Batman Returns". It still amazes me that some of the trademarks that we know and love from Elfman originated from this movie, which makes me a bit sad that this score isn't as known or appreciated as some of Elfman's other works.

You know with the popularity of this film being the best known modern day take of "A Christmas Carol", I'm really pleased that the film still has that reputation. Granted it does have it's flaws, especially with how most of the film's emotional moments aren't as emotionally touching as the film tries to make them out to be (The freaking Muppets and Mr.Magoo's version of "A Christmas Carol" is more touching than this film). And that Bill Murray's redemption at the end seems more like he’s gone crazy and forcing this good and inspiring message instead of actually looking and feeling like he’s a changed man. When in one of his later film's "Groundhog Day" his transformation from being a selfish jerk to a kind hearted man who has learned his lesson would feel more genuine. But with that aside, it still is a fun and mostly clever modern day re-telling of "A Christmas Carol". Bill Murray is funny and very fitting for the role of the modern day Scrooge despite some struggles that he has with the emotional stuff (especially the ending); the casting is spot on; the ghosts are new and creative (aside from The Ghost Of Christmas Present); the effects still look incredible; the score by Danny Elfman is criminally underrated; the relationship and chemistry between Murray and Karen Allen is very sweet; the many new twists on the classic Dickens' story are smart; and the film is flooded with so many hilarious bits that they're almost endless. If you're looking for a modern take of "A Christmas Carol" that's loaded with laughs, good acting, and nice visuals then this is a must see, just don't expect it to be as emotionally investing as the story that you’re familiar with.

RATING 4/5

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS (SHORT)

Here's a little fun tradition that my family and I love to do on every Christmas Eve. Before we would all go to bed, my family and I would all sit together by the Christmas tree and each of us would read a part from the famous Christmas poem "Twas The Night Before Christmas". It’s a tradition that we’ve been doing for a long time, and is one of the many activities that I look forward to on Christmas Eve. Since one of the Christmas shorts on the "March Of The Wooden Soldiers" DVD is a live action adaption of the poem I'm going to review it today on Christmas Eve, thus closing all the Christmas shorts that I reviewed on the DVD. So this is my short review of the1946 short film...

THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS




This was another short film that I remember seeing as a kid on another video tape full of Public Domain Christmas shorts. Ironically, it actually came right after Max Fleischer's “Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer” cartoon on the tape that I watched it on. In all honestly I remember it pretty vaguely; I can remember the Sugarplums dancing in the sleeping kids heads, but that’s about it. After finally getting a chance to see it again, how does it hold up? Well, in all honesty, in terms of it being good, it really doesn't hold up. For the very few of you out there who never read the classic poem, the premise is pretty much just about a Father witnessing Santa visiting his house to leave toys for his kids as his Wife and children are asleep. So with such a simple premise that can easily fill an entire less than 10 minute short film, with already an entire script written for the filmmakers to create, how did the people behind the short mess it up?

Well once the opening credits were finished, the first thing I saw was snow on the trees on the brightest Christmas night ever. That's literally the first image of the short film that we see that takes place after the opening credits. I mean it looks pretty, but if this short is supposed to take place at night (Hello, it's in the title) why does the first image of the film look like a bright and pleasant winters day, to suddenly going to a pitch black Christmas night? Things didn't seem to get better when the next image I saw is the house where the family lives that looks like they're snowed in. The moment when I knew the short was in serious trouble is when I got a glimpse of a mouse that’s either a very old cheap toy or is a dead mouse that's been stuffed. Either way, it didn't look cheerful or cute at all. Things get a whole lot freakier when Santa starts to appear who laughs so freaking much that it makes him look creepy and insane, instead of jolly. As for the Father who witnesses' all this, we see him in one scene and that's it, we never see him on-screen again. We don't even see him when the kids rush down the stairs to play with their toys in the middle of the night. I guess the short film is trying to put us in the point of view of the Father, but it does a very poor and unconvincing job at doing so.

While the majority of the short is in live action, there are some animated bits thrown in. The first piece of animation that we get are the Sugarplums dancing in the sleeping kids heads, and though I found it funny and cute at first glance, I started getting bored by the joke quickly since the joke went on long enough to make me realize that the animation for these dancing sweets is on a constant loop. Funny thing about those dancing sweets is they actually remind me a lot of the dancing snacks from those "Let's All Go To The Lobby" advertisements that you'd see for Movie Theaters in the 50s; even though this came out in the mid 40s. The other bit of animation that’s used for the short are the scenes of Santa Claus pulling his reindeer on his sleigh that's about to lift off the ground. As decent as the animation is, I always found that choice to be just as weird as the choice of making Santa animated in the Christmas short "Merry Christmas!" since this short constantly transitions back and fourth to Santa being in live action to Santa being in animation, and in both of these different shots, Santa's sleigh would be on the ground when he’s animated, while a live action Santa looks and acts like he's in the air. It's seriously a mess that doesn't gel together well. I mean the Howdy Doody Christmas short did a better job at blending together the animation and live action footage, than the actual short that the footage originated from, and half of the stock-footage used in the Howdy Doody short was painfully out of place (Which I do give “The March Of The Wooden Soldiers” DVD credit for editing a good chunk of those sequences out).

I have to admit, as clumsy and creepy as this short is I'd be lying if I said that I didn't enjoy it. I'm not saying it's a good Christmas short, but it is entertainingly enjoyable. Some of the Christmas images are nice; the narrator does a nice job at reciting this classic poem (This is actually one of the few versions where you hear some of the original words from the actual poem, like Donner being called Donder for example); and the strange and bad decisions that this short film makes are actually pretty laughable, even if some of it does look a bit creepy. I know I lost it when I saw Santa come down the chimney, where it looks like the actor had a bit of a rough landing. I don't highly recommend it, but if you're looking for some unintentional laughs with some nice Christmas images as you're hearing a classic poem, then give it a watch.

RATING 2/5

MAX FLEISCHER'S RUDOLPH THE RED NOSED REINDEER (SHORT)

Whenever someone here's the name of the iconic Christmas character "Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer" the first thing that would immediately pop into their head is either the song or the classic Rankin/Bass Christmas Special, and why not, the song and the stop motion Special are two of the most popular things to have ever associated with Christmas. Still as popular as the two things that we think about that associate with this famous Christmas character, there's another adaptation of the classic Holiday icon that sadly gets overlooked or in the very least is not as popular as the song and the stop-motion Special which is...

MAX FLEISCHER'S RUDOLPH THE RED NOSED REINDEER


When I was a kid, the first time I ever saw of the cartoon's existence was on the "Disney Sing Along Song" video "A Very Merry Christmas" that showed the highlights of the cartoon as the famous Gene Autry version of the song played in the background. In fact, the segment on the video itself was actually my first exposure to both the character and the song (Yeah, it’s pretty shocking that I didn't see the Rankin/Bass stop motion Special first), and as you probably may have guessed, I fell under the cuteness and charm of both the character and the song. Eventually my Dad would later on bought me and my brothers a VHS tape containing classic Holiday shorts that were public domain, and the first short  to be featured on the tape would be the 40s cartoon of Rudolph. As a kid I really enjoyed it, and as the years went by, my brothers, my Farther, and I would always watch this Christmas short along with many other Christmas shorts that were public domain during this time of year when I was a kid. In recent years, I haven't actually sat down and watched the short in awhile, and since the short is featured on "The March Of The Wooden Soldiers" DVD, I figured now would be the perfect time for me to watch it again and see how it holds up after all these years of not seeing it.

Before I start talking about what holds-up and what doesn't, I must address two important things about the cartoon. The short not only pr-dates the classic Rankin/Bass Special, but it's also the first time that the song has ever been made into a movie of some kind. The short is also one of the last assignments that Max Fleischer (Who he and his Brother Dave have brought you famous cartoon characters like "Popeye" and Betty Boop"; the famous and influential Superman cartoons in the 40s, and Christmas short classics like "Christmas Comes But Once A Year" and "Somewhere In Dreamland") ever did in his career. As you can tell those two elements are one of the things that make the cartoon stand-out as something important, but with that said, that doesn't mean the cartoon itself is going to be great, because lets be honest, we've seen plenty of first adaptations to something popular, and last film projects that someone famous has done that weren't good.

So aside from being the first cartoon adaptation of Rudolph that's created by a legendary animator, is the cartoon itself good and still holds up just as well as when I saw it when I was a kid? Well starting off with the story, if you know the song of Rudolph, you’re pretty much going to get what the song tells you with no supporting characters, subplots, or twists what-so-ever. It's just the story about a misfit reindeer with a shiny red glowing nose who later on gets to help guide Santa's Sleigh on the foggiest Christmas ever (Yeah, it doesn’t make a whole a lot of sense that most of the world is covered in fog, but neither does Santa or a Reindeer with a glowing red nose). The only few things that the short has to offer that's new are the visuals and a few jokes, that’s pretty much it. Still this cartoon is a short cartoon that's less than 10 minutes, so it shouldn’t at all be surprising that it decides to be completely faithful to the source material, instead of taking liberties to make this classic Christmas story longer.

So with the short's story just being a complete accurate and straight forward animated telling of this traditional Christmas story; how's the animation, voice acting, and tiny gags that are thrown in? Well being animated by legendary animator Max Fleischer, it does seem like the animation is going to be promising and for the most part it is. Ok it’s not pitch perfect animation. I mean there are times when the movement from the characters looks odd or silly like how Rudolph and the reindeer's keep opening and clothing their mouths as they pull Santa’s Sleigh, or the scene when Santa pulls the covers up on sleeping reindeer (That kind of looked a little pedophile for a second) for example. There are even times when the characters would freeze in a few shots which make them seem unnatural instead of blending into the environment, especially when we see half of the reindeer's cheering at the stadium for Rudolph, while the other half of reindeer seem to be dead (The old and frail reindeer that's cheering for Rudolph, looks more alive than the rest of the young reindeer that are just blankly watching the ceremony). Also if you look carefully in the scene when Santa is calling out each of his reindeer, you can briefly see another Reindeer appear from the door after Blitzen comes out, which makes it obvious that the animators lapped the animation for that scene and didn't time it perfectly after when Blitzen came rushing out. Still as clunky as the animation can be at times (And lets be honest, the Stop-Motion in the Rankin/Bass Special can be clunky on many occasions as well), it for the most part still looks really nice. The colors are warm and Christmassy; the animated background designs for places such as Santa's Workshop, the frozen pond where the Reindeer go ice skating, and the dark and dimly lit houses that Santa visit's and passes are creative and beautiful to look at; and the designs for the characters are very cute, especially Rudolph's design, who has only two lines of dialogue but yet you can feel and sense every single bit of emotion he has from the way he's animated (Almost like Dumbo who shares a similar story to Rudolph’s). As for the little gags that this short film has to offer, while none of them are laugh out loud funny, they still are cute little gags that flow with the story fine.

I have to admit, a problem about this short that I've noticed ever since when I was a kid is the voice acting. Now I'm not saying that the actors voicing their characters are bad because they're not, actually they give their characters a lot of charm. The narrator brings that by the burning Yule log feel as he narrates this timeless Christmas tale; the guy voicing Santa has a great masculine voice that captures the charm of this popular Christmas icon; and two lines that the person voicing Rudolph delivers are so adorably cute that you just love the character even more, especially when he wishes everyone a Merry Christmas at the end. With that being said, the voice acting has so much echo in it that it not only gives you the sense and feel that there's someone in a booth voicing these characters, but it sounds like they weren't even voicing the characters in a studio, but more in a cheap shack or a basement with an echo chamber, which does get pretty distracting at times, especially when you hear the voices of the reindeer who bully poor Rudolph. The background music for this cartoon is just as Christmassy as the story and animation, which really does create a really nice and laid back Christmas atmosphere. One thing that really disappointed me when I watched this cartoon on "The March Of The Wooden Soldiers" DVD is the fact that the song about Rudolph is cut out of both the opening credits and the last scene since they couldn't get the rights to the song, where we instead get Christmas DVD menu music that doesn't at all sound like it was composed the same year that this cartoon was made. The good news however is you can still download the cartoon anywhere online with the original song being played in the cartoon since it is a public domain cartoon (Though it is kind of weird that the people who hold the rights to the song aren't taking any legal action on the cartoon itself.) and believe me when I say that the cartoon's rendition of this classic Christmas song does a nice job with pulling you in and out of the cartoon.

After all these years of not seeing this short, it still holds up. Ok, it's not perfect, the animation is very clunky on many occasions and the echo that we hear when most of the character's speak does get a little distracting, but on the whole it's still a cute little short cartoon of a classic Christmas tale with it's cute characters; lovely Christmas animation; relaxing Christmas music; and a few cute little jokes. However if you're looking for a re-telling of this classic story with a few new twists, the Rankin/Bass version (Though not all that perfect either) is the best version to see; but if you're looking for a faithful adaptation of the story that's short, sweet, and to the point then look no further.

RATING 4/5 

DISNEY'S FROZEN

Since today is officially the first day of Winter (Don't get me started!), I thought this would be the perfect time for me to review an overwhelming successful Winter film by Disney, which is obviously...



When I first heard of the movie, it seemed like an ok film, but I was in no hurry to see it. When I heard how well the film did, I actually did want to see it out of curiosity, but by that time the film was already leaving the theaters, so I decided to wait for its DVD release. However, while I was waiting to see the movie, the hype surrounding the film started to get bigger than ever, and I started to get completely annoyed by it. Seeing all the film's merchandise in every store I walk in, as much as I expected Disney to cash in on their most successful film, the merchandising got more and more insane to the point where I couldn't go into a retail store without seeing "Frozen" anywhere, if not everywhere. Even to this day I'm still annoyed by how much Disney markets the crap out of this movie, they just never give it a break. As if the merchandising wasn't annoying enough for me, some of my friends who saw the movie would also constantly play the songs from the film over and over and over to the point where I not only felt like that they were giving away a good half of the movie a way for me, but the constant replays of the songs themselves annoyed me so much that I felt like I was losing my mind. A perfect example to give you an idea of how much the songs were driving me insane is the time when one of my Brothers at home kept playing the song "Let It Go" constantly  in the middle of the night. As I was in my room trying to block out the noise, I kept hearing the song so much that even when I asked my Brother to give the song a rest because of how late it was, I still found myself mentally hearing the song in my head thinking that my Brother was still listening to it, which he wasn't at all! That's literally how insane the constant replays of the songs was for me! When I finally saw the movie with some of my friends who were big fans of the movie, instead of us sitting down and just watching it; they mimicked the scenes that were shown on the TV screen, constantly made fun of the movie, and of course all sang along to the songs, and as you can imagine, it made my experience of watching the movie for the first time extremely difficult to enjoy and grasp the characters, story, songs, and emotions. I then decided to watch the film by myself with no one around and with the film's hype ruining the movie for me, I thought I was going to find the film to be extremely overrated, however, after finally seeing it, as unbearable the hype surrounding the movie was for me, I surprisingly loved it! Ok, I didn't love it enough to be just as obsessed with the film as everyone else is, but I still loved it! What makes this extremely annoying over hyped movie such a great Disney film; ON WITH THE REVIEW!




In the film's backstory, two princesses named Elsa and Anna are very close and well bonded sisters that love to have fun together, but what makes their play time together so special is the fact that Elsa has magical powers that can create snow, ice, and all sorts of cool things for them to have fun. However, Elsa nearly kills Anna with her powers, and after her parents get magic rock trolls to heal Anna; the parents figured it would be best to keep Elsa locked in the Castle until she is able to control her powers. Now I hear some complaints from people getting upset about the parents keeping Elsa locked away and separate from her sister Anna, but that doesn't really bother me. I mean give these people a break, its not like Elsa's powers is a common thing in the film's world, and I do like that they try whatever they can to help her control her powers. Also, despite giving Elsa her own room (Where she can be alone), the parents never say that she can't be with Anna. Actually it's Elsa who chooses to stay away from her sister. My real problem with the back story is why does Anna have to suffer too? Her memory of Elsa's powers is gone and Elsa keeps herself away from Anna to not reveal her powers. Anna could of had a normal life outside the castle, there was really no need to keep her locked away too. Also where does Elsa's powers come from exactly, all we get is that she's just born with them, that's it. While the back story is flawed and doesn't make a whole lot of sense, I do think it works within the film's Fairy Tale world fine. It's like how it's normal in the world of Disney's "Pinocchio" to see a human size Fox and Cat walking and talking, while a walking Puppet is considered weird and abnormal; or Rudolph being born with a shiny red nose that glows for no apparent reason; or hell even Princess Fiona's parents deciding to lock her away in a Tower surrounded by lava that's guarded by a Fire Breathing Dragon since she was practically a child in the "Shrek" films (That's worse parenting compared to these parents) for example. It's an aspect that doesn't make much sense and is a bit flawed but fits within the film's Fairy Tale world so well and is executed so effectively that you're willing to overlook the flaws. On top of it, we wouldn't have a story worth telling if it wasn't for the actions taking place in the back story.



Getting to the film's main plot. Years go by, and Elsa is old enough to be the Queen, and while still not in complete control of her powers, she decides to accept her royal duty and open the Castle gates to reveal herself just on the day of the coronation. Meanwhile, Anna meets a Prince named Hans, and the two immediately fall in love. However, Elsa forbids Anna to get married, and as the two fight and argue, Elsa accidentally reveals her powers and runs away from the kingdom, while accidentally leaving a permanent winter on the Kingdom. Anna goes on a journey to find her Sister, and along the way, she comes across an Iceman named Kristoff, and a talking snowman created by Elsa named Olaf. Aside from the plot being a little similar to Disney's last monstrous successful film "The Lion King", it's still a really engaging premise.



When it comes to characters, the film not only gives us such wonderful characters; but these characters are so lovable and so identifiable, I kid you not, they actually brought out my inner child! You know when you're a kid when you watch movies or read a book, and you love the characters so much and feel so connected with them that they almost seem real to you, that’s pretty much my experience with this film. I’m not saying this is the only modern kid’s film to ever do this because there are plenty of kids’ films and shows that have reached me on this level like this before. I’m just basically saying that the characters’ are so likable and the emotions that they go through are so strong that it’s hard not to feel attached to them. The Queen Elsa (Voiced by Idina Menzel, or should now be created only for this film as Adel Dazem) is one of my favorite characters in the whole entire movie. This is a character who I found to be very interesting with the kickass powers that she possesses and her struggles with controlling her powers as she shuts herself away from society. Every time I see this character, I always feel the pain and emotions that she's going through. There wasn’t a single moment when I did not feel any of her emotions; her emotions really do come off as effectively powerful to the point where it feels real.



Elsa’s sister Anna (Kristen Bell) who I thought was going to be an obnoxious lead who sounds like a Disney Channel teen instead of a Princess, she's surprisingly just as great as Elsa. First of all, I love that she and Elsa live different lifestyles. Elsa is a shut in, while Anna is completely outgoing, and both of those elements are actually played out so cleverly at teaching the dangers of keeping yourself away from society and revealing too much of yourself to society that these lessons aren't just something that kids can learn from this movie, but it's also something that adults can learn from the movie as well. Second of all, the idea of making Anna comical works not just because that the humor is balanced out really well by giving her enough room to show her emotions and be subtle, but it works with the character perfectly because she was locked away from society most of her life, and the fact that she gets to finally see the outside world is all very exciting and new for her; and the comical scenes that she has are really funny, instead of feeling forced. Third and finally, out of everything I adore about this character it has to be the heart, passion, and determination of her wanting to find her sister to help her and save the kingdom. You never feel that she's ever going to give up; she'll find as many ways as possible to do what it is right.



The two love interests that Anna encounters on her journey are pretty good characters as well. The Prince Hans (Santino Fontana) is a really charming and carrying Prince, who also gets some really funny moments as well that don’t at all feel forced or thrown in for a cheap laugh. The connection between him and Anna, despite them hooking up in one day, you do feel a connection between them, like in almost every classic Disney Fairy Tale done right. The Iceman Kristoff (Johnathan Groff) is a really fun, smart, and heroic character, who is also really likable. Actually some of the films best jokes and lines come from him. My two favorite lines from him is when he criticizes the fact that Anna is going to marry someone who she just met; and the other one being when he thinks about telling one of the characters about a painful truth. Kristoff is also accompanied by a reindeer named Sven, who Kristoff speaks for by understanding his thoughts from his facial expressions and actions, and for something that I thought was going to be creepy and awkward, it's actually both funny and cute, especially due to the fact that they've been together since childhood. As you may have guessed (If not already know) about his relationship with Anna, they start being jerks to each other, but of course slowly start to like each other. Yeah, it's a cliche love story that's been done before thousands of times in film, but it does work in this film since you can still see and feel a connection between them blom. The interesting part about the concept is while you're enchanted by their relationship you begin to wonder what Hans might think of it, or if he'll hook up with Elsa instead. Without giving anything away for newcomers (Even though I bet half of you reading this have already seen it) the route they went with, while a little flawed is still done well enough to tie in with one of the film's themes that I just mentioned.



As for the supporting characters, they're all just as fun and likable as our leads. The Duke (Alan Tudyk) that's against Elsa's powers has some really funny scenes; the Swedish Chef looking shop owner never stops being funny; Elsa's giant snow monster named Marshmellow (Who's no doubt a snowman parody of "Stay Puft Marshmallow Man" from "Ghostbusters") is a really cool and powerful henchman; and the rock trolls are really fun and humble characters with very creative designs. Of course the supporting character that we're all familiar with is the snowman Olaf (Josh Gad). When I first saw his picture, I thought he was going to be this forced comical sidekick that's loud and obnoxious who won't shut the hell up, but the minute when I was introduced to the character, I loved him right away. He's over the top, but not over the top to the point where he has to yell and be all over the place. He's actually is a really subtle and laid back positive character that still manages to be both funny and cute, while at times given some slapstick that’s actually funny and creative. What I truly love most about the character is the fact that he connects to Anna and Elsa's childhood since they used to build a snowman named Olaf; and seeing these two characters interact with someone that they made up during a happy time of their childhood before they had to spend half of their life being separate from each other who’s now finally real is actually pretty cute.




The animation is gorgeous, like this is some of the best Computer Animation I've ever seen. The film's winter look is so beautiful and bright, that it's stunning to look at from the snowy Mountains, to Elsa's Ice Castle. The ideas and animation used for Elsa’s powers are so creative and are timed so well that it’s both cool and enchanting to watch at the same time. Speaking of powers, the film does have a few action scenes, and while not being die-hard "Hell Yeah" awesome, they're still well put together action scenes that keep you invested. What I do truly love about film are its morals and themes. I already mentioned how well the film executes its morals on revealing yourself too much and too little to society, but another moral and theme that I thought was beautifully executed was love. Without giving it away for newcomers, let’s just say the film's climatic tear-jerking moment is so smart and perfectly executed, along with the story itself that it really makes the film's theme of love really stand out!



Now I saved the best for last to talk about, and that is of course the songs! What used to annoy me and wouldn't leave me alone; after finally seeing the film, I love them! Ok, I'm not going to say that I love them just as much as everybody else who listens to these songs constantly and joins in Sing-Alongs whenever the songs are being played, because I don't! With that said, I still think they are some of the best songs that Disney has ever brought us. These songs flow with the story so perfectly, that none of them are boring, forced, out of place, or even feel like entertaining filler at all. Their soul purpose is to move the story forward that's it. The back-story song sung by Anna as a little girl called "Do You Want To Build A Snowman?", is so touching and emotional, that you can feel the torment and sadness from the character, and the singing from the child actresses that voice Anna as she grows up are surprisingly good! The songs that grown up Anna sings such as "For The First Time In Forever" and "Love Is An Open Door" are not only greatly sung by Kristen Bell and the cast, but we get a complete understanding of the character's excitement of being out and free. Olaf's song "In Summer", is not a song just to be a comedy song, it instead gives us a great insight of Olaf's character, which leads to a really funny subplot of him wanting to experience Summer time, while not being aware that he'll melt. The rock troll song "Fixer Upper" while played for comedy, it still ties in with the film's theme about love just as well as everything else that make the message and theme stand out. The only problem I have with the song is, it's the last song in the movie which makes me wish that the film had some kind of finale number, but that's really a nitpick. Kristoff's song "Reindeer(s) Are Better Than People", as short as it is, it's still a cute song that gives us a perfect understanding of Kristoff's relationship with the world. My personal favorite song in the whole movie is the film's opening song "Frozen Heart" sung by the Icemen. Much like the song "Virginia Company" from "Pocahontas", or "Fathoms Below" from "The Little Mermaid", it perfectly sets up the film and pulls you right in with that awesome choir. The scene itself also homages the controversial Roustabout song from "Dumbo" as we see young Kristoff and Slven comically and cutely help out the Icemen, just like how Dumbo cutely helped the Roustabouts and the Animals, which makes me glad that some good did come out of that controversial song. Of course the song that everybody knows, loves to sing constantly, make fun of, and listen to over and over till it's glued into their minds as much as "When You Wish Upon A Star" is "Let It Go", and yes it is a really fantastic song. Every single bit of feeling and emotion that Elsa is going through is carried out so effectively in this number that it makes the song both sad and uplifting as Menzel really sells it all out with her incredible singing voice that sounds out of this world!

While the hype for "Frozen" is annoying and unbearable, it's still an incredible Disney film. The story, along with its themes are smart and clever; the characters are fantastic as well as being very fun and lovable; the voice acting is outstanding; the animation is creative; and the songs are all memorable and tie in with the story both perfectly and naturally. The hype surrounding it is still crazy, but I guess I'd rather see hype around a movie that's actually good instead of a movie that's bad and only exists to make money off of the merchandise.

RATING 5/5