Review Summary: Who wants to build a snowman??? Not me...
Disney has been on a kick with their revival of musicals since 2009, when
The Princess and the Frog was released to favourable reviews but a somewhat middling box office; the trend then continued with
Tangled, which was a smash and reminded all the folk of the old days of Disney. And of course, there would naturally be some hype when
Frozen gets announced, based on the popular Norwegian tale "The Ice Queen". Problem with
Frozen, however, is that it seemed too... typical. The animation was gorgeous, but the story lacked real emotion and impact, and while it wasn't necessarily a bad film, the problem is that just seems to abide too much by the Disney book. I know that Disney will possibly never make another
Beauty and the Beast or
Lion King, but given their potential, and how good
Tangled was, they're starting to run a little thin.
The soundtrack does takes some risks, but not for the better. And right now I have to ask to those critics and Disney fans, where on earth has your ability to properly judge artistic merit gone??? I mean sure, this album is "Broadway ready" and will for sure see a resurgence in sales for Disney, but I've also no doubt that tons of other Disney productions are "ready for the stage", and that's exactly what the music in the film suffers from: Broadway bait. There's so many times where the music falls victim to the current state of Broadway- overly pop-centric music, that it's at times cringeworthy. There are few moments where this music has that "Disney luster" show, and true, I guess you could accuse
Tangled of being "too Disney", but even then, this tries too hard to deviate from "formula", that it ends up following another.
This isn't bad music, guys, and maybe is enjoyable in the context of the film (though I'll admit I wasn't leaving the cinema humming any tunes), but on its own is when it really collapses. "Let It Go" is probably the most memorable song on the soundtrack, but it sounds too eerily similar to
Wicked's "Defying Gravity" to be a real standout. Perhaps the best song on the soundtrack is "Do You Want to Build a Snowman?", which is a lovely and touching song that has moments that will remind you of the classic Disney moments, but such bliss is sadly short-lived. Later track "Love is an Open Door" is catchy, but is pointless and is essentially two people who just met singing about being in love with each other, complete with some cringe-worthy lyrics. "In Summer" continues a vapid trend of bringing songs in that don't really have a place in the film- a snowman singing about what he'd do when the snow melts, really? And some songs sound like they belong on a syndicated cartoon ("Fixer Upper", which again, is catchy, but has no place in a Disney film).
If there's any sort of success on the "Frozen" soundtrack, it's that Disney have found out exactly how not to make a soundtrack for their films- too bad it had to be this one. And it does pain me to say that, because I do love Disney. If they wanted to make a broadway show, they could have just done that. And exactly how mishandled this film has been can be chalked up to more than just the music, but the music is a big problem and is a frustration to listen to. No doubt that it's successful, and maybe I'm wrong with how this film has been tearing up the box office- I've no doubt the film has a huge fan base, but for those looking for something that has more of a Disney feel to it, you may want to invest your time and money in something like
Tangled or
Frog.
