[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PViN_jXs1w8]
Frozen: Collector’s Edition
DVD/Blu Ray Release: March 18, 2014
Release Date: November 27, 2013
Cast: Kristen Bell, Idina Menzel, Jonathan Groff, Josh Gad, Santino Fontana
Director: Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee
Studio: Disney
Distributor: Disney
Genre(s): Comedy, Musical, Family Drama, Fantasy, Children
Extra Feature Rating: ★★★★☆
Rating: ★★★★★
Review Spoilers: N/A for the movie, Moderate for the Special Features
Amazon | IMDB | Wikipedia
Can anything really make Frozen better than it is already? I mean, the online outpour of love and support for the film has been phenomenal. “Let It Go” has been covered so many times you could spend days on YouTube watching different renditions and never once be disappointed. But Frozen them movie is so absolutely flawless that you may notice I’ve changed my initial rating for the film from four stars to five. It’s pretty much flawless, right? It’s the only movie that I think everyone at Nerdophiles can say they absolutely love (since Alexx didn’t like Pacific Rim and we continue to hate him for it).
So, honestly, what could make it better?
Easy: the DVD/blu ray release.
Now, there aren’t that many special bonus features on the blu ray disc but the ones that absolutely fantastic. They basically had me hooked from the first second of the Making of Frozen featurette started.
The Making of Frozen
You’re going to need to be sitting down when this feature starts because, honestly, if you’re not you may fall down laughing so hard you’re crying. The whole first chapter of the Making of Frozen is a musical piece introduced by Jonathan Groff and Josh Gad. It’s three minutes of absolute hilarity. Kristen Bell and various others involved in the project appear and they dance their way across the Disney studios. And the end is probably the absolute best pay off ever. I’m not going to spoil it, though!
D’frosted: Disney’s Journey From Hans
Christian Andersen to Frozen
As many people know, Frozen was not the first time that Disney had considered adapting a something based on the original Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale, the Snow Queen. This short special feature takes us through the history of Disney’s fascination with the story: including a Disneyland ride designed by animator Marc Davis back in 1977 and a 1945 animated feature meant for a Hans Christensen Andersen film that never came to fruition. The similarities in the final film and the initial ride design were actually quite incredible considering the people behind Frozen had apparently never seen them before well after they had begun working on the film. Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee spoke with how the history of Disney was full of interest in Hans Christen Anderson but how the stories were largely set aside in favor of others until the Little Mermaid and now Frozen. They also joked with Davis’s widow, Alice (who had worked on costuming the original It’s a Small World ride) that if they had known about it they would have been done with the film years earlier! It’s a great little video and the artwork Marc Davis created for the Snow Queen ride is absolutely gorgeous.
Deleted Scenes
My favorite part of every blu ray release is the deleted scenes. I love them. I think it’s such an incredible part of a final release and it’s interesting to hear why the scenes were cut or altered. On the Frozen blu ray there are four deleted scenes. One is a scene with Elsa as a far more evil character which was the original intent of the adaptation long before they decided Elsa was far more interesting when she was more than just a villain. She attacks some soldiers who are on the mountain looking for Anna and then attacks them with an army of snow monsters. Which, admittedly, is kind of awesome. Like… AWESOME.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utAwhtPlx8c]
Another scene focuses on Anna and Elsa as sisters just sharing clothes and having a very sisterly moment between one another. This seems to be before Elsa became a total shut in after their parents died. It’s super cute and if you’ve got a sister you totally get it. There’s also a couple of scenes with Kristoff that were ltimately changed. One takes place months after Elsa left and before Anna went after her. Kristoff’s first appearance in this version came when he came to collect a reward for news about Elsa. A second introduction to Kristoff has him all burly and ice climbing some mountain before hoisting up Sven on their way to Arendelle for the coronation.
Pretty much makes this release worth it. I do wish they had animated some of the cut scenes and songs that were released on the deluxe soundtrack release but these will just have to do.
Music Videos & Original Trailer
Also included in the special features are a series of “Let It Go” music videos including the Selena Gomez version from the film credits, a Spanish and an Italian verison both sung by Martina Stoessel, and a Malaysian verison sung by Marsha Milan. I wish they had included the multi-language version of the full scene that was releasd on YouTube. If you haven’t seen it you totally should.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OC83NA5tAGE]
They also included the original trailer in the special features is nice.
“Get A Horse!”
Lastly, the blu ray release includes the Disney animated short, “Get A Horse!” which aired in theatres before Frozen. I thought it was adorable and I’m glad that I can rewatch it again because it was a lot of fun. A Steamboat Willy styled Mickey Mouse and his friends battle against Pete in 2D and 3D as they jump in and out of the screen. I mean, it’s no Paperman but it was cute all the same.
Final Thoughts:
I mean, do I really need to convince you to buy Frozen on DVD or blu ray? I think pretty much everyone already is going to so really I’m just here to validate your choices. I will say, though, that with all of the awesome features that were posted on the official Disney YouTube pages I really wished those would have wound up on the actual final release. They did so many awesome making of features and videos and it would have been nice to have those in hardcopy. (Or at least a plug for them at the end of the ‘Making of Frozen’ song.) Still a must have release even without them, though. I mean. It’s Frozen. But… it would have been better with some of the YouTube videos making on to the disc.
Also, if you have any Disney Infinity fans in your household the Internet has told me that Walmart will have an exclusive bundle pack with the Anna figure so, that’s kind of awesome!
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