My initial plan of action was to watch a different movie every weekday, but due to my TV not working and general laziness, that didn't happen. I only watched two movies, and that's okay. I'm gonna reflect on both of them, but not one of the overly long breakdowns I have done in the past. At the end of each segment, I'll rank each movie out of ten and recommend them if I feel they deserve such.
Movie #1: Frozen II
I liked the first Frozen, but I thought it was incredibly overrated. It was good, but not the best movie ever created like so many people at that time would tell you, and I'll always prefer Tangled to it. However, I decided to get the second movie on Monday and watched it that night. I'm not sure how it compares to the original Frozen in terms of quality, but I think there is a lot to enjoy about this one!
First of all, I really loved the animation. It's up there with Into the Spider-Verse and Moana as one of the most visually appealing animated movies I've ever seen. I already thought the original had gorgeous animation, but this movie takes it up a notch with the stunning pink flames and the autumn leaves. I also really liked the character design, which is basically a more dignified way for me to say that I thought Elsa looked gorgeous with her hair down.
I thought the music was fantastic. I'm not sure if any of the songs will end up being the cultural juggernauts that "Let It Go" and "Do You Want to Build a Snowman" were, but I didn't really think any of the songs in this movie were outright filler. The closest thing we had to filler was probably Olaf's song, "When I Am Older," but I'd still say it was better than, like, "Fixer Upper" from the first movie. My favorite songs were "Into the Unknown," "Show Yourself," and "Lost in the Woods." "Into the Unknown" and "Show Yourself" are these huge belting showcases for Idina Menzel, and I prefer both of them to "Let It Go." And "Lost in the Woods," Kristoff's big number, is this almost 80s rock-style song that put a gigantic smile on my face the entire time.
The story really helped with the worldbuilding for this series, but it was confusing in some parts. I'm not entirely sure what the whole deal was with the rivalry between the Northuldra and the Arendellians. I think they were two ancient peoples, one of which raised the girls' mother and one of which raised their father. I might just be really stupid, but I didn't get why this aspect of the story needed to be fleshed out. I did like the whole deal with the Water, Earth, Fire, and Air spirits. Especially the fire spirits, who were represented by an adorable salamander friend.
I'm tempted to say that between Olaf and Sven, this movie doesn't really need any more animal sidekicks, but this salamander was quite honestly my favorite part of the movie. Its name is Bruni and it is precious and must be protected at all costs. Dare I say this little dude comes close to Pascal, the lovable chameleon in Tangled, when it comes to adorable lizards in Disney movies? I want five little salamander friends.
Overall, I enjoyed Frozen II and would give it an 8/10. I did feel like the plot was a little garbled in some areas, but it gave me a lot of what I wanted- new tunes to sing at the top of my lungs, gorgeous animation, and a new adorable critter to squee over. I hope that if they make a Frozen III, they expand more on how Elsa got her ice powers, because I sort of expected them to do that in this movie, but they didn't. But mostly I hope that if they make a Frozen III, we get a short film of Bruni being an adorable little rapscallion.
Movie #2: 13 Going on 30
I decided to watch this one because in the music video for "thank u, next," Ariana Grande paid homage to four classic chick flicks: Mean Girls, Legally Blonde, Bring It On, and this one. I hadn't seen any of the movies until recently so I've sort of made it a goal to watch them all. I already saw Mean Girls in my sociology class (loved it, it was everything I wanted it to be), and I have the DVD for 13 Going on 30 but never got around to watching it. I watched it on Tuesday and I really loved it!
This movie is about Jenna Rink, a 13-year-old girl during the 1980s who wishes that she could flash forward to being 30 years old. She wakes up and finds that she is 30, living in New York by herself, being a fashion magazine editor, and essentially living the life her 13-year-old self would have dreamed of. The first thing I have to praise with this movie is Jennifer Garner's performance as Jenna. She does such a great job of capturing a teenager being thrown into the real world, and much of the movie's best gags come from her trying to adapt to her new world. I especially liked when her hockey-player boyfriend tried to strip for her and she was horrified.
I really liked the movie's theme of how you shouldn't wish away your glory days. At the beginning of the movie, Jenna is close with her best friend, Matty, but when she turns 30, she learns that their friendship didn't last after high school. She learned that she became one of the popular girls she always yearned to be, but it came at the cost of losing Matty. I really liked the chemistry between Jennifer Garner and Mark Ruffalo as Matty, and I thought they both did a really good job in their roles. Speaking of Mark Ruffalo, it kind of blew my mind that this movie had two Avengers actors in it: not only was there Ruffalo (aka the Hulk), but Brie Larson (aka Captain Marvel) was one of the popular girls at the beginning of the movie! It's a small world after all.
Finally, I really liked the social commentary this movie provided. In one of the scenes, the fashion magazine Jenna works for is struggling, so she and her friend Lucy compete to see which of their ideas will lead to the magazine's rebranding. Lucy's idea is "Fashion Suicide," which is "heroin-chic taken to the next level", overall just kind of gross, and it's presented as such. Jenna's idea, on the other hand, is to team up with Matty and show some everyday people. She even says that she doesn't want to see supermodels she doesn't know on the magazine, she wants to see real-life people. I think this theme is very relevant in a society where we're so concerned with artificial beauty.
All in all, I give 13 Going on 30 a 9/10. Definitely recommended if you like chick flicks, and I'll definitely return to it again!
I kind of like this format where I watch a few movies and give a shorter discussion about them, instead of one longer discussion. I might return to this. And if this whole quarantine stuff keeps up, I will definitely be doing this again! Next week, I'm going to countdown my top 10 favorite Victorious episodes. It's been ten years since that show premiered so I thought I'd celebrate. After all, Victorious is the show that gave Ariana Grande to the world, and I, of course, am very thankful for that. See you next week.
Stellar
I'm tempted to say that between Olaf and Sven, this movie doesn't really need any more animal sidekicks, but this salamander was quite honestly my favorite part of the movie. Its name is Bruni and it is precious and must be protected at all costs. Dare I say this little dude comes close to Pascal, the lovable chameleon in Tangled, when it comes to adorable lizards in Disney movies? I want five little salamander friends.
Overall, I enjoyed Frozen II and would give it an 8/10. I did feel like the plot was a little garbled in some areas, but it gave me a lot of what I wanted- new tunes to sing at the top of my lungs, gorgeous animation, and a new adorable critter to squee over. I hope that if they make a Frozen III, they expand more on how Elsa got her ice powers, because I sort of expected them to do that in this movie, but they didn't. But mostly I hope that if they make a Frozen III, we get a short film of Bruni being an adorable little rapscallion.
Movie #2: 13 Going on 30
I decided to watch this one because in the music video for "thank u, next," Ariana Grande paid homage to four classic chick flicks: Mean Girls, Legally Blonde, Bring It On, and this one. I hadn't seen any of the movies until recently so I've sort of made it a goal to watch them all. I already saw Mean Girls in my sociology class (loved it, it was everything I wanted it to be), and I have the DVD for 13 Going on 30 but never got around to watching it. I watched it on Tuesday and I really loved it!
This movie is about Jenna Rink, a 13-year-old girl during the 1980s who wishes that she could flash forward to being 30 years old. She wakes up and finds that she is 30, living in New York by herself, being a fashion magazine editor, and essentially living the life her 13-year-old self would have dreamed of. The first thing I have to praise with this movie is Jennifer Garner's performance as Jenna. She does such a great job of capturing a teenager being thrown into the real world, and much of the movie's best gags come from her trying to adapt to her new world. I especially liked when her hockey-player boyfriend tried to strip for her and she was horrified.
I really liked the movie's theme of how you shouldn't wish away your glory days. At the beginning of the movie, Jenna is close with her best friend, Matty, but when she turns 30, she learns that their friendship didn't last after high school. She learned that she became one of the popular girls she always yearned to be, but it came at the cost of losing Matty. I really liked the chemistry between Jennifer Garner and Mark Ruffalo as Matty, and I thought they both did a really good job in their roles. Speaking of Mark Ruffalo, it kind of blew my mind that this movie had two Avengers actors in it: not only was there Ruffalo (aka the Hulk), but Brie Larson (aka Captain Marvel) was one of the popular girls at the beginning of the movie! It's a small world after all.
Finally, I really liked the social commentary this movie provided. In one of the scenes, the fashion magazine Jenna works for is struggling, so she and her friend Lucy compete to see which of their ideas will lead to the magazine's rebranding. Lucy's idea is "Fashion Suicide," which is "heroin-chic taken to the next level", overall just kind of gross, and it's presented as such. Jenna's idea, on the other hand, is to team up with Matty and show some everyday people. She even says that she doesn't want to see supermodels she doesn't know on the magazine, she wants to see real-life people. I think this theme is very relevant in a society where we're so concerned with artificial beauty.
All in all, I give 13 Going on 30 a 9/10. Definitely recommended if you like chick flicks, and I'll definitely return to it again!
I kind of like this format where I watch a few movies and give a shorter discussion about them, instead of one longer discussion. I might return to this. And if this whole quarantine stuff keeps up, I will definitely be doing this again! Next week, I'm going to countdown my top 10 favorite Victorious episodes. It's been ten years since that show premiered so I thought I'd celebrate. After all, Victorious is the show that gave Ariana Grande to the world, and I, of course, am very thankful for that. See you next week.
Stellar
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