Olaf loses charm second time around

Over Thanksgiving break, I found myself in a movie theater late at night waiting to see Coco with a group of my friends. The theater lights dimmed, the audience came to a hush, and the projector started up with… Olaf from Frozen. This was fine; some animated films run shorts before the actual feature film, a prime example being the short about volcanoes being run before Inside Out. These shorts are usually cute, not very memorable, and crucially, five or six minutes in length. Olaf’s Frozen Adventure, however, didn’t seem to get the message. By the 10th or so minute, it had driven people to confusion. I remember turning to my girlfriend and making her reassure me we were in the right theater. After a confused nod in return, I resigned myself to my new fate of sitting through what felt like “Frozen 2: Electric Boogaloo.” The plot follows Elsa and Anna finding a Christmas tradition, after being informed that people won’t come to their grand party due to following traditions of their own. Rather than going out themselves, Elsa and Anna stay home, depressed, and Olaf decides to take it upon himself to amass all traditions in the kingdom of Arendelle. He comically finds cakes, Christmas trees, and a full-on sauna. Then, to no one’s surprise, he loses them. Fortunately, his entire adventure was meaningless, as Elsa and Anna realize that Olaf himself was their Christmas tradition, and he is celebrated by all the people whose traditions he borrowed.

To say this featurette was interesting would be a stretch. Olaf’s Frozen Adventure was nothing special, and it only served to annoy me, as it was not what I bought tickets for. Four songs, each in the style of Frozen, attempted to add a Disney flair to the story, and to the writer’s credit, the few jokes Olaf cracked were not that bad. The big issue with this animated flick was the time. At a whopping 21 minutes in length, Olaf’s Frozen Adventure was more of a TV episode than a short. That, in my opinion, is why it proved unpopular with me, and with the general audience.

Unsurprisingly, Olaf’s Frozen Adventure is leaving theaters and will no longer be coming before Coco. Hopefully it accepts its fate as being run on network TV in the weeks before Christmas, always wishing of the glory days it had on the silver screen.