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Frozen: Collector's Edition
[Blu-ray]
Blu-ray ALL - America - Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment Review written by and copyright: Ethan Stevenson (9th March 2014). |
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The Film
 "Some people are worth melting for.” Although inspired by Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Snow Queen”––so loosely based on it that the film doesn’t even bother to borrow the original title––“Frozen” is the polar opposite of the dark and dreary source material; anything but frigid and uninvitedly cold. As wonderfully, colorfully, cute and carefree as you’ve probably heard, Disney’s 53rd animated feature––their first wider-than-1.85:1-widescreen fairytale since “Sleeping Beauty” (1959)––embraces all the things that people love about many of the certified Disney Classics. It has comedy, charismatic characters, and a cavalcade of song. At the same time, its infused with a few post-modern twists, playing with the preconceived notions of the well-worn Disney Princess Narrative in similar but decidedly different ways than “Tangled” (2010) did a few years ago. “Tangled” knotted up known elements of the traditional princess-plot, by presenting the picture through the perspective of a male figure, the philandering wannabe land-pirate Flynn Rider, aka. Eugene Fitzherbert––frequently putting him in the distressed damsel role where he had to be rescued by long-haired royal lady Rapunzel––and thus throughly subverted expectations with a simple gender swap; it still subscribed to rules, but flipped who they applied to. “Frozen” sidesteps the tropes and cliches of the genre almost entirely, using a different, less stunted, approach. Love is vital to the picture, but it isn’t really a story of a woman, or women, being rescued by, and falling for dashing prince charming (although male love interests do figure into the framing of the story). Instead, “Frozen” is a tale of two sisters, their struggle for individual identity, and the unbreakable bond they share. Once upon a time, two princesses lived with their father and mother, the King and Queen of a fertile seaside kingdom bursting with life and fed by ferried trade called Arendelle. The eldest, Princess Elsa, was special. She was born with magical powers; the ability to command the elements, particularly snow and ice. The younger princess, adorable freckle-faced Anna, followed her elder sister everywhere she went. The two sisters did everything together, and were everything to each other, until one day, during a childhood game, Elsa’s enchantments––fed by her emotions––almost killed Anna. In the immediate aftermath, worried and warned that one day her abilities might manifest in more sinister ways, Elsa locked herself away in a corner wing of the castle, behind closed doors that no one, least of all her sister, was allowed to open. Tragedy struck twice over shortly thereafter, when the King and Queen were lost at sea, and their ship wrecked upon the shore. In time, as Elsa grew more distant and Anna grew up essentially alone, the magic of their whimsical childhood was forgotten. Many years later, on the dawn of Elsa’s (Idina Menzel) 18th birthday, and her corresponding coronation as Queen, Anna (Kristen Bell) meets Hans (Santino Fontana), a young prince with a long line of older brothers. Anna and Hans fall in love at first sight––or so they think––and announce their intention to marry. When the newlyweds ask for her blessing, Elsa forbids the union, delivering what is a groundbreaking, form-shattering line in Disney-dom: “You can’t marry a man you just met.” The line sets the tone for the film, which seems fully aware of the princess legacy and responds tongue firmly in cheek, lampooning and openly attacking the absurdity of such notions as true-loves-first-kiss with overt subversion. The line also provides the catalyst that propels the rest of the film, as it sparks a fight between the sisters that ends with Elsa, emotions overflowing, fleeing to the mountains to be alone, accidentally plunging Arendelle into eternal winter in her hasty exit. Concerned for her sister, and her kingdom, Anna sets off in search of Elsa’s enclave, leaving Arendelle in the unproven hands of Hans, whom she sorta-kinda still thinks she loves. In her trek across a vast and dangerous winter-wasteland, Anna meets an ice-selling mountain man named Kristoff (Jonathan Groff), his trusty steed––uh, make that reindeer––Sven, and a magical talking snowman called Olaf (Josh Gad). Together they agree to take a trip up the mountain to see if Anna can convince Elsa to undo the damage, and warmly embrace her family, her ability, and her kingdom once again for the good of all. “Frozen” has achieved something quite rare in the annals of cinematic animation, and permeated the cultural consciousness to a level no Disney film has since "The Lion King" (1994). The latter broke records at the height of the Disney Renaissance, spawned an equally successful Broadway musical, and was followed by several (increasingly derivative) direct-to-video sequels; its award-winning soundtrack seeped so deeply into our collective culture that several of the songs, particularly the titular “Hakuna Matata”, an untranslated turn of a Swahili phrase, have become a sort of colloquial shorthand. “Frozen” seems poised to follow suit, although title of its hit song “Let It Go” probably won’t have the lasting lingual impact because… well, the phrase already has a pretty concrete place in our cultural lexicon. That doesn’t mean the music is any less fantastic. With 8 original songs, and several reprises, “Frozen” is a full-fledged movie musical, featuring lyric and arrangements by three-time Tony Award winning Broadway composer Robert Lopez and his wife Kristen Anderson-Lopez, who is a well-regarded songwriter in her own her right. Certain numbers are executed with such an elaborate sense of scale that they recall the epic large-format extravaganzas of 50's and 60's Hollywood. In the last week alone, the film broke the billion-dollar box office barrier and took home two Oscars; by the pure super-saturation of smart marketing, I’ve seen, and heard, more renditions of the infectious but over-imitated golden-statue-grabbing “Let It Go” on Youtube and the late night talk show circuit than I ever intended to; and Disney has openly expressed interest in adapting “Frozen” on to the stage, and announced that a sequel is underway. (Here’s hoping any eventual sequels to “Frozen” are better than the lions share of followed-up Disney fare). “Frozen” has been unquestionably successful, but did it really deserve to win the Academy Awards for Best Animated Feature and Best Original Song? Does it warrant the media attention? Is it worthy of the accolades from mainstream critics and audiences alike? To my initially cynical, apprehensively critical surprise… yes. Mostly. (Personally I would’ve liked to see a traditional 2D animated underdog take home the Oscar just for the controversy, and thought Karen O’s “Moon Song” from “Her” (2013) was equally deserving of the Best Song win, but I digress). Regardless of whatever minor issues it may have, “Frozen” is a delightful film that both upholds and confronts traditional conventions in some truly fascinating ways, and has me wondering if we’re not already in the midst of another mini-renaissance; one so subtly mounted it’s taken a few films to notice. “Frozen” marks the first time a woman has directed a feature-length Disney film, and it’s perhaps because of that reason the film has such strong, fully developed female characters (albeit to the expense, somewhat, of the male ones). The other possibility is that the current team, regardless of gender, is just more mindful of modern matters. Either way, writer/co-director Jennifer Lee, who also penned “Wreck-It Ralph” (2012), and co-director Chris Buck have carefully reconfigured the Disney Princess film for the 21st century in “Frozen”. Their feature is sharply, smartly written, featuring well rounded characters; notably, it doesn't have a traditional villain. And it's late-in-the-second-act surprise reveal is inconsequential, albeit another of the film's numerous acts of outright genre subversion. It's plotted in a way that makes for an interestingly reconfigured meta-commentary-laden deconstruction of the fairytale princess film. The jokes, although occasionally broad, are interwoven with some surprisingly adult references. And the music is integrated well with the “book”, progressing the plot with enough forward momentum that the numbers are a natural extension of character emotion and the overarching narrative. Time will tell how well “Frozen” holds up. It’s too early to herald it a classic… even a modern one. But its a strong entry in the Disney animation line, and certainly far, far better than the first trailer––which made the film look like a poorly rendered ripoff of the “Ice Age” movies (2002-2016)––made it out to be. And truth be told, the film has finally made me question if the financial failure of “The Princess and the Frog” (2009), which effectively killed non-CG animation at Disney, was such a bad thing. Not because “Princess and the Frog” wasn't good; I liked it. Not because hand drawn animation is ancient old hat (not that at all; I thought “Frog” was gorgeous). No, I'm beginning to wonder if it really was a bad thing because “Tangled” (2010) and “Frozen”, two mindful deconstructions of their genre, were completely reworked in the wake of the perceived failure, and rejection of traditionally animated, traditionally told Disney Princess films. Both were supposed to be cel animated fairytales that subscribed to predictable princess cliches, and while I can’t say the originally-pitched version of either film would’ve been substantially worse (or better for that matter), the radically rethought, subversive CG takes that made it to screen are both much more adept than I expected them to be. It seems the CG’d Disney features are worth melting for... the good ones anyway. And “Frozen” is most definitely a good one.
Video
A minor but important note before going into the details of “Frozen’s” flawless high-definition presentation. Although a significant portion of the film’s ticket-tally came from 3D showings, sadly––at least for the time being––a 3D version of the film is MIA on a disc-based medium in the United States. However, "Frozen" is available on 3D Blu-ray in other regions, and a 3D-specific HD Digital download is offered by the VUDU streaming/download service in the US. I imagine it’s more than a little annoying to many fans that there’s no 3D along side this 2D disc, but to those presumably peeved persons I say… let it go. Easy advice in all honesty, because “Frozen’s” 1080p 24/fps AVC MPEG-4 encoded transfer is fantastic, faultless, and brimming with intricate, immaculate digital detail: finely rendered hairs on heads and freckles on faces, flurries of sharp and distinct snowflakes, and plenty of other tactile textures that, even without a proper stereoscopic transfer, pop with three-dimensional immersion. Inky blacks, usually a no-no in CG animation, and intense color saturation give the picture an appreciable sense of depth. Accenting the wintery palette, almost consistently awash in white and icy blue hues, are touches of pink, purple, and red, splashes of greens, yellows and other tones. There’s not one single instance of banding, blocking, artifacts, noise or aliasing in the entire runtime; no authoring quirks to speak of either. The disc is framed at an unusual aspect ratio, 2.24:1 widescreen, which is narrower than the theatrical 2.35:1. I haven’t been able to find any solid information on the actual intended shape, so I hesitate to say the disc is cropped. In fact, I think there's a possibility framing has been opened up from theatrical matting––supported by the fact that many of the compositions do not look compromised or cramped. Also note, in various interviews, “Frozen’s” directors, designers and lead animators have name-checked both Ted McCord’s work in “The Sound of Music” (1965) and the expansive vistas of David Lean’s “Lawrence of Arabia” (1962) as sources of major influence; interesting coincidence that both films were photographed at 2.21:1, the native ratio of spherical 70mm, or not a coincidence at all… I dunno. Setting possible AR oddities aside, “Frozen's” brilliant transfer certainly makes for a beautiful picture on Blu-ray.
Audio
Fit for a king––or I suppose that should be, a queen––"Frozen’s” fantastic English DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 surround track (48kHz/24-bit) supports the film’s full-fledged musical qualities with pitch perfect separation, extremely wide dynamic range, and the crystal-clear clarity one expects from a modern lossless mix. The fine-tuned vocals of the songs composed by husband-wife duo Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez fill the sound field with balanced volume, never overburdened by the warm tones of the full-bodied orchestral and choral-infused score by Christophe Beck; from the opening bars of the Nordic folk overture, both nicely spillover into the surrounds. But “Frozen” is not just a musical; it's a fitful fantasy epic as well, and in the nonmusical scenes––a lively town square bustling with gossip on the day of the coronation; a frightful sleigh ride through a forest fleeing from a pack of wild wolves; and a thunderous showdown between palace guards and a giant snow beast––the soundscape comes alive with the sound of chilly atmosphere and, in a few scenes, some booming bombastic action effects. “Frozen’s” superb soundtrack translates wonderfully to Blu-ray, offering excellent sound to match its impressive video transfer. Other audio options include an English Descriptive Video Service track in Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo, and foreign-language dubs in French Dolby Digital 5.1 and Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1. English, Spanish, and French subtitles are also available.
Extras
Collector’s Edition designation notwithstanding, Disney's two disc Blu-ray + DVD combo pack of “Frozen” has future double-dip written all over it. The offered set of supplements––a short film, 2 featurettes, around five minutes of deleted scenes, a few music videos, and some bonus trailers (only one of which is related to the film itself)––seems like the bare minimum, to put it lightly. Where's the audio commentary, more substantial making of––or at the very least, a few more featurettes than a grand total of two––and of course the requisite Disney Second Screen interactive experience? Like the withheld 3D, the curious lack of extra content seems to suggest that a reissue isn't out of the realm of possibilities. Perhaps it was even part of the plan along? Alas, the additional DVD and HD digital copies are probably the best bonuses in this so-called "Collector’s Edition", because I can at least see them getting some use. Except for the short film, I don't imagine I'll ever revisit the other pitiful extras. For the record, the Blu-ray disc is authored with the resume playback function. DISC ONE: BLU-RAY "Get a Horse" (2.40:1, 1080p; 6 minutes) is the Oscar-nominated short film that played before “Frozen” in theaters. Although still charming and fun, even more so than the main feature, this imaginative preamble loses a lot of its impact in 2D. A magical mashup of old and new, the short features original Walt Disney/Ub Iwerks’ creations Mickey, Minnie, Horace Horsecollar, Clarabelle Cow, and Peg-leg Pete in a sort of “The Purple Rose of Cairo” (1986)––or if you’d prefer, “Last Action Hero” (1993)––scenario where the characters literally pop off a theater screen playing an old Academy ratio black-and-white cartoon into a world of vivid and vibrant 3-D CGI. Fortunately, although the 3D’s a no-go, the short does feature the original 7.1 mix via lossless DTS-HD Master Audio. Those expecting "The Making of ‘Frozen’” (1.78:1, 1080p; 3 minutes 18 seconds) to be an insightful featurette that has Jonathan Groff, Josh Gad, and Kristen Bell helpfully answering the question “how did we make ‘Frozen’?” will undoubtedly come away disappointed. However, those looking for a delightful mix of song dance––technicolor visuals and painfully over choreographed dance numbers––in which that question isn’t answered in the slightest just found their new favorite extra. “D’Frosted: Disney's Journey From Hans Christian Andersen to ‘Frozen’” (1.78:1, 1080p, 7 minutes 28 seconds) is definitely a more informative featurette than its musical counterpart––although considerably less fun––offering a look at the Disney's many false starts on an adaptation of “The Snow Queen”, and the curious case of unintended crossover “Frozen” had with an abandoned theme park attraction devised in the seventies. 4 deleted scenes (2.40:1, 1080p; 6 minutes 51 seconds, Play All) cut from the final film have been included. When the play all option is selected each scene features an introduction by directors Jennifer Lee and Chris Buck. All 4 scenes never made it past the rough storyboard stage, and each one––an abandoned early subplot that introduced an evil Elsa, a moment where the sisters battle it out in a dressing room, and two alternate introductions to Kristoff and Sven––wisely cut. Scene titles are: – “Never under estimate the power of Elsa” – “The dressing room" – "Meet Kristoff #1” – “Meet Kristoff #2” 4 music videos for the film’s Academy Award-Winning song "Let it Go" have been included. The 4 versions are by: – Demi Lovato, in English (2.40:1/1.78:1, 1080p; 3 minutes 51 seconds). – Martina Stoessel, in Spanish (2.40:1/1.78:1, 1080p; 3 minutes 50 seconds). – Martina Stoessel, in Italian (2.40:1/1.78:1, 1080p; 3 minutes 50 seconds). – Marsha Milan, in Malaysian (2.40:1/1.78:1, 1080p; 4 minutes 11 seconds) The film’s really unfortunate and kind of crappy official teaser trailer (2.21:1, 1080p; 1 minute 32 seconds) has been included. Pre-menu bonus trailers and promos: – "Sleeping Beauty: Diamond Edition" on Blu-ray (2.55:1, 1080p; 1 minute 16 seconds). – "Muppets Most Wanted" (1.85:1, 1080p; 1 minute 16 seconds). – “The Pirate Fairy" on Blu-ray and HD download (1.78:1, 1080p; 1 minute 32 seconds). – "Disney Movie Rewards" promo (1.78:1, 1080p; 20 seconds). – "Disneyland Adventure Parks" promo (1.78:1, 1080p; 32 seconds). – "Adventures by Disney" promo (1.78:1, 1080p; 32 seconds). – “DisneyNature: Bears” (1.85:1, 1080p; 1 minute 59 seconds). DISC TWO: DVD The DVD, also framed at 2.24:1 widescreen (with anamorphic enhancement), includes an English Dolby Digital 5.1 surround track, an English descriptive audio service track in Dolby Digital 2.0, and dubs in Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 and French Dolby Digital 5.1. Optional English, French and Spanish subtitles are also available. Special features include the “Get A Horse” short film, music videos, and teaser trailer.
Packaging
Disney brings “Frozen” to Blu-ray in a two-disc "Collector’s Edition" combo pack. A region free, dual layer BD-50 and region 1 DVD-9 are housed in a Blu-ray keep case. A cardboard slip-cover has been included in first pressings. An HD digital copy is also included.
Overall
I find it hard to believe this is the only Blu-ray of “Frozen" that will ever get released on the format. With more than $1 billion in worldwide box office receipts, the film is a undeniable runaway success––it's a merchandising monstrosity, and I'm sure Disney will capitalize on any possible revenue stream as yet untapped, including a Broadway show, sequel or spinoff, and yes, the dubious double dip. Here's hoping that when the inevitable Ultimate Crown Jewel Double Diamond Edition or whatever it’s called comes out, Disney will do it right, and give fans a proper 3D presentation and the array of extra features they want (and the film honestly deserves). But until a better, more feature-laden SKU is announced, the current "Collector’s Edition" of “Frozen”––which features perfect 2D video and an excellent 7.1 lossless audio track––will do just fine. Recommended.
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