The never ending franchise that is Frozen is back with another short film but unlike Frozen Fever or even Olaf's Frozen Adventure this film isn't set after the first film but is set during the first film. I fully admit I was skeptical about the premise behind this short film just because there's not alot they can really do in terms of story or suspense but none the less I was looking forward to seeing what the makers behind this short film would pull off and so here is my review of the new Disney + Frozen short film called "Once Upon A Snowman" enjoy the review.
There is no real plot to this short film with the basic premise for the film being just after Olaf is created during the "Let It Go" musical number from the first film Olaf then sets out to find his true meaning. That's honestly it in terms of plot which I kind of suspected would be the case since this is only a short film but even so the story is at best weak but it is still a fun little story to see being played out even if the story and this short film are pointless since we already know how things are going to end due to this short film being set during the first film.
Now this goes without saying but all of the main actors from the first two Frozen films are reprising their roles in this short film. As such I won't bother to separate any new actors from the returning actors since there are no new actors in this short film and so starring in this short film is Josh Gad as Olaf , Kristen Bell as Anna , Idina Menzel as Elsa , Jonathan Groff as Kristoff , Frank Welker as Sven and Chris Williams as Oaken.
Since every actor apart from Josh Gad and Chris Williams appear pretty in archive audio from the first film in the Frozen franchise which is called Frozen (duh) it would be pointless for me to judge those performances. However I can judge the performances of both Josh Gad and Chris Williams since they appear in new scenes and there acting is honestly pretty much what I expected which was passable since it's clear that both actors are having fun playing these characters in this short film the script still doesn't give them alot to work with and so they can only turn in a passable performance to due to the script being pretty bad.
Now I cannot find who did the animation for this short film but the closest company I could was for obvious reasons Walt Disney Animation Studios. Walt Disney Animation Studios might not be the company did the animation for this short film tho but they are the closest company I could find so make of it what you will. As for what I thought about the animation it was honestly a lot better then it had any right to be no one would have blamed Walt Disney Animation Studios slightly OK animation since it's only a short film that will be forgotten about ten minuets after it's watched but nope they actually gave this short film some really good animation which I honestly wasn't expecting to be the case at all and i'm glad that they did give this film good animation since the Frozen feature films are known for having great looking animation and so that should also be the case for any Frozen short film at least in my opinion it should be the case anyways.
As mentioned this short film takes place during and slightly after the "Let It Go" musical number from Frozen. Which to me is a pointless thing to do because we already know how the story is going to end because of the fact that all of the characters debut in Frozen if anything it would have worked to this short film's advantage if it was set after Frozen 2 since then anything could happen and nothing would be predictable but that makes to much sense.
This short film does answer some questions like why does Olaf like summer and how he remembered his name. Which I have to admit is a great reason to make this short film but if that was the only reason to make this short film then I have to ask why bother making it since those two things could have been included in either of the first two Frozen films ort Frozen Fever or Olaf's Frozen Adventure they didn't need a whole short film just dedicated to answering those two questions.
Honestly there's no point in me making this a spoiler free review since like i've said this takes place during the "Let It Go"musical sequence from the first film. As such it should come as no surprise that the film ends with Olaf seeing Anna and Kristoff while they are on there way to save Elsa which honestly isn't how I personally would have ended the film I would have ended this short film with Olaf meeting Anna and Kristoff and joining them to save Elsa but the ending here works as well since it's a kind of sweet moment.
When I say this is a short film I mean it it's only seven minuets and thirty five seconds long so you could watch this short film and still have plenty of time wot write up your opinions on the short film (hrmm that sounds familiar nah lol) that's if you want to of course. I personally liked this running time since there's not really alot that they can do in terms of the story since we already know how it's going to end and so making it a short film honestly makes the most sense to me plus this short film doesn't have alot of story for anything longer then the seven and a half minuet running time anyways and so anything longer then that would just be filled with scenes that are filler and nothing more.
Now then boys and girls since this is still a comedy that does mean that we have to talk about the jokes that are in this short film. Which is honestly where this short film succeeds the most since Josh Gad is freaking hilarious in this short film as Olaf the character of Olaf gets so many funny lines and Josh Gad just makes them work yes alot of the jokes in this short film are aimed at little kids but that doesn't mean that adult fans won't find some of these jokes funny either.
Overall this is a passable short film but at the same time it's something that little kids will find both enjoyable and entertaining. I really can't be to hard on this short film since it is made with little kids in mind but at the same time the issues that I had with the film are very fundamental issues and are ones that the makers of this short film should have taken into account when making this short film as such this short film gets a 6 out of 10 from me. As for where I got the images that I used in this review well I got them from both the official Disney fandom wiki page and Google Image with my preferred choice of website to use for images being the official Disney fandom wiki page just because the images there are more higher quality then the ones found in Google Images.
