How Unique is Disney's 'Frozen'? Quiz

Answer: Merida from 'Brave' (2012)

Serious Elsa spends the majority of the film finding herself and trying to control her natural ice powers, after so long of quashing them. Whimsical Anna, by comparison, is desperate to find love after feeling so alone and isolated in the castle. Neither character is married at the end of the film, though Anna is happily in love with Kristoff.

Pixar's Princess Merida is the first born daughter of King Fergus of the Clan Dunbroch in Medieval Scotland. Although Merida is destined to wed the son of another clan's leader, she is determined to fight tradition and choose her own hand in marriage. At the end of 'Brave', Merida is happily unwed, and is able to choose her own future suitor, in her own time.

In what appears to be a pattern of independent and determined women, Moana (from the 2016 film of the same name) also does not find romantic love in her film. However, many different types of love are shown throughout the film, including parental love, love of the sea and love of ones homeland.

Answer: Penny from 'The Rescuers' (1977)

Elsa sings, "There's so much fear / You're not safe here," when Anna goes to the North Mountain to try to bring her sister home. Probably Elsa feels guilty from harming Anna when they were little and doesn't want to risk hurting her or anyone else again.

In 'Mulan', Mulan joined the Chinese army in her father's place because she knows he is old and unsteady on his feet, and is thus unlikely to survive fighting. Similarly, Belle from 'Beauty and the Beast' (1991) leaves her poor, provincial French town and decides to be the Beast's prisoner, in order to save her father. Moana, from 'Moana', wants to return the Heart of Te Fiti because it will save her island and her family from destruction. Moana has a dream whilst on this quest about her parents suffering and this spurs her on.

Penny from 'The Rescuers' doesn't leave her orphanage in order to save anyone - she is actually kidnapped by Madame Medusa. She is made to live in Devil's Bayou with Medusa, Mr Snoops and Brutus and Nero, the alligators, until she finds the Devil's Eye, a precious diamond.

Answer: True

When Anna bumps into Hans for the first time, she says, "This is awkward. Not 'You're awkward', but just 'cause we're... I'm awkward. You're gorgeous. Wait, what?" She also talks nervously like this when with her sister at the ball because she hadn't spoken to her in years.

Because she is awkward, clumsy and down-to-earth, Anna is quite well-liked by people who relate to her. She also manages to hit Hans in the face during the dance at the palace, and is quite definitely the first princess to be seen drooling in her sleep and singing "Don't know if I'm elated or gassy"!

Answer: Pocahontas, John Smith and Ratcliffe

'Enchanted' (2007) followed Giselle, played by Amy Adams, as she gets catapulted from an animated land called Andalasia, where she is about to get married to Prince Edward, into real-life New York City. There, she meets Robert and Nancy, two average, no-nonsense New Yorkers.

'Tangled' (2010) is a retelling of the fairy tale "Rapunzel", collected by the Brothers Grimm. It's possible Disney made this change to transform Rapunzel from a traditional damsel in distress-type character to a feisty, confident, modern princess. Mother Gothel is the woman who kidnapped Rapunzel as a baby, and Flynn Rider is the man who Rapunzel convinces to take her to see the lanterns, and with whom she eventually falls in love.

'Brave' (2012) had a pre-release title of 'The Bear and the Bow', which sounds much more like a Disney classic. For example: 'The Sword in the Stone' (1963), 'Lady and the Tramp' (1955), 'The Fox and the Hound' (1981). Pixar probably decided on the adjective 'brave' to modernise the film and to make it stand out from classic Disney gems. Merida is the unruly daughter of King Fergus and Queen Elinor, and Mor'du is the giant, cursed bear.

Pocahontas, John Smith and Ratcliffe feature in the 1995 film 'Pocahontas'. If you were to give 'Pocahontas' an adjective as a title, what would you choose? 'Dangerous', 'Spirited', 'Headstrong'?

Answer: Elsa and Anna's parents both die during the film.

'Frozen' follows a Disney pattern here, and Anna and Elsa become orphans when their parents go on a voyage by sea and their ship sinks in a storm. Tarzan's parents also die towards the start of 'Tarzan' (1999), when a leopard manages to enter their treehouse home and attacks them. Cinderella, Snow White and Quasimodo are also all orphans.

Belle, Jasmine and Ariel's mothers die before the start of their respective films, and Tiana and Simba's fathers both die during the course of the film.

The death of a character's parents is a device which catapults them into responsibility and adulthood - essentially, they are forced to grow up. Some people speculate that Disney films have so many parental deaths because this happened to Walt Disney himself! He bought a house for his parents, which then had problems with the gas furnace. Walt's father ended up in the hospital and his mother died, as a result of the gas fumes from the faulty furnace.

Answer: Simba from 'The Lion King' (1994)

Princess/ Queen Elsa was born with her magic powers, and can use them to create ice and snow, plus create magical castles and ice skating rinks. She can also create life, such as Olaf and Marshmallow, the snowmen.

Ursula is called "the sea witch" and uses her powers to make Ariel and herself human. Once she gets King Triton's trident, she is even more powerful. Flora is one of the three fairies who look after Princess Aurora until she can return home. Rapunzel's hair has magic healing powers - her mother drank a potion containing a magical golden flower when pregnant, and its magic flowed into Rapunzel.

King Triton, Jafar, Genie, Tinkerbell and Maleficent can also all do magic, with or without magic wands, tridents and staffs. Plus, Esmerelda gets an honorary mention for her "magical" disappearances!

Answer: No

There are already a few cameos in Disney films. For example, in 'The Hunchback of Notre Dame' (1996), you can see Belle walking around, reading a book, during the song 'Out There'. In '101 Dalmatians', during the Twilight Bark scene, you can see Peg from 'Lady and the Tramp' (1955) in the pet shop window, and other dogs from this film in the streets. Also, in 'Aladdin' (1992), you can spot Pinocchio and Sebastian, and later, Genie wears a Goofy hat.

Answer: Elsa, her sister

Admittedly, 'Frozen' is not the first film that says 'you don't need a man to save you'. Tons of Disney films already show this. For example, Megara from 'Hercules' (1997) says "I'm a damsel, I'm in distress, I can handle this. Have a nice day." Mulan also saves China, Pocahontas saves John Smith and Ariel saves Eric from drowning.

However, 'Frozen' is one of the rare Disney films to emphasise the importance of sibling love. 'Lilo and Stitch' (2002) is another great film that shows the love between sisters. In it, Nani will do everything and anything to protect her little sister Lilo, even if what's best for her is putting her into care.

Answer: Prince Hans

Prince Hans definitely looked like Anna's soulmate at the start of the film - handsome, charming, noble, enthusiastic and a fit for her personality. In many ways, this is exactly like The Prince ('Snow White'), Prince Charming ('Cinderella'), Prince Eric ('The Little Mermaid') and Prince Phillip ('Sleeping Beauty') appear. While Gaston and the villagers viewed the Beast ('Beauty and the Beast') as the villain, we know that he has a heart of gold and loves Belle.

Hans from 'Frozen' is the only prince to be later revealed as a villain - and what a shock that was for the audience! Interestingly enough, the opposite occurs in 'Brave' (2012), where the villain, a giant bear called Mor'du, is later revealed to have been a prince, many years before.

Answer: No

Elsa rightly says, "You can't marry a man you just met," when Anna says she wants to get married to Hans. This is fair enough, considering the couple had met just hours earlier and had spent one song getting to know one another. Kristoff, too, is incredulous that Anna had got engaged to someone she had just met that day, and says he doesn't trust her judgement because of it.

Previous Disney princesses have been criticised for marrying their princes almost immediately after meeting. For example, Snow White and Cinderella barely knew their princes before becoming husband and wife.

However, I can think of at least three Disney characters whose first romantic interest is not 'The One'. Firstly, Giselle from 'Enchanted' (2007) spends the majority of her film wanting to return home so she can marry Prince Edward - according to their song 'True Love's Kiss', Giselle was "made to finish [his] duet". However, Giselle ends up with Robert, and it is his kiss that saves Giselle, not Edward's. Secondly, Pocahontas, from the 1995 film of the same name, realises that she cannot be with John Smith, and in the sequel 'Pocahontas II: Journey to a New World' (1998) chooses to stay with John Rolfe rather than Smith, her first love. Thirdly, Megara from 'Hercules' (1997) sells her soul to Hades in order to save the life of her boyfriend, who then cruelly leaves her for another woman. 'Hercules' definitely proves that your first love may not be forever. Let me know if you can think of another example!