Olaf’s Frozen Adventure Review

Olaf's Frozen Adventure is a short that’s the latest instalment in the Frozen franchise and is currently playing before Pixar’s Coco. If you know me you know I LOVE Frozen so I had to talk about this Christmas short.

On the one hand this is shameless marketing to sell Frozen Christmas products. Anna and Elsa have new dresses which means Disney can make more toys (which I have already bought!). And possibly the actresses playing Elsa in the theme parks can have a slightly warmer dress for winter instead of that weird looking padded version of the ice dress.

However Olaf’s Frozen Adventure was actually a really entertaining little short. As the title suggests this instalment really is all about Olaf who continues to be funny and endearing. It’s slightly longer than the previous short Frozen Fever and is set in Arendelle during the holiday season. Olaf’s Frozen Adventure is full of little jokes and references to Frozen, much like Frozen Fever.

Olaf’s Frozen Adventure also adds something to Frozen. There’s something which expands upon what Anna and Elsa were doing during all the years that lapsed during Do You Want To Build A Snowman? Honestly this thing they added made me cry and I suspect that I will see Frozen in a slightly different way because of it. I think Anna got a chance to shine more than her sister this time round, which is nice because Elsa usually takes the spot light.

I think it says a lot about Disney that what is essentially a merchandising opportunity for their two most popular characters managed to be a heart-warming story. I think Olaf’s Frozen Adventure might have become a new holiday tradition to watch at that time of year.

My Thoughts on The Return Of Doctor Mysterio

Wait… is Doctor Who good again? 

Well I certainly think it seems to be heading back in the right direction based on the 2016 Christmas Special, The Return of Doctor Mysterio. This episode was a fun romp with moments of creepiness and emotional drama that would not have felt out of place in the David Tennant era of the show. I could write a lot about where Doctor Who has gone wrong recently, what I’d like to see happen and why I even liked it in the first place but for the purpose of this blog post I’m not going to dwell on that.

When I first heard that Doctor Who was doing superheroes I was very worried that it would come across as bitter. After all, in recent years Marvel and DC have just become bigger and bigger as Doctor Who has struggled to retain its fan base. But The Return of Doctor Mysterio wasn’t bitter, it knew the tropes of the genre and it had fun with them but not in a way that seemed resentful or insulting to superhero fans. Also does anyone else think it was intentional that The Ghost’s alter ego was called Grant given the Flash is played by Grant Gustin and both The Flash and The Ghost have super speed and have a quiff?

The monsters – Harmony Shoal - might not be new classics but they served the story well. This whole story had the feel of trying to evoke the spirit of noughties Doctor Who and let’s be honest the Harmony Shoal were very reminiscent of the Slitheen. But is it a bad thing to have a monster that’s like a monster from a fan favourite era of the show when you’re trying to relaunch?

To me it’s often felt like Peter Capaldi has never been allowed to reach his full potential as the Doctor. Sure he’s got to do dramatic stuff but a lot of the scripts have required him to be overly grumpy in a not very Doctorish way. In The Return of Doctor Mysterio he was allowed a sense of humour, there were moments that genuinely made me and my family laugh whilst we were watching. Capaldi always comes across in interviews as an incredibly warm hearted and kind person and that’s a very Doctorish trait but one he’s never really been allowed to express too much in the role. However I felt like The Return of Doctor Mysterio finally allowed us to see that, it remained us that yes the Doctor does love humans and that’s why he saves the Earth so many times.

So is Doctor Who good again? I think that yes it possibly is. I think it feels like the show is returning tonally to the run of mostly amazing episodes from 2005 – 2013. I am tentatively excited and if the trailer at the end of the episode is anything to go by then we should be in for another good season of Doctor Who in 2017!