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YMMV / Frozen (Disney)

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  • Accidental Innuendo:
    • In the Arabic version of "Let it Go", the part where Elsa originally sang, "Let it go/Let it go/That perfect girl is gone" translates to, "It's not coming back/It's not coming back/I've lost my innocence," with the masculine version of "it".
    • This lyric from "For the First Time in Forever":
    Why have a ballroom with no balls?
  • Alternative Character Interpretation:
    • Hans does raise lots of questions due to the way the plot twist is formatted.Does he genuinely like Anna before turning evil at a chance to seize the throne, or is he just using Anna as a pawn the whole time and throwing her away when her use was over? Is he actually being a good person by giving the civilians blankets during the winter, or was it a way to build himself up a reputation as a good guy and hide his true intentions? Does he mirror Anna's Adorkableness to woo her in, or is he truly Adorkable and just happens to be evil? Making the conundrum worse, a lot of people seem to be Distracted by the Sexy and ignore his complete sociopathy, insisting that all he wants is to be a beloved king.
      • A more minor example with Hans: when he pointed the crossbow up, did he not want Elsa dead yet, or did he just know her ice would grab the bolt, and figured a falling chandelier would be a lot more effective?
    • Even This Very Wiki can't decide on whether Elsa is Ambiguously Lesbian. Her lack of a love interest throughout the entire movie (even Hans knew it was pointless to try to woo her, which is why he went for her sister) makes her a Celibate Hero. But the way she hides a secret that she was born with her whole life, finally embracing it and revealing it to the world in her big song, and being happier afterwards makes some people think more than that. Co-Director Jennifer Lee's words on the matter:
    "We know what we made. But at the same time, I feel like once we hand the film over and it belongs to the world, so I don't like to say anything and let the fans talk. I think it is up to them. Disney films were made in different eras, different times, and we celebrate them all for different reasons, but this one was made in 2013 and is going to have a 2013 point of view."
    • For similar reasons, she's also been picked up by the aromantic/asexual community.
    • The Trolls have become subject to this, with people thinking they may be darker than they appear, and their magic may have darker results than shown, as evidenced by the King and Queen's fear of taking Anna and Elsa to them. It probably helps that the trolls in the original story were evil.
    • The Duke of Weselton. His desire to kill Elsa could be interpreted as either religious fanaticism, or maybe it's just his way of protecting the kingdom. Many people seem to think that his concern for the wealth of the Kingdom makes him evil, but upon hearing that Anna has been killed by Elsa, he is clearly horrified that she did such a thing. In the end, he's nothing more than a sneaky businessman.
    • Was Elsa right to tell off Anna for becoming engaged so quickly, or after years of loneliness was she just (somewhat understandably) envious of Anna's chance at happiness, freedom, with someone she loved? Was she a total Hypocrite for scolding Anna for being too sheltered to really know about love when she herself couldn't really know much either?
    • The king and queen. Loving parents who did the best they could in a difficult, tragic situation? Abusive Parents who knew full well what they were doing when they raised Elsa to fear herself? Or, to Take a Third Option, well-intentioned people who did what they thought was best for both their daughters, but ended up damaging them both severely?
  • Americans Hate Tingle:
    • Frozen was ironically not received well in Norway. Initial reviews gave it very low ratings, the general consensus among critics being that of "generic plot and characters" and "forced and obnoxious musical numbers", while one particular review criticized the setting for "not really looking like Norway". It did better with smaller magazines, however, giving it an average 4/6 star rating. Meanwhile, its general target audience, including the president of the Sámi Parliament of Norway, Aili Keskitalo, seem to like it fine, in the end making it more a case of Critical Dissonance.note 
    • It's been further exacerbated with the news that Disney is replacing the Norway-themed Epcot ride "Maelstrom" with a Frozen-themed ride. Park purists and Norwegians are displeased that an attraction meant to honor a real-life country is being replaced with something based on a fictional country.
    • It may also be because Elsa and Anna are much expies of Alk and Ilke respectively from the Norwegian fantasy bookseries Phenomena with Elsa with Ilke's powers. And it even has multiple story elements from all the current main books. So even though Phenomena has reached Stage 6 A, do people remember it in the backs of their heads.
    • The translation was pretty wonky as well with 'Let it go' being translated into 'La den gå', while the direct meaning is "let it go", the word used for "it" in Norwegian has more of a physical meaning than an abstract one, making it sound like "Let that thing go". Mistakes like that made it unpopular among many older viewers.
    • Many also strongly disliked its potrayals of trolls. As trolls according to the fairy tales are supposed to be humanoid monsters who eat people which made them being the surrogate parents of a human just silly to some.
  • Applicability:
    • "Let It Go" can easily be seen as representing any number of personal secrets, and the relief of not having to hide them anymore, with homosexuality being the one most often brought up. Not surprisingly, several young homosexuals reportedly came out after hearing the song, which helped them cope with depression.
    • Some people see Elsa as representing anorexia: she has a secret which isolates her from her family, and is never seen eating.
  • Award Snub: Subverted. The song "Let it Go" lost the Best Original Song Golden Globe Award to "Ordinary Love" from Mandela: Long Walk To Freedom, but won the Oscar for Best Original Song.
    • There are people who feel that other animated works such as The Wind Rises, The Croods, and Ernest And Celestine got snubbed by Frozen for Best Animated Feature. This wasn't helped by some academy voters saying they abstained from voting in this category as they barely saw any of the nominees (but contrary to what many assume, those who actually did vote for Frozen did see most of the other films).
    • Frozen only scoring Grammy nominations in the film-related categories. Especially because the songs nominated for Record of the Year and Song of the Year didn't have near the popularity that "Let It Go" does, and same goes for the soundtrack not being nominated for Album of the Year. Some fans are crying foul on this and feeling the Grammy voters have an "anti-Frozen" bias.
  • Base Breaker:
    • King Agdar and Queen Idun, Anna and Elsa's parents, clearly had the best of intentions for their daughters when they kept Elsa isolated and urged her to keep her emotions in check, but this approach failed to address the problem of her powers and proved counterproductive. Some argue that they did the best with the limited information that they had (which may or may not be Grand Pabbie's fault), while others argue that a good part of the blame for the events in the film (Anna and Elsa being isolated, Elsa not learning to control her powers, Anna being naive and sheltered enough to fall for Hans) lies at their feet and they are terrible parents.
      • On the same note, there are those who believe this was a contrived way of establishing the central conflict of the story by lazy writing poorly disguised as Poor Communication Kills, while others think it fits the narrative just fine, and matches the Fairy Tale tone of the film.
    • Hans. Fans are highly divided as to whether Hans is one of the best or worst villains Disney's made. Those who think he's one of the best generally argue that he's an excellent depiction of a manipulative sociopath and that his reveal is jarring and scary as hell, while those who think he's one of the worst argue that his true nature makes absolutely no sense when some of his previous actions in the film are taken into account, his reveal scene is forced and ridiculously gloaty, and that given Elsa's extremely powerful ice magic, his actual capacity for threat towards the end is unimpressive. It's literally reached a point where the fandom has split into the "Frozen Fandom" and the "Hans fandom" (or "Hansdom," for short.) The two fandoms are constantly feuding to the point where people have deleted their tumblr accounts entirely to get away from all the drama. It's hard to say who's more passionate, his fans or those who despise him.
    • Kristoff is usually well-liked but even some his fans are uncertain if he honestly was a needed character. He's well liked for being a funny, handsome guy but on the opposite side many people feel the story should have focused more on Elsa and Anna as family instead of giving Anna a love interest.
  • Big Lipped Alligator Moment:
    • Olaf’s song, “In Summer.” Olaf sings this apropos of nothing and it never comes up again. It may have been a way to explain why Olaf would agree to help Anna and Kristoff end the eternal winter, since doing so would inevitably kill him. But the song doesn’t move the story forward in any way and is never really referred to again.
    • The Trolls' song "Fixer Upper" is widely accused of Mood Whiplash and criticized for stalling the movie at a highly dramatic point in the plot. It helps that Kristoff and Anna are both seemingly aware of this and the gravity of the situation and are genuinely trying to stop the whole thing, but the two of them just keep getting swept back into it.
      • Then again, Kristoff did mention that he had friends who are "love experts", which foreshadows their Love Freak tendencies...
      • Toward the end of the song, there's a section that has nothing too obvious to do with Anna's future relationship with Kristoff, but seems more applicable to Anna's sibling relationship with Elsa:
      People make bad choices if they're mad, or scared, or stressed,
      But throw a little love their way, and you'll bring out their best.
      True love brings out the best!
      • Watch Anna smile in response to see that's exactly the way she takes it. She's currently in a bit of a rough spot concerning Elsa, so these few words mean a lot to her.
  • Broken Base:
    • This film accumulated mixed reactions even before release day— either people have admired what's been seen of it and are looking forward to it, or have been giving it flak for not using hand-drawn animation as they had hoped, not being a more direct adaptation of "The Snow Queen", for being another Caucasian European princess, for being another Disney film starring princesses, and/or assuming it was going to be a rehash of Tangled just because they have similar art styles.
    • The reveal of Hans as the villain also left many critics split. While some call it an ingenious twist, others point to the Third Act Stupidity once he revealed he was secretly evil after seemingly having no build up and the Batman Gambit of his overall scheme.
    • Kristoff and Anna ending up together. A well-developed romance that subverts the usual Disney tropes or a cheap cop-out that leaves the two of them Strangled by the Red String for the romance between them only fully coming into play during the last act of the film?
    • There was (and still is) a lot of frustration over the representation of Sami culture in the film. Although Kristoff is stated to be one by Word of God, actual Sami people are a lot more diverse in appearance, with some even resembling Siberian or Inuit tribespeople, so some people are angry that Disney opted to give Kristoff stereotypical light skin and blonde hair considering some early concept art depicted him with darker skin. Interestingly, most of the people who feel this way are not Sami themselves. Actual Sami tend to consider the controversy overblown, founded on scientifically and anthropologically dubious premises, or even a a dishonest misrepresentation of the injustices suffered by the Sami people.
    • The prospect of a Frozen world appearing in a future Kingdom Hearts game, which has been covered in countless pieces of fanfiction and fanart at this point, and is looking more and more likely due to the movie's success in Japan. Fans of both franchises love the idea. The reaction among Frozen's detractors and the It's Popular, Now It Sucks crowd is more divided; while some believe that an Arendelle world would help them enjoy the movie more, others think that Frozen is already popping up in too many places (with Once Upon a Time even devoting a half-season to a subplot involving the Frozen characters), and that appearing in Kingdom Hearts would be pushing it.
    • Director Jennifer Lee's comment that Elsa was "meant to portray anxiety and depression" has caused some backlash from people suffering/having suffered from the diagnoses feeling the portrayal is inaccurate, and can even come across as offensive because of the "love is an insta-cure" ending. Other people with the diagnoses disagree, and feel they can genuinely relate to Elsa.
    • The female character designs have also stirred controversy. Notably, while Kristoff, Hans, and each of the other male characters in the film have unique looks, Elsa, Anna and their mother appear to be the same 'Rapunzel' model with different tweaks to it. People will either not see it as a big deal, argue that the makers "didn't have enough time" or consider it "justified" because they're related, while others find it worrying that Disney is apparently setting a standard "beauty-ideal" to their female characters and/or are "getting lazy" designing their females. While this is not a new debate regarding the Disney princesses/females, the switch to 3D characters is what arguably makes the similarities more apparent and receives more criticism as Disney's abilities within animation was more limited 20 to 50 years ago than it is now.
    • Since Frozen's two year run, people have seemed to basically split into two main opinions of the film without necessarily falling into Love It or Hate It territory (though there are those at the end of that scale as well). It's either worthy of all its praise and success and can be compared to the greatness of The Lion King or even Beauty and the Beast, or it's an overrated, flaw-ridden film that didn't reach its true potentialnote  and, while still considered decent, doesn't place higher on people's lists than their Disney's top 20 or 30.
    • The fact that an official Frozen 2 has been announced has some fans all aboard the hype train, while others are wondering if it's just a cash-grab or Disney is forcing a sequel. The team from the first film is returning, and they do seem quite enthusiastic, but the fact that there is a sequel being planned is raising doubts among some fans.
    • There's a vocal group who wish the writers had left Elsa the antagonist of the film. Some say the film has plotholes or feels rushed due to them changing Elsa's role late into development. Others simply think it would have been more interesting if Elsa was Anna's sister gone bad. On the contrast, other fans think that if they had kept the original plot, the film wouldn't have stood out as much.
    • Elsa's reaction to Anna's "death" has many calling it one of Disney's most heartbreaking moments, while others finds it to be Narm, referring to what they feel is "lack of emotion" on Elsa's part given her rather reserved crying. note 
  • Counterpart Comparison:
    • Due in large part to the similar themes of their Signature Songs, Elsa is almost invariably compared to Elphaba, even before taking into account that they were both played by Idina Menzel. Both of their names begin with "El-" and end with an "A", which makes the whole thing even funnier/cuter/more coincidental.
    • Some fans have compared the film with Tinker Bell and The Secret of Wings: both have sisters separated by destiny, a sister with ice powers, a small scale of Apocalypse How, and one sister saving the other with the Power of Love. Even more amusingly, during pre-production, Elsa sported a hairstyle that was very similar to Periwinkle's.
    • Axis Powers Hetalia fans had already started comparing Elsa to Russia before the movie even came out; both are misunderstood outcasts who are associated with ice and snow. Even better, Kristoff and Russia... well, their character designs are very similar. Or better yet, the Scandinavian Nations. Elsa and Norway for example, similar colour templates (both are platinum-blondes with blue eyes and most often associated with the colour blue), both possess magic powers, and one purposefully hides her emotions for years, while the other is The Stoic by default. And they both have a huge soft spot for their little sister/brother, respectively.
    • Similarly, the Danish webcomic artist Humon (of Scandinavia and the World fame) used her characters to represent which characters represent which countries, and what the US thinks about them (with Svaldbard playing Elsa, Norway playing Anna, Denmark playing Hans, Sweden playing Weselton, Sami playing Kristoff, and the Beer Ghost playing Olaf). She also notes that she feels the trolls represent Iceland and Oaken represents Finland (although they don't appear in the picture).
    • Elsa and Rosalina have been compared to each other a lot. Both are blonde "Not princesses" who are often depicted wearing simple yet elegant blue dresses, both have tragic pasts punctuated by loneliness and both are incredibly popular.
  • Crack Ship: Kristoff/Elsa, which is supported by a minority of fans. Kristoff says "Ice is my life!" and is awestruck by Elsa's ice palace. You may think he'll get a chance to bond with Elsa, but no, they don't interact with each other at all in the original movie. What leads him to the very Forgotten First Meeting with the sisters (as well as to his future "family") is fascination of the ice track left by Elsa's passage.
  • Crossover Ship:
  • Die for Our Ship: Kristoff unfortunately suffers from this by Elsa/Anna shippers, even if his relationship with Anna tends to be moved to Platonic Life Partners.
  • Draco in Leather Pants: Prince Hans gets a lot of this. A good portion of his sympathizers ignore the fact that his plans had originally been to woo Anna and kill Elsa so he could be king. They also tend to play up that his childhood may have sucked. Sympathizers also tend to point at his earlier actions and adorkableness, ignoring that a key ability all sociopaths share is being able to fake emotions as well as being able to switch between them rather easily, and that he all but admitted he took the adorkable route because Anna was adorkable and she would thus be able to connect and relate to him all the easier if he played himself that way. This was not helped when a writer for Frozen said that she sees Hans as "a tragic figure because he's a consequence of being raised without love." The book A Frozen Heart only adds to this, showing first-hand how abusive his family is, and implying that he may actually be clinically depressed. There's even a scene with surprisingly blatant self-harm, and that's just in the first chapter!
    • It's even more complicated than that. There are fans who want him to be Easily Forgiven and brush over the bad things he's done, but there are also fans who fully acknowledge his horrible actions but still see potential in him and think he should get a redemption arc, arguing that worse characters than him have ended up making a successful Heel–Face Turn (and it would be keeping with the theme of the movie to have love/friendship heal someone with an abusive past). Then there are the fans who think he should have never been a villain in the first place and blame the writers for making him that way because they "needed a bad guy", arguing that the story could have still worked without him being evil or even with No Antagonist. To top it all off, there are rumors that he might be getting a canon Heel–Face Turn in the sequel - as said by his actual voice actor, no less - making the whole thing even more complicated.
  • Ear Worm: "Fixer Upper", "Love is an Open Door", "Do You Want To Build a Snowman", "Let It Go"... and every other song. Even the soundtrack's demo/outtakes are catchy.
    Honest Trailers: "Get it out! Get it out! Get this song out of my head!".
  • Evil Is Sexy: Sure, Hans may be a complete Jerkass, but he's actually quite handsome and he uses his good looks to his advantage.
  • Fandom Berserk Button: It is Queen Elsa to you!
  • Fandom Heresy: Don't ever say you like Demi Lovato's version of "Let It Go". If you say you like it better than Idina Menzel's version, you will be burned at the stake.
    • On the other hand, if you say you like both, that's OK.
  • Fandom Rivalry:
    • Fans of Frozen seem to have a rather fiery one with fans of The LEGO Movie. And more recently, How to Train Your Dragon 2, especially since people thought that would be Dreamworks' billion-dollar film and it underperformed big-time, at least initially.
    • Frozen and Big Hero 6 fandoms tend to clash often due to people believing that the continued focus on Frozen by Disney overshadowed Big Hero 6 big time.
  • Fanfic Fuel:
    • The cameo by Rapunzel and Eugene during "For The First Time In Forever" has launched a number of Tangled crossovers.
    • Since Elsa and Anna are canonically Royals Who Actually Do Something, a higher proportion of Frozen fanfics are Government Procedurals compared to most other fandoms, with the sisters and Kristoff tackling inner workings of Arendelle's government.
    • The questions that the movie leaves unresolved: Where did Elsa's powers come from? Does having a ruler with magical powers affect Arendelle's international relations? Is Hans really the Black Sheep of his family, or are the rest of the princes from the Southern Isles Always Chaotic Evil? Are there others like Elsa, and if so, will she ever find them?
      • Word of God revealed the reason for her powers later that was going to be included in the film note , meant to be explained in the film itself but was cut. While the canonicity of this proto-canon can be considered debatable (could be related to the winter solstice birth thing or may even be Retconned in the sequel), this is even more Fanfic Fuel, such as the possibility of others with magic powers being born at certain year intervals and/or alignments, or even who the cryokinetic "previous-1,000th year Saturn alignment" before Elsa was — perhaps the original Snow Queen?
  • Fanon: Has its own page
  • Fan-Preferred Couple: Anna/Elsa. Their being sisters has done little to curb fan enthusiasm for this ship. There are however quite a few AU fics/art pieces that portray them as not being related. Which doesn't really help.
  • Faux Symbolism: Some fans (particularily Scandinavian ones) have taken to wonder if Hans and the Duke of Weselton were jokingly meant to represent Denmark and Sweden respectively, both wanting to "take over Norway", which historically Denmark did for more than 400 years before giving the rule over to Sweden for nearly a hundred years. This is also supported by Hans' own name being a Shout-Out to The Snow Queen's Danish author, next to him coming from the "southern islands", while the Duke is Arendelle's "closest partner in trade", the way Sweden is closest to Norway. Whether or not this is an intentional comparison, however, is unknown, though it doesn't stop said fans from having fun with the idea. Danish webcomic artist Humon delves more into it in this article.
  • Foe Yay Shipping: People love to ship Hans with Elsa. Made especially funny now that Elsa is the official 13th member of the Disney Princess lineup, and Hans is the 13th Prince of his kingdom.
  • Friendly Fandoms: Frozen shares many fans of Wicked, due to the similarities between Elsa and Elphaba including both being played by Idina Menzel and having a touching "I Am Becoming" Song, and also fans with Tangled due to being attempts to modernize the princesses and The Cameo for Rapunzel and Flynn in Frozen.
    • It also shares many fans with Kill la Kill.
    • Not to mention the friendship between this fandom and that of Captain America: The Winter Soldier, with Anna and Elsa being frequently depicted as Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes respectively.
    • The Frozen fandom additionally appears to get along with the My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic fandom relatively well, with there being a lot of crossover art.
    • The fandom has formed a bond with the growing Inside Out fandom, including outright sharing many fans, possibly due to both movies containing similar themes.
  • Genius Bonus: At the beginning of the bridge of "Let It Go", Elsa turns clockwise while saying "My power flurries through the air into the ground", with the circular floor beneath her briefly flashing orange to symbolize the formation of a magic circle. She finishes the bridge by saying "I'm never going back; the past is in the past", casting her tiara over her left shoulder, and spinning counterclockwise. People familiar with any of the pagan traditions of northern and western Europe should recognize the core elements of a banishing spell; in this case, Elsa is banishing herself and relinquishing her crown.
  • Germans Love David Hasselhoff:
    • The movie has done extremely well in Japan, where it has the second highest box office rating to the U.S. and the Japanese version of the song "Let It Go" reached number four on Japan Top 100. It's also been number one at the box office there for many consecutive weeks, continuing into June 2014, similar to Titanic in other countries back in the day. It even tied with Spirited Away for the highest number of weeks at number 1! The film has proven so popular with the Japanese that Tokyo Disneyland took a while to introduce a meet and greet for Anna and Elsa, as they were trying to figure out how they would handle the crowds. They've confirmed that there will be a special event themed entirely around Frozen, called "Anna and Elsa's Frozen Fantasy" that will run in early 2015. Additionally, Tokyo Disneyland has also confirmed that they will be building a brand new ride and possibly an entire land for Frozen that will include sights such as Elsa's ice palace, and will be built on a budget of around $500 million. This completely dwarfs Walt Disney World's plans for Frozen, as in comparison their Maelstrom replacement is estimated to have a budget of around $75 million.
    • It's also done really well in South Korea, where it came in right behind Japan in box office numbers and "Let It Go" peaked at No. 1 in Korean music charts.
    • This trope applies to the movie in general. While Frozen has been a huge success in the US, it's thanks to international audiences that it's the fifth highest-grossing movie of all time. In its home country, it's in 19th place, and isn't the highest-grossing animated movie, highest-grossing Disney Animated Canon movienote  or even the highest-grossing 2013 movienote .
  • Girl Show Ghetto:
    • In yet another similarity to Titanic (1997) (see Hype Backlash below), quite a few uninitiated male moviegoers resent Frozen's success due to it being a Disney princess movie, especially when comparing it to other movies intended for their demographic. There's nothing wrong with males enjoying a fairytale movie, but still.
    • Just like Tangled, this is part of the reason for the film's title not being "The Snow Queen"note  and for making Kristoff a major character.
    • However, it breaks out of this ghetto. It seemed that the Disney marketing team, judging by the fact that the commercials for Frozen seemingly focused on Olaf and Sven, instead of Anna and Elsa, in which the film was literally about.
  • Gotta Ship Em All: Perhaps exacerbated by the small size of the cast, fanfictions can be found for every pairing, including large amounts of Anna and Kristoff, Anna and Elsa, Kristoff and Hans, either Anna or Elsa with Hans, and even some involving Olaf, Sven, and Marshmallow.
  • Harsher in Hindsight: In-universe: “Love is an Open Door,” in its first viewing, comes off as a triumphant "I Am Becoming" Song about the Power of Love to heal. Particularly poignant is the line, “Say goodbye to the pain of the past/We don’t have to feel it anymore.” Subsequent viewings, after learning about Han’s true colors, instead reveal the song to be a Villain Song disguised as a love duet. Anna and Hans’ exchange of “We finish each other’s—Sandwiches!—That’s what I was going to say!” goes from being Adorkable to evidence of Hans’ manipulative prowess. The paired singing of “You and I were just meant to be” becomes especially emblematic of the film’s Deconstruction of Love at First Sight. Later viewings demonstrate the song’s wit, but also make it less enjoyable.
  • Hilarious in Hindsight:
    • Elsa forbidding Anna to marry a prince she just met becomes hilariously hypocritical after seeing or/and still remembering Idina Menzel's last appearance in a Disney movie.
    • An animator for Disney wants to see Wicked animated and created an animation for "Defying Gravity". Come a few years later, Idina, the original Elphaba, is voice acting a Disney character who's rather similar to Elphaba. Her character's major song, "Let It Go", is even very similar in both its message and overall sound to "Defying Gravity".
    • Speaking of the film's Signature Song, the last time a rock band used aforementioned words in a song (or even a variation thereof), it's to portray the horrors of nuclear war.* 
    • A lot of fans jokingly blamed the extraordinarily cold winter of late 2013/early 2014 on Elsa's powers. That, or telling Mother Nature that when Elsa said "the cold never bothered me anyway," it wasn't supposed to be taken as a challenge. Never mind that it was mostly the United States and eastern Canada where 2014's winter was exceptionally cold, whereas it was nothing out of the ordinary in Elsa's native Norway.
    • On that note, two sisters of royalty who have a split between them. One is as bright and cheery as the day while the other is mellow and moody like the night. The mellow sister (accidentally) puts an eternal curse upon the kingdom and the cheery sister wants to bond together with her again and they both reconcile in the end. Hmmm...
    • Seeing an entire kingdom/country getting buried in snow with Scandanavian-themed environments and Anna wishing Elsa had "tropical magic" will probably make players of Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze giggle.
    • This is not the first movie to have one of its most famous lines be "Let it go", as well as have one of its main characters be named "Elsa". It's even funnier now that Disney owns the franchise rights to it.
    • This post highlights similarities between Anna and Elizabeth. And what do we learn about Elizabeth at the end of that game?
    • In Meet the Robinsons, Bowler Hat Guy has something to say about "Let It Go"'s popularity.
      • Even funnier is that the person who voiced Bowler Hat Guy voiced Kai in Frozen.
    • The boy in the green coat complaining about having to dress up for Elsa's coronation ("It's not my fault!") bears a strong resemblance to the Onceler ("How bad can I be?").
    • The movie was made by Disney, who previously licensed the DVD releases for the 90s X-Men cartoon. The final season of said series included a two-parter entitled Storm Front, wherein Storm becomes engaged to Arkon, a seemingly affable alien dictator, but Wolverine and Beast consider her acceptance too quick; when Storm refers to Arkon as the man she loves, Wolverine quips, "who you just met."
    • Mel Brooks' Spaceballs, a spoof of a property Disney owned by the time Frozen was released, features its hero saying "Cold never bothers me."
    • This isn't the first time a Disney CGI princess film has shared its name with a thriller film released a few years ago.
      • The other Frozen also has a Bell playing their female lead.
    • Kristen Bell's line in Veronica Mars, "I could believe that birds braided your hair like a Disney princess."
    • Olaf is a white inorganic creature that likes warm hugs. In Big Hero 6, Baymax is a white inorganic creature that gives warm hugs.
    • In one scene of the film, Wandering Oaken tells Anna he can't lower his prices due to the laws of supply and demand. One month after the film's release, the merchandise for the film suffered from this problem for almost half a year.
    • Han's line "I love crazy!". The voice actor is now playing the Hopeless Suitor of the titular Crazy Ex-Girlfriend.
  • Hype Backlash:
    • The popularity of the film has managed to kick up even more Internet Backdraft. Incidentally, Disney themselves tried to head this trope off at the pass by deliberately underselling the movie; see Tainted by the Preview for more on this. As hinted at just below, Frozen has become The New Tens version of Titanic (1997) in this regard, right down to the overexposed Award Bait Song.
    • "Let it Go" is beginning to have a little bit of this, or rather an "Overexposure Backlash". By the time the song won the Academy Award, it was impossible to enter in a video provider (be it YouTube, Blip, Daily Motion, etc.) and NOT find a bajillion versions and covers of the song. This has brought some people to end up hating a song that they considered cute at first, or even great. Think "My Heart Will Go On" all over again 17 years later. Being in a movie marketed toward kids (who love to play things over and over again) increases this effect. It has also attracted some backlash due to its use of a certain four-chord progression well-known for its overuse.
  • Idiosyncratic Ship Naming: Pairing Hans and Elsa has been called "Iceburns", since she has ice powers and he has sideburns. (If you want to get meta about it, the fandom sometimes likes depicting him as having fire powers in contrast to Elsa's ice powers so that could also represent "burns". Plus he's a bad guy and he hurts people, and burns hurt.)
  • Incest Yay Shipping/Les Yay: Anna/Elsa; given the nature of the story, it's not really that surprising, and very little is done to dissuade fans from thinking along these lines. Perhaps best shown by how the act of true love that thaws Anna's heart is that of her sister.
  • Internet Backdraft: The film was backlashed against before it was even released due to people judging its quality and its meta, based on what they saw in previews, interpretations of creator quotes, preferences towards hand-drawn animation, and complaints over gender and race.
    • Those who prefer the hand-drawn style of Disney animation were upset when it was announced that the film, initially announced as their next effort in that vein, would be CGI-animated instead. This was partly in thanks to the success of their newer CGI films like Tangled and Wreck-It Ralph, which were positively received even though they weren't hand-drawn, and partly because they wanted to branch further into a different genre of animation than their usual style. Many people expressed disdain towards the film for not being hand-drawn as they had wanted by leaving complaints like "I miss the old Disney!" and "Go back to hand-drawn animation!" in the comments of the trailers.
    • There was also backlash when the announced plot was shown to be only inspired by the original story, despite Disney animated films routinely altering the plot lines of their source material, hence the trope name Disneyfication. Although Disney does indeed have a history of loosely-made adaptations, "The Snow Queen's" plotline is rather lengthier and meatier than most fairy tales (with a lot more characters and incident), so it came off as odd to toss most of it out the window when it would seem to lend itself well to film. Although this has already been done before with adaptations of complex stories like The Fox and the Hound and The Hunchback of Notre Dame, which were positively received despite the changes they made. The same case apparently happened with this film, as it has garnered critical acclaim regardless of its differences from the original source.
    • Adding original male characters, such as Kristoff joining Anna on her quest, may have been an effort to make the film appeal to boys as well as girls, similar to the approach used in Tangled with Rapunzel and Flynn Rider receiving the relatively same amount of attention. Unfortunately, this gave people the impression that their inclusion was done to make Anna seem more dependent due to her counterpart in the original story, Gerta, taking her journey largely alone. Despite this, much of the focus is still on Anna, and she shows plenty of moments of strength and independence like fighting off the wolves herself, facing her sister alone when they reach the castle, and standing up to Hans by defending her sister from his sword and later punching him in the face. She didn't even need to be rescued by Kristoff in the climax (the creators were originally going to have him defend Anna and Elsa from Hans, but decided against it to make them less dependent on him). In a related case, even though each of them have individual characterizations and strengths, some people have backlashed against this movie for continuing the Disney tradition of having princesses as the female leads, believing the Disney Princess franchise was sending the message of "Girls should only strive to be princesses" (which is unlikely the case, given how most girls grow out of that phase and there are so few princesses in power today) instead of "These princesses have individual strengths and characteristics that girls should admire and follow".
    • The release of the first teaser trailer was a two-minute slapstick short unrelated to the plot that introduced Olaf and Sven. People seemed to think this 2-minute teaser was the full trailer and represented the entirety of what the film was going to be about, not taking into account that 1) the plot announced beforehand was revealed to be more than just about a snowman and reindeer, 2) teasers don't usually reveal much about the story in general and typically feature content not in the actual film, and 3) that this may be a case of Never Trust a Trailer. Many people instantly labelled it as a "dumb kids' film". Thankfully, later trailers were released that revealed more about the plot and proved that it was not just a simple slapstick film about Olaf and Sven.
    • Lino Disalvo, the head of the animation for the film, expressed that he had difficulties with animating the female characters, because he had trouble conveying emotion through facial expression while also ensuring that they were pretty. This description of what audiences subconsciously expect when watching animated characters was widely interpreted as "emotions make women look unattractive, and it's exclusively women who have to look pretty while emoting at all times" instead of a comment on the demands animators have to meet (justly or not).
      "Historically speaking, animating female characters are really, really difficult, ’cause they have to go through these range of emotions, but they’re very, very — you have to keep them pretty and they’re very sensitive to — you can get them off a model very quickly. So, having a film with two hero female characters was really tough, and having them both in the scene and look very different if they’re echoing the same expression."
    • A single short clip (about 1 or 2 seconds long)◊ of an animation slip-up involving Elsa's hair phasing through her arm (albeit hidden by the rest of her body) has become the latest rallying point for the film's Hatedom, causing people to accuse the animators of being lazy hacks. It's probably worth noting CGI vs. hand-drawn/traditional effects causes a Flame War regardless of what movie it crops up in, with many animators and movie fans refusing to accept anything CGI, regardless of quality. (The fact that the snowflakes Elsa summons from her hands in the first chorus of "Let it Go" are all identical has also attracted some flaming, though to a far lesser extent.)
    • When interviews came out about how Oscar academy voters voted for 2014's nominees, it was felt to put a damper on the movie's wins because very few of them cared about animation at all.
  • Iron Woobie:
    • Anna, whose optimism and free spirit is contrasted with her wish to bond with her sister again.
    • Elsa as well. She's lonely and has deep self-esteem issues, but damn, is she awesome.
  • It Gets Better: To some, the film does take a while to get going, as the first half is basically setting up the conflict with Elsa. Not that this is a bad thing, as we get to know the characters some.
  • It's Popular, Now It Sucks: Frozen gets this treatment hard from the young male demographic. Quite a few males enjoy the movie anyway, or at least parts of it.note  However, you're also likely to find men who originally ignored Frozen due to it just being another good-quality Disney princess movie that's not really for them, but began to resent it as it became the colossal juggernaut of a success that it is now. It has Wolverine Publicity and this is especially true of the hit song "Let It Go," as mentioned above.
    • After Big Hero 6 came out, fans noticed Frozen was hogging the movie fame spotlight.
  • It's the Same, Now It Sucks: Due to both having similar art styles and the trailers giving an emphasis on comedy, many assumed that the film would just be a rehash of Tangled, despite no one having seen the film at that point. On the contrary, the film was shown to have a plot and characters that had little in common with Tangled, although a cameo of Rapunzel and Flynn shows that they may take place in the same universe.
  • It Was His Sled: The movie's popularity and the Memetic Mutation of Hans' Wham Line on sites like Tumblr have destroyed the spoiler that is Hans being evil.
  • Jerkass Woobie: Prince Hans if his childhood of being treated as invisible by three of his twelve older brothers is genuine. Which, according to Word of God, apparently is.
  • Just Here for Godzilla: Most people who watch it solely to see Elsa or Olaf, or specific sequences like "Let It Go".
  • Launcher of a Thousand Ships: It would be faster to name those who haven't been shipped with Elsa. As noted above, she's by no means limited to being shipped with characters from her own movie, especially since she's now canonically in Once Upon a Time.
  • LGBT Fanbase:
    • Elsa has quickly garnered a large gay fanbase, mainly because her powers and the need to hide them from society makes a great metaphor. Then there is Idina Menzel'snote  already sizable gay fan base from her roles in Wicked and RENT.
    • To a much lesser, but still noticeable extent, Prince Hans, due to the fact that he's not really in love with Anna and shares Elsa's motif of a hidden identity, as well as the fact that he is named after The Snow Queen's author Hans Christian Andersen (who identified himself as bisexual) and is pretty.
  • Love It or Hate It: Thanks to the Hype Backlash mentioned above, many viewers have unfortunately divided in this respect, whether to "Let It Go" specifically or the film in general. Although for some it is downplayed, since instead of "hating" the song/movie, their reaction to the hype has been So Okay, It's Average.
  • Love to Hate: Prince Hans seriously earns his villain chops with The Reveal, and it's hard not to admire his ruthless, cold-hearted bastardry.
  • Magnificent Bastard: Hans is a big-time contender. When you think about all he does in the movie, you realizejust how much of his actions, many of which seemed heroic and good, actually were done to leave as many options available as possible for him to ultimately take the throne. In the end, he only makes only 1 mistake: despite entertaining the possibility that killing Elsa wouldn't fix things and thus bringing Elsa back so he could ask politely, he went ahead and decided to kill her anyway (though at the point he made this decision, Elsa had admitted she had no idea how to thaw the ice she'd created). Had this failed to fix things, Arendelle would have frozen to death and his victory would be hollow.
  • Memetic Badass: According to the fandom, Elsa can easily beat Gandalf and Voldemort in a fight. And according to certain crossovers, Smaug as well.
    • And fandom could consider Elsa capable of taking on ten or even a hundred men singlehandedly. Something that is considered in Frozen Wight when an angry mob storms the castle. They try to Zerg Rush her, and she single-handedly defeats every last one of the rebels.
    • While Anna has no shortage of badassery in the film, it's a common practice to make Anna a Deadpool-esque Crazy Awesome hilarious badass (who also provides comic relief, in Olaf's absence). This is particularly evident in the Pacific Rim crossover Arctic Rim.
      • This is also the approach taken by Once Upon a Time, where her ordeal with Hans led her to become Arendelle's best sword fighter and even the one who first taught Prince Charming.
    • The straight-out-of-Game of Thrones-comparison is often applied to Hans for his ruthless behavior, including leaving Anna to die and preparing to chop Elsa in half with his sword. He does this all while manipulating events so that he will become the ruler of Elsa's kingdom. A Fandom-Specific Plot generally involves him teaming up with another villain or villains, planning to be The Starscream to them. However, he is Out-Gambitted by the Big Bad, who promptly kills him for both his attempted treachery and the fact that he has served his purpose.
  • Memetic Loser: Character Exaggeration tends to cast Elsa as a socially inept, awkward NEET in modern day fanfics.
  • Memetic Mutation:
  • Mexicans Love Speedy Gonzales: Although this movie was poorly received in Norway, it is very popular with the Sámi peoples. Their president, Aili Keskitalo, approves of its representation of joiking, Sámi style chants, thanks to the title song, "Vuelie".
  • Misaimed Fandom: People like to view "Let It Go" strictly as an empowerment anthem while overlooking the context in which it's sung: Elsa trying to solve her problems by running away from them and shutting herself off from the world. Most of her Hero Antagonist nature comes from recovering from what she did, and realizing that abandoning everyone she loved was exactly the opposite of what she needed to do. Though just like I'll Make A Man Out Of You, it still works at face value.
    • And because of Pandering to the Base, this has become an Ascended Meme - even Disney themselves treat it as her Crowning Moment of Awesome. Dolls and costumed Elsas at Disney itself will happily lead crowds singing it, embracing the exact opposite of the character's point, when Elsa's opinion of letting it go after the events of the film would be closer to My Greatest Failure.
    • The Machigerita Cover of Let It Go treats it as a horrific event, and just by changing the chords, makes it into pretty effective Nightmare Fuel.
      • It is kind of a mixed package. It's clear that holding onto her fear and self-hatred caused a lot of Elsa's problems. However, abandoning responsibility was not the solution. She needed a balance. Those aforementioned sing-alongs usually cut out most of the lines about isolation, and the few that stayednote  could express a refusal to resume living in fear as easily as they do a refusal to return to Arendelle.
    • The film implies that men like Hans are untrustworthy, and even evil, while Kristoff, despite not being perfect, is a really sweet guy who deserves to be given a chance. Ask a lot of fans, however, and they'll tell you they interpreted it in reverse.
  • Moe:
    • Anna. It's like the Disney animators took another look at Rapunzel and said "We can do cuter," and then they did.
    • Elsa also gains moe appeal from her Stoic Woobie qualities.
    • This is naturally taken Up to Eleven at the beginning of the film, where Elsa and Anna play together as kids.
  • Moral Event Horizon: Even if the Duke sincerely believed that killing Elsa will end the winter, him ordering his bodyguards in secret to do the job is nasty on his own part. However, in the end, he proves to still have some shred of human decency (see his entry under Even Evil Has Standards for more), and it's more of an In-Universe MEH crossing than anything, since his attempted act of regicide is strongly implied to be a good part of the reason why Elsa cuts off all trade with his country until further notice.
  • Narm: If you are writing a script that's supposed to be a Deconstruction of a ton of cliches, adding one of the absolute most cliched dialogues of all time and playing it straight may not be a very good idea. It's made worse by the fact it isn't even true; it's as though The Reveal made the antagonist feel the need to suddenly become as cartoonishly evil as possible:
    Anna: "You won't get away with this!"
    Hans: "Ohh, I already have."
    • Not to mention this glorious exchange near the climax of the film:
    Anna: "You're no match for Elsa!"
    Hans: "No, you're no match for Elsa."
  • Narm Charm: Some have viewed Anna's last breath after being frozen to death as this.
  • Nightmare Retardant: Marshmallow's two lines "Go away!" and "Don't come baaack!" makes him sound more like a disgruntled teenager than an intimidating bodyguard. Though its placement on the Nightmare Fuel page indicates a different taste by some.
  • No Yay: Other than the fact that it's, well, incest, many who dislike the Anna/Elsa pairing feel that shipping the two ruins the main message of the film, that platonic/familial love is just as strong and wonderful as romantic love. Shipping the two pretty much ignores that lesson, looping back around to the standard "romantic love is the only love that matters."
  • Older Than They Think:
    • Many claim this is the first Disney film to teach girls not to marry a man you just met (Enchanted), not to rely on a man to save you (Mulan), focus on sisterly love (Lilo & Stitch), or have a strong-willed princess (Brave). All of those have been done in previous Disney Animated Canon movies, often multiple times.
    • Shelly Duvall's Faerie Tale Theatre version of "The Snow Queen" seems to have been an influence on the film. The Snow Queen is also portrayed as being the Big Good, rather than a Wicked Witch like most adaptations, and also makes the Summer Witch her sister (which makes for a similar contrast between Anna/Elsa). Anna herself even bears more than a passing resemblance to Melissa Gilbert, who played Gerda.
    • It's now common to compare almost any "I Want" Song or "I Am Becoming" Song to "Let It Go," nevermind that such songs have been a staple of Disney films and have appeared throughout musical media for decades.
  • One-Scene Wonder: Oaken, the merchant with the store/sauna. His only real significance in the plot is so that we can be properly introduced to Kristoff, but it's a hilarious sequence.
  • Periphery Demographic: While not quite as popular as with the female demographic, Frozen has a ton of male fans too. Elsa's status among that segment of the fandom speaks for itself, and that's not counting the actual content of the movie. Of course, it led to things like this cover of "Let It Go" sung by a man impersonating 22 different Disney and Pixar characters (which even landed him a job at Disney itself), as well as the U.S. Marines' aforementioned singalong.
  • Relationship Writing Fumble: The message of the film is that romantic love isn't the only type of love, and that familial love is just as strong and important. Elsa and Anna are meant to be seen in a platonic, familial sisterly bond. However, the fact that neither Kristoff or Hans get as much screentime with Anna as her sister Elsa does, plus some very awkward merchandise that almost seems to portray Elsa and Anna as a couple, led to Incest Subtext for some and No Yay or Squick for those averse to those kinds of pairings.
  • Rescued from the Scrappy Heap/Trope Enjoyment Loophole: People assumed Olaf would simply be an annoying side character by judging him by what they saw in the previews, but when the movie itself was actually released, many of the critics highlighted Olaf as one of the best characters. It helps greatly that he provides some levity during dark times, gets scarce when the more dramatic moments are there, and has very little screen-time, avoiding "Jar-Jar Binks" comparisons. Olaf's willingness to sacrifice his life for Anna makes him more comparable to Ray the Firefly from The Princess and the Frog; it's just that unlike Ray, he doesn't actually die. There's also the fact that rather than taking the obvious route of having him be the Kid-Appeal Character via silly antics, the film instead (or rather, in conjunction with that) took the fact that his snowlem nature made him Nigh Invulnerable and played it for Black Comedy every chance they got. "Oh, look. I've been impaled."
  • Rewatch Bonus:
    • Watching the film a second time does allow one to connect a few more dots with Hans. Everything about him, from Elsa and Kristoff's wariness of him to the entirety of "Love is an Open Door" (which could be seen as him tailoring himself for Anna to fall into his trap), is an indicator of the power-hungry nature behind his Prince Charming mask.
    • The Disney writers and animators were admirably restrained in foreshadowing Hans' betrayal, considering how broad their villains normally are, but they allowed themselves one moment. It seems funny and innocent on the first watch, and utterly sinister the second: when Anna declares, "I am COMPLETELY ordinary", Hans is a bit too quick to agree.
    • Hans glances up at the chandelier right before he makes the Weselton bodyguard miss his shot at Elsa. One quick glance and he knew exactly where to shoot to make it seem as though he was protecting her, even though the shattering chandelier could have killed her had she not seen it coming.
    • There is a pretty jarring moment just after Anna and Hans first met, when Hans falls to the water and sees Anna leaving while giving a tender, lovestruck smile, even though he's completely alone at that point. Everyone agrees that was a cheat in the narrative. Although see the Alternate Character Interpretation above where it suggests that he might have genuinely liked her before he came up with the plot to kill Elsa, let her die, and take the throne.
  • Ron the Death Eater:
    • Elsa and Anna's parents come in for some of this, with some accusing them of neglect and even, as in this article, abuse of their daughters. While it can't be denied that their efforts to help Elsa with her condition ultimately do more harm than good and we don't often see them interacting with Anna, thus leading to the suggestion that their concern for Elsa leads them to focus on her more than Anna, the movie also clearly suggests that they are nevertheless loving and devoted parents who are clearly loved in return by their children. That said, some people are understandably upset at the lack of emphasis the movie places on the harm they did to their children, whatever their intentions were.
    • The trolls are also the target for this, accused of everything from intentionally stoking the fears of Elsa and her parents to brainwashing Hans into becoming evil (at range without apparently ever meeting him) so Kristoff can make off with Anna.
    • Hans himself, when not given the leather pants treatment, often gets his evilness exaggerated to the point that he becomes a cackling, Obviously Evil psychopath like most Disney Villains. This is ignoring the fact that what made Hans such an interesting and terrifying villain was the fact that, unlike the Duke or Elsa (who were respectively blatant and misguided about their less-than-moral actions), his villainy wasn't obvious from the start and that part of his appeal is that he isn't like the standard Disney villain.
      • Hans also gets hit with a more frustrating variant of the this trope when his villainous arc is placed in the larger context of the whole Disney franchise. A popular Tumblr image featuring a screencap of Hans raising his sword preparing to deliver a killing blow to a hero seems to indicate that this is one of the most heinous acts in any Disney film, and that the character's villainy is unparalleled among Disney characters. Whether the character is a great villain is a matter of taste, but there's no denying that he's comparatively smalltime compared to some Disney villains who went for straight-up omnicide in their stories (Ursula, to give just one example) and in fact the character would be in a very distinguished minority among Disney villains if he went the whole film without making a direct, purposeful attempt to kill somebody.
    • Elsa/Anna and Hans/Anna pairings initially did to Kristoff, morphing him from his canon characterization into a Bastard Boyfriend Jerkass as a pretext for a breakup with Anna and her subsequently becoming available for new relationships. This has not been universal, and, when the character became popular, many authors chose to make them Platonic Life Partners instead.
    • Elsa herself gets this sometimes even on This Very Wiki. Some don't see her lashing out at the Duke of Weselton's guards as an act of self-defense, when in fact they drew first blood, not her, so they had it coming. Only the intervention of Hans saved them, though, so you can probably see where those fans are coming from.
  • Ship-to-Ship Combat: HansxElsa vs Jack FrostxElsa. This has gone as far as fans spamming comment sections of "Helsa" or "Jelsa" pages on deviantArt about how their ship is "the true ship."
    • And then there's the Elsanna, which tends to be dominant in written fanwork, while Jelsa is more dominant in visual fanwork. Helsa fans just can't compete in sheer numbers, though they often bury the hatchet with Jelsa fans to 'team up' against the Elsanna fandom.
  • Shocking Swerve: The revelation that Hans was Evil All Along is completely out of left field for first-time viewers, but also see Rewatch Bonus above.
  • Signature Scene/Signature Song: The "Let It Go" sequence is the most well-known, beloved, and parodied scene of the film. It being legally freely available to the public on YouTube helps its ability to be mass-shared a good bit.
    Honest Trailers: From the studio that finally learned how to make Pixar movies, and the songwriting duonote  behind "Hasa Diga Eebowai", comes the feature-length music video for "Let It Go".
  • Spiritual Licensee: As this pic◊ shows, to the 90s anime version of Sailor Moon R.
  • Squick: Yes, it's a Running Gag in which Kristoff eats a carrot after Sven has already taken a bite out of it, a big slobbery bite, already contaminated with reindeer saliva.
  • Stoic Woobie: Elsa, whose emotionless, reserved, and introverted behavior is contrasted with her genuine desire to be a better person.
  • Suspiciously Similar Song: Go listen to "Let It Go", then go listen to "Defying Gravity". Heck, the song was actually written with Idina Menzel in mind.
  • Tainted by the Preview: Initial American ads put emphasis on the comedic and silly side of the film rather than its dramatic story, leading many people to believe that Frozen would be just some silly kids' film. This wouldn't be the first time advertising for a Disney flick did that, though. Later trailers resulted in prospective viewers' opinions growing more positive. The third trailer, released in October and focusing on Elsa's character and story arc has met with the most excitement so far. Some early reviews also hyped up the excitement by comparing the film's quality to Disney Renaissance films like Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King.
  • Testosterone Brigade: Elsa has a gradually increasing number of fanboys (and even some fangirls), due to her Sexy Walk, blonde hair, and her legs.
    • And 50% of the male comments on the official "Let It Go" video are somewhere among the lines of "WORK THOSE THIGHS!", "DEM HIPS!", "You go, girl!", "DAT BOUNCE!", or some utterly horrible Pun on how their "hot love" will thaw Elsa's "ice cave."
    • This video outright says "That chick from Frozen is hot!"
  • They Changed It, Now It Sucks: As mentioned above, some of the changes done in development caused this early on. Elsa's final design was decried as awful by fans of the early concept art with the more antagonistic-looking, long-haired design.
  • They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: Not necessarily a character, but the actor. As a character, Kristoff is fine and well-used. But a few people found it odd that they hired Jonathan Groff- a seasoned Broadway and Glee veteran with an amazing voice- for a Disney musical, and then didn't have Kristoff sing that much. The songwriters seemed to feel the same, as they said that if they get the chance to work on the Broadway musical, they hope to fix that. The official movie sequel might get Kristoff more song time.
  • They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot:
    • For all her popularity, there are still fans (and some non-fans) who wish Disney had stuck with their original idea of making Elsa the villain, possibly making for a more compelling drama of Anna wanting to find and save her sister despite the latter's antagonistic acts (which is what would result in her Heel–Face Turn). In the end, the producers realized when "Let it Go" was made that Elsa worked better as a misunderstood character than as a villain and scrapped the idea, much to the disappointment of said viewers.
    • There are also some who think that Hans should have been revealed as the villain earlier in the film instead of waiting until the final act, and that there wasn't a chance to reveal more behind his motivations and explain the reasoning behind his actions throughout the film. A few are also disappointed in the lack of him getting a proper Villain Song other than "Love is an Open Door".
    • Just how bad is the impact of Endless Winter on Arendelle? The movie only showed a few scene about it and it seems people are still freezing even if they're inside a room. The reason why there are zero casualties (read: None of the Arendelle people is freezing to death, at least not onscreen) from it is probably because it is Scandinavia, where the people are more getting used to cold weather. But still, what the movie managed to show mostly regarding this is its effect for major characters.
    • In the ending, is Elsa really Easily Forgiven by her people? It seems people of Arendelle in the ending are impressed with her ice powers and they enjoy seeing her display the good side of her powers. But this shouldn't be used to represent the entire people of Arendelle. It's unfortunate the ending doesn't show if there were some people, even if how few they are, who are still afraid of her. Even if Elsa is their queen, some of them must have still remembered that she unintentionally almost cursed them with Endless Winter that can potentially kill them had it not stopped. Many a fanfic has gone on to expand on the idea that even if Elsa stopped this winter by herself, there will be people who share the Duke of Weselton's prejudices against those with magic and try to kill her as a result.
  • Tough Act to Follow: A lot of movies across the world (e.g. Maleficent) were waylaid by Frozen's success. It might partly count as "Tough Merchandise To Follow", given how Disney's next entry in the Animated Canon, Big Hero 6, which received great reviews and currently holds an equal rating with Frozen on Rotten Tomatoes (while exceeding Frozen's rating of 7.7/10 on IMDb with a score of 8.1/10), is largely neglected by Disney themselves in terms of promotion, merchandise and focusing on the film's success, while they're still keeping a commercial focus on Frozen.
  • Trailer Joke Decay: "It's like a little baby unicorn..." when Olaf gets his nose for the first time but only a little is sticking out. Almost every trailer shows it.
  • Ugly Cute: Olaf is a very cute, if somewhat oddly shaped, snowman. Also the trolls, while they are literally stone, are also considered very cute.
  • Unnecessary Makeover: Subverted: While important to the story in an Expository Hairstyle Change sort of way, there is a minority of the fanbase who prefers Elsa's Prim and Proper Bun and Coronation Gown to her iconic appearance, so it's seen as "not as appealing" more than "unnecessary".
  • Vocal Minority: Backlash to the movie's hype has reached about as far and wide as the movie itself, even on this very site, but it's far more likely to find someone who is either a fan of it or is neutral towards it.
    • Frozen has gathered a sizable Hate Dumb (of the Fan Hater and Obsessed Hater variety, with perhaps some Bandwagons) on Tumblr such as groups like "Melting Frozen" and "Anti-Freeze Team", but the vast majority of those who don't like the movie or are neutral to it have no such attitude and will be perfectly respectful.
    • This applies for the Fan Dumb just the same - early 2014, posts went around saying how it was apparently the first Disney movie to have strong female characters, to play with/avoid the concepts of Love at First Sight and Fourth Date Marriage or to focus on non-romantic love. This became Snark Bait even to the rest of the Fandom.
  • What an Idiot:
    • Grand Pabbie: Using images in smoke and cryptic words to warn of the dangers Elsa would face, making it seem to Elsa and her parents as if it was other people's fear of her that would destroy her. This does nothing but encourage Elsa's fear of people getting close to her; even if she doesn't hurt them, they may very well hurt her. Heck, he even seemed to have thought it was a good idea to show nine-year-old Elsa that hateful, prejudiced people would try to kill her because of her powers. Why? Your guess is as good as ours.
    • After Elsa runs away, Anna immediately goes to go look for her... in a sleeveless dress in the middle of a snowstorm. Understandably it's important to find Elsa before she gets too far away, but Anna couldn't take the time to put on anything heavier than a cloak? She's lucky to have found Wandering Oaken's Trading Post & Sauna, or else she would have frozen to death after falling into the creek. Though, as her childhood shows, being reckless and impulsive, and acting before she thinks, is a big part of Anna's character.
    • Arendelle's royal council. They unconditionally accept the word of someone who's been in their country less than a week when he says that Anna has frozen stiff, and that they said their wedding vows right before she took her last breath. They never send anyone to collect the body, and they never point out that the marriage has no legal meaning without witnesses and someone presiding over it. They just go along with everything Hans says, including when he tells them that Elsa has to be executed. Sure, she scared them with the whole eternal winter thing, but that doesn't explain why they didn't check out his story at all and let him take over despite him having absolutely no claim to the leadership of Arendelle. Or no one pointing out that, depending on how Arendelle's political structure works, Elsa can't be executed without a trial.
    • Hans leaving Anna alive after The Reveal. He says he's already gotten away with it... which is far from true. This winds up being his undoing. Even if he hadn't accounted for Olaf's interference, if anyone found her before she died (a concerned maid or attendant, for example, or if anyone on the ruling council wanted to see her), or Anna had managed to write a note saying "I was murdered by Prince Hans of the Southern Isles," it would've destroyed his claims. For someone so devoted to keeping up the facade he really clutched the Villain Ball. If he really wanted to get away with it, he should've waited a couple minutes until she froze stiff before he left the room, or simply killed her himself. Instead he leaves her alive, so she predictably ruins his plans.
    • The King and Queen of Arandelle. After being shown an image of what would happen if Elsa doesn't learn how to control her powers, they make the brilliant decision to close up the palace, fire most of the staff and isolate Anna from Elsa, creating a perfect breeding ground for the social anxiety Elsa feels. Granted this could've been a knee-jerk reaction but still...
  • Win Back the Crowd: In a sense. Though Disney had already been steadily doing this right around the time of Bolt and The Princess and the Frog, there was still a lingering feeling amongst many that it was still caught under the shadow of Pixar. After more or less finishing the job with Tangled and Wreck-It Ralph; it's here that what little doubts remained were blown away, and just about every critic out there is on the bandwagon that Disney is indeed back, and they're finally catching up with today's kids.
  • The Woobie: Anna. Elsa's the obvious candidate, yet if given a bit of thought she's not any less of one. While Elsa was able to find her own way of dealing with her feelings and later was able to express them without restraint, Anna was the one that had to keep up a brave face throughout the whole film. It's entirely possible Elsa received more attention than she did, and though played as a quick joke, the idea of a child being so lonely she starts talking to the castle portraits is pretty sad. Is it any wonder the happiest day of her life is simply being able to socialize with others and why fell for Hans so quickly?
  • Woolseyism: This being a Disney movie, you can expect to find lots of great adaptations of the script to most languages, often coupled with a Superlative Dubbing for good measure.
    • European Spanish:
      • The first time she meets Hans, Anna lets slip a "You're gorgeous. Wait, what?". The Spaniard scripts goes a tad further and translates it as "¡Estás cañón!"note , which is Spanish kid-friendly slang for "You're smoking hot!"... Yeah, you can see where this is going.
      • Olaf's "Oh, look. I've been impaled." line, which was sightly changed as "Eh, mirad. Soy un pincho moruno." (Hey, look. I'm a brochette.) However, this was made so it rhymed with Olaf's previous line, which coupled with the delivery of Olaf's Spaniard voice actor Miguel Antelo, made the line absolutely hilarious.
      • Marshmallows aren't very well known in Spain, so they changed the giant snowman's name to the better-known word "Merengue" ("meringue"), which is perfectly fitting.
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