film review

I’m afraid I don’t have a book review for you this week because I’ve been beta-reading a book that I can’t write about. So you get to tell me what you want to read about on Saturday!

Anyhow, I decided to give you a new film review to read about. I went to see Frozen with my sister on the weekend and I absolutely loved it. I’d heard from a lot of people that it was fantastic but I really didn’t know what to think. Turns out I loved it, as I am writing this ‘Let it Go’ is playing in my head.

“Let it go, let it go
Turn away and slam the door
I don’t care
what they’re going to say
Let the storm rage on.
The cold never bothered me anyway.”

“Fearless optimist Anna teams up with Kristoff in an epic journey, encountering Everest-like conditions, and a hilarious snowman named Olaf in a race to find Anna’s sister Elsa, whose icy powers have trapped the kingdom in eternal winter.”

~IMDb

WHAT DID I THINK?

Frozen is a wonderful new Disney film made in the vein of the West-End show Wicked and is truly wonderful. Packed into 1 hour and 42 minutes, this movie gives you a multitude of relationships, multi-faceted, well built characters, a lovable snowman and an exciting, liberating story-line. I’m not one for the ‘this-is-such-a-great-feminist-movie’ approach so I’m not going to give you all that. This review is purely based on how much I loved it.

The character of Princess Anna is wonderfully created, she is fun and excitable and desperate for love. She has lived in a castle with her sister for so long that she just longs to get out and find a husband and she is so very believable.

Queen Elsa, on the other hand, reminds me of myself. She keeps herself hidden “conceal, don’t feel, don’t let it show” and is truly scared of letting people in. I was able to empathize with Elsa, she almost is me but with a little extra magic; that just added an extra triumph to her story.

There are so many other fantastic characters in Frozen but I won’t spoil the film (not that that’s possible) by telling all. Frozen is an exciting story of hope and love, and I loved it so much I watched it twice and would watch it again in a heartbeat.

The music in Frozen is absolutely wonderful, I’ve been listening to tracks on Youtube every day since watching the movie! Every song has a fantastic feeling to it, giving you the opportunity to feel the emotions of the characters. I wasn’t a fan of ‘Fixer-Upper’ though, it’s a good song that is very catchy but just not really my ‘thing’.

In all, Frozen was a wonderful film and I wouldn’t hesitate to watch it again! (Do you think the cinema would let me in to the KidsAM viewing at the age of 20..?)

(Trivia: The characters of Hans, Kristof, Anna and Sven are all named after Hans Christian Andersen. Say the names quickly in sequence and hear the similarity.)

WHAT IS MY RATING?

I would give Frozen a whopping five stars. This is an exciting film suitable for all ages and will leave you in a fantastic mood.

I would recommend this to all ages, honestly, don’t write it off as ‘just a kids film’, it really is great for all ages!

Age Rating: PG

If you enjoyed watching Tangled (2010) or Wicked (West End Show) you will love this!

WHERE CAN YOU GET IT?

Frozen is not yet available to buy, but you can see it in your local cinema. (Unless your local cinema isn’t showing it anymore, like mine…)

I believe the DVD will be available to buy around April/May time.

You can find out more about Frozen here: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2294629/

Watch the trailer here:

For a change, I decided to write a film review for you while sticking with the dystopic theme that I’m enjoying at the moment what with my book reviews for Divergent and Matched. I watched Equilibrium a few years ago and recently decided to watch it again. I love the concept behind it so thought I show you all this somewhat under-rated film.

“In the first years of the 21st century, a third World War broke out. Those of us who survived knew mankind could never survive a fourth; that our own volatile natures could simply no longer be risked. So we have created a new arm of the law: The Grammaton Cleric, whose sole task it is to seek out and eradicate the true source of man’s inhumanity to man – his ability to feel.”

Equilibrium is a stand-alone film based in a dystopian world –which is futuristic but based at the beginning of the 21st Century– in which human emotion is prohibited. In order for the government to rid the world of war they decided to create a ‘cure’ for emotion. Anything that facilitates emotion like books, music or even art are strictly forbidden and feeling anything emotionally is punishable by death. Cleric John Preston (Christian Bale) is a top ranking enforcer of this government working with Partridge (Sean Bean) and responsible for eliminating ‘sense-offenders’ (citizens who refuse remove their emotion).

When he misses a dose of Prozium –the cure for emotion– he becomes confused as to why the government feels that ridding the world of rage is worth ridding it of love and happiness. Preson meets a woman (Emily Watson) who helps him to understand what must be done.
Will Cleric John Preson make the right decision?

WHAT DID I THINK?

The concept of this film is one to think about, what does it mean to feel and would the world really be a better place if human emotion no longer existed? I found Equilibrium to be a fascinating film and the casting was fantastic.
I loved the fighting technique used, in Equilibrium we see the development of a new fictional martial art called ‘Gun Kata‘ (invented by Kurt Wimmer and developed by fight choreographer Jim Vickers) which is based entirely around using firearms. The use of Gun Kata results in visually engaging combat that draws you in.
(Trivia: Kurt Wimmer designed Gun Kata to be smooth and flowing but the choreographer Jim Vickers decided to make it harsher and less soft.)

WHAT IS MY RATING?

I would rate this film four stars. It would have been five but I felt that some scenes seemed unfinished (see below for a spoiler) I loved the twists involved in the story and Bale was a great choice for Preston.

*SPOILER*
The final fight scene is terribly unrealistic, although awesome. Preston walks away with no blood on his white outfit following the violent bloody scene.
*END OF SPOILER*

The concept is fascinating and one that leaves you wondering.
I would recommend this film to older teens and adults. Although the violence is relatively tame in today’s standards there are some scenes that could be distressing and there is some bloody violence at the end.

Age Rating: 15

If you enjoyed watching The Matrix (1999), or The Hunger Games (2012) and Catching Fire (2013) but want something minus the love triangle, you’ll enjoy this.