They tried to keep many elements of the original story in the movie. And they went away one by one as the movie was developed.
Disney has been trying to make a Snow Queen movie for 20 years. Walt himself could not adapt the story into a movie.
It's fine for you to not like the movie. I don't like many of the popular Disney movies including The Lion King.
However you need to realize you are in a very small minority in this belief.
Sorry... you don't become the highest ( or 2nd ) grossing Disney film ( 1st release ) by being 'lucky'.
The Lion King had less competition. Are you going to say the only reason it is the [currently] highest grossing Disney animated film is because there was nothing else in the theaters?
I said all that, not Gabe, for the record. And what I'm saying is that a Disney family movie that has come out at the Christmas season that has no competition is helped a little by that fact. Are you saying that
isn't a factor? No, that isn't the entire reason. I'm not denying Frozen is a big success. Where did I say it wasn't?
As for "Walt himself could not adapt the story into a movie" - feh. It's hard to believe he couldn't have done a better job. He probably just never got around to it, having other fish to fry. As for the post-Walt efforts...I glanced at that Jim Hill article, and it looks like during the Eisner era, the Disney scripters were focusing on the Snow Queen herself as the major character. How stupid. That would be like focusing on the Wicked Queen in Snow White as the main character. The Snow Queen was a villain in the story; Gerda was the hero. And that "Taming of the Shrew" angle...gahh. It looks like Eisner was making the same mistake the current gang did - trying to fit the Snow Queen story into the Disney Princess template. And they failed, duh, big surprise. Like the Frozen scripters did. So they threw out all of the stuff that couldn't be pounded into something merchandisable, and came up with the two Barbies. And the scheme worked. Frozen toys are selling like mad and the movie is a hit.
BUT I DON'T LIKE IT. 'Kay? I think it's a cynical, unimaginative, contrived, derivative (from the "Dreamworks" model, complete with smirking characters on the movie posters) film that bored me silly. It's hard for me to believe that a company that came up with Maleficent couldn't come up with a great Snow Queen villain, and adapt a story about love and courage and magic into a good movie without throwing most of it out. But maybe I'm wrong. Maybe the company I'm thinking of, in truth, just doesn't exist anymore. Disney is about branding now. It's the Bob Iger company. And apparently, for a lot of you, that works. Fine. I don't care if I'm in the minority opinion. I gave my honest opinion, and that's that.
EDITED TO ADD: Now we've all had our little row. If I upset anyone, I apologize. To me, this place is like having a second family. And in any family, there are squabbles. But big deal. We all love Disney, after all. And I assure you guys, if Frozen had failed, it would have broken my heart - because of what that might have done to Walt Disney Animation Studios. If WDAS doesn't deliver, then Iger could very well shut it down. He tried to sell Disneyland, after all. So it's good that WDAS has had 2 big hits in a row. I hope its next film is something I can enjoy.
