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Case Study: Can you please read this and answer my questions st the bottom DAN SCHINDEL In this movie review, Dan Schindel writes a negative critique of Frozen, one of the most popular and profitable movies of 2013. He focuses on the inconsistencies and even some of the hypocrisies of a Disney princess film that tries to break out of the genre. Watch how he highlights the weaknesses of the movie, according to him, while praising its strengths. Disney is in a strange place with its animated features, especially when it comes to fairy tales. In some ways, the studio is still struggling in a post-Shrek world, trying to figure out how to sell unironic sentimentality like dreams and true love to a more cynical audience. At the same time, the studio has become more corporately controlled, and everything is constantly focus-tested and second-guessed. As a result of this schizoid approach to filmmaking, many aspects of Frozen feel uncertain. The story takes place in the kingdom of Arendelle, where the royal castle is sealed off from outsiders. Princess Elsa (Idina Menzel) possesses magic ice powers that are triggered by emotion. As a child, she almost killed her younger sister Anna (Kristen Bell) with these abilities, so she forgoes all human contact in order to keep her family safe. When the time comes for Elsa's coronation as Queen, the castle is opened for foreign digni-taries. This thrills Anna, who has felt stifled during the years of seclusion. She immediately fails head over heels for the visiting Prince Hans (Santino Fontana), and the two become engaged after a few hours (and one musical number) of courtship. When they break this news to Elsa, she loses control and exposes her magic. Ashamed, Elsa runs away to the mountains, unknowingly casting all of Arendelle into a thick, unseasonable winter. Anna goes after her, picking up a few friends along the way: eccentric ice vendor Kristoff (Jonathan Groff), his reindeer companion Sven, and animate snowman Olaf (Josh Gad). 596 Disney has been trying to adapt Hans Christian Andersen's The Snow Queen since the 1940s, never quite able to make it work. Writer/ director Jennifer Lee and co-director Chris Buck solved the problem by not actually adapting the book at all. The film has nothing in common with the original tale beyond a queen who controls snow. It's appropriate that the title was changed to the supremely generic-sounding Frozen, since the film doesn't have anything on its mind beyond the well-worn tropes of True Love, Friendship, and Believing In Yourself. There are a few positive elements. The voices actors all do nice jobs in bath the emoting and singing departments, and there are a few terrific emotional beats along with a generous amount of good humor. Anna is a great protagonist-capable, smart, and awkward in a way that's (mostly) endearing and not too cutesy. And then there's Elsa, who is dealing with things Disney characters normally don't face, even if her site-tion feels like an X-Men riff (in keeping with recent trends, her ice tricks play a lot more like superpowers than any kind of magic). A better version of this film would focus more on her, the movie falters whenever Elsa isn't present, and we only get one-and-a-half Idina Menzel musical performances, which I'm pretty sure is criminal. Frozen is stuck between playing its cliched themes straight and trying to subvert them. Like Enchanted, it tries to have its cake and eat it too. Making fun of "love at first sight" doesn't change the fact that a whole song was sung about it. Pointing out that an obvious bad guy's name sounds like "weasel" does not redeem the use of a blatantly obvious bad guy. The movie goes for both "traditional" and "hip," most evident in the jarringly modern, Broadway-lite style as the films from Disney's Whedonesque patter of the dialogue. "renaissance" in the early '90s. There are a few On occasion, though, the film pulls it off. memorable songs, and most of them are well- Kristoff holds "conversations" with Sven in integrated into the story, propelling the narrative which he performs a silly voice for the reindeer. forward or illustrating the characters' emotional It's a clever twist on the talking animal sidelick. states in a dynamic way. For example, the Olaf, despite being entirely toyetic, is a non- lyrics and melody of "Do You Want to Build a Snowman" annoying presence, his comic relief wackiness are simple and unflashy, but the buoyed by Gad's enthusiasm. piece is effective because it organically conveys Frozen does its best to overcome traditional the passage of time and the growing gulf archetypes, but doesn't go far enough. It centers between Anna and Elsa as they age. It also helps that the movie has a decent amount of songs on a sibling relationship rather than a romantic (Tangled had four. You call that a musical?), one, but the interaction between Anna and Elsa is which are spaced evenly throughout the run- too limited. Even more frustrating is how nothing time. The only thing it lacks is a proper finale that happens to the characters on their journey number. impacts their development at all. When Elsa first The best song in the film is "Let It Go," in runs off, she seems to embrace her powers, and which Elsa expresses her exhilaration at being while this loss of inhibition thankfully doesn't sig. able to freely use her abilities for the first time nal her transformation into a villain, it also in her life. It's an Idina Menzel power ballad, so doesn't change her in any other meaningful way. of course it's great. Another standout is "For the Much of Frozen is reminiscent of Tangled, a First Time in Forever," which is sung ably by Bell and gets a nifty reprise later on as a duet with similarly pleasant but ephemeral experience. Menzel. Other critics have professed love for The bicker-banter relationship between Anna Gad's "In Summer," but I can't recall a single and Kristoff is beat-for-beat a retread of the one line of it. The soundtrack was written and com-between Rapunzel and Flynn, and Sven might as posed by Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-well be the horse Maximus. Worse, though, is Lopez, who are collectively responsible for the that the animation looks nearly the same as it did music of Avenue Q, The Book of Mormon, and in the former film. A lot of computer-animated 2011's Winnie the Pooh. The fact that such films featuring humans are nigh indistinguish- talented people produced such a mixed offering able, and this is no exception. It looks pretty, but of songs is a tad disappointing. technical prowess is not a substitute for true Frozen is nice, and that's all. It's born out of artistic ingenuity. warring needs to both play things safe and be As a musical, Frozen is much more success- 10 truly bold, so while it's never outright bland, it ful than Disney's other recent attempts to revive lacks staying power. There's nothing new here, the format, capturing the same feeling and but it accomplishes the old inoffensively enough.

Question 1 Where and how does the writer state their purpose? (It may not be stated directly, but indirectly.)

Question 2 What is the thesis statement of the review (Many times, the thesis will reveal the expectations/criteria on which they based their review. In any event, the thesis states the point that the review will support.)?

Question 3 What strategy does the writer use to provide a description or a summary of the subject? Chronological description? Feature-by Feature description? Or, some other way? Provide an explanation and examples of how they achieved this.