ONCE UPON A SNOWMAN delivers a short but warm hug

Olaf is back with a brand new short film all about his origin. Sure, it may not be as epic as a superhero origin story, but Disney delivered a nostalgic and heartfelt tale that proves just how popular Olaf and the Frozen world has become. Once Upon A Snowman may not be the origin we wanted, but I think it is the one we needed.

If you haven’t watched it, don’t worry there won’t be any spoilers but I do hope this pushes you to watch it.

Here is the full synopsis from Disney:

What happened to Olaf within the moments after Elsa created him as she was “letting it go” and building her ice palace, and when Anna and Kristoff first meet him in the forest? And how did Olaf learn to love Summer? The previously untold origins of Olaf are revealed in the all-new Walt Disney Animation Studios animated short. The film follows Olaf’s first steps as he comes to life and searches for his identity in the snowy mountains outside Arendelle.

Now, what I usually like to do in a review is to get rid of the negatives. The short film was brilliant and fun to watch and I would rather devote my time to discussing all the positives instead of dwelling on the negatives.

Disney have released a few Frozen-related spin-offs: Frozen Fever and Olaf’s Frozen Adventure. Both are wonderful. Olaf’s Frozen Adventure clocks in at around 20 minutes while Frozen Fever is around 8 minutes. Unfortunately Olaf’s newest adventure is even shorter. When I tuned in and saw that it was 12 minutes I thought that was a pretty decent length. However, once you get rid of the credits the short is actually on for 5 minutes. Considering how it was advertised and the gradual hype that was built up on social media, I was expecting something more substantial.

Having said that, I don’t think Olaf’s journey could have been expanded too much more. We meet the lovable snowman pretty early on so they could only do so much before the events of Frozen align. I absolutely adore Frozen and the world that they have built, so perhaps I am slightly biased to a degree. I simply want more Frozen.

My only other criticism would be Olaf’s love of summer. In Frozen, the thought of summer was very important to Olaf and this short aimed to establish where his passion came from. I’d be lying if I said that it didn’t answer that question. However, its not what I was expecting. I won’t say much more than that other than it could have been explored a bit more.

That was easy, wasn’t it? Now onto the good stuff.

While I love Olaf’s songs in both films, it was nice having a non-musical story. Having a musical number would have definitely slowed down the rapid pace and I think that this short focused a lot more on Olaf’s dialogue. The poor snowman is having an identity crisis. He doesn’t know his name, his purpose or anything significant. That was definitely one of the highlights. Instead of taking the fun route of doing a big musical number, we actually got to see how Olaf dealt with life’s big question- “Who am I?”. Olaf being Olaf, it was of course dealt with some humor but it was very thoughtful in its approach.

The special thing about this short-film is actually when it is set. Unlike the other shorts that take place after the main events of the film, this story takes place within the actual narrative of Frozen. We get to relive events from the first film but from a different perspective and it is flawlessly and seamlessly done. I couldn’t help but smile when I heard certain bits of dialogue or saw particular characters. In my head I was able to sew all the scenes together and it just flowed beautifully.

With the current state of the world, I genuinely believe films like Frozen and Once Upon A Snowman are imperative. That may sound like a ludicrous statement but they bring a lot of joy and that is something we all desperately need. Once Upon a Snowman is fun, clever and witty. It is also incredibly thoughtful. Something that becomes very apparent is that being kind is in Olaf’s nature, regardless of his origin. While the films do a great job at acknowledging his personality, it was incredibly sweet seeing that aspect blossom. It was always ingrained into his snowy brain, he just needed that push.

Ignoring the runtime, Once Upon A Snowman is a must-watch for all Frozen fans. You’ll have a massive smile on your face as you watch Olaf crossover into the events of Frozen and you’ll be warmed by his journey of self-discovery. The future of Frozen is slightly unknown but if we could just continue with these short doses of magic, many of us will be absolutely over the moon.

We got an Olaf story, so how about Kristoff? We know that he stayed with the Trolls. So wouldn’t it be amazing to see him adjust to his new life? Would you like to see more Frozen shorts? Let us know in the comments.

Walt Disney Animation Studios’ animated short, Once Upon A Snowman
is on Disney+ now!

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