I keep hearing that Disney's Tangled and Frozen are very similar. Now, I have seen Tangled too many times to count (I can quote that movie almost as well as I can quote The Princess Bride), and I recently watched Frozen. I can definitely say there are few to no similarities between the two movies. The animation is the same, but otherwise Frozen is just like any other Disney princess movie (besides the not-so-surprising true love plot twist at the end). There is, however, a production which has many similarities to this year's Best Animated Film (was it really though?): Broadway's WICKED.
First I must state the most obvious:
Indina Menzel
Both Indina Menzel's characters, Elsa in Frozen and Elphaba in WICKED, are very similar.
(And here's a mash-up picture for visual emphasis)
1. They both have magical powers, leaving them misunderstood and hated by everyone, even their own family.
2. Their powers cause them to damage their sisters.
3. They have grown accustomed to being isolated and therefore prefer it.
Elsa in "For the First Time in Forever" (Reprise): "Yes, I'm alone, but I'm alone and free."
Elphaba in "Defying Gravity:" "If I'm flying solo, at least I'm flying free.
(Indinza Menzel has practically the same line in both shows. That's pretty cool.)
There are also many similarities between "Defying Gravity" and "Let it Go."
4. They have weird, unexplained birth defects. Elsa has white hair* and Elphaba has green skin.
5. Their names both start with the letter E (that's insignificant, but still a similarity).
6. Neither of them can control their powers until they find love, and before that they unintentionally use their powers for evil.
*I could literally go on and on about how unexplained Elsa's power is. Where did it come from? How did she inherit it? Why does it make one's hair turn white? Why did the father have that power? Why didn't he have white hair? How could he control it? Why didn't he teach Elsa how to control it better? Did the kingdom know about his power? If so, why did the king and queen hide Elsa? Why are the trolls the only experts on this magical power? Why didn't they tell the family from the beginning how to heal a frozen heart? Ugh. There is so much awesomeness this movie could have dived into but it did not.
Broadway
I won't confirm anything because I haven't actually researched this fact legitimately. However, I have seen on social media that Frozen will be a Broadway show eventually. I will definitely be seeing that, but I hope they expand on that unexplained magic thing. And as you know, WICKED is a Broadway production as well.
Awesome music
Let's be honest. I wasn't a huge fan of the movie Frozen, but I bought the entire soundtrack. I get chills listening to "Let it Go" and the reprise of "For the First Time in Forever." Every. Single. Time. The music for this Disney movie is absolutely phenomenal. And so is the music from WICKED. I get way more chills listening to that, of course. I play "Defying Gravity" on repeat too often. In fact let me do that right now.
That's the stuff.
The bad guy is the good guy at the beginning.
In WICKED there are two bad guys: the Wizard and Madame Morrible (Morrible rhymes with horrible and merges with morbid so one can figure this out just by her name, but I digress). The Wizard is basically Elphaba's celebrity idol that she wants to meet and team up with since he is (supposedly) the only other person who can do magic like she can. But he's an evil coward who has a weird villain-taking-over-the-world plot and ends up being the reason all of Oz thinks Elphaba is evil. Madame Morrible isn't all that great but she runs a school and pretends to take interest in Elphaba when everybody else hates her, and wants to help her meet the Wizard, which is Elphaba's dream. Turns out she is teamed up with the Wizard in his twisted power-gaining plot.
Hans... Oh, Hans. He's the perfect prince: "gorgeous" (according to Anna), single, vulnerable, believes in love at first sight, and finishes Anna's....sandwiches. But he will never amount to anything as royalty; unless his twelve older brothers die, he will never be king (he's the 13th child, kind of unlucky in this movie right?). So he woos Anna as part of his own power-gaining plot. He plans to kill Elsa (or something like that) and marry Anna so that he can be King of Arendelle.
Of course, at the end he gets sucker-punched in the face by Anna, so that plan didn't turn out to well for him.
Which brings me to my next point...
Romance plot twist
Elphaba, not Glenda, ends up with Fiyero. Anna ends up with Kristoff instead of Hans. Disney is basically making fun of itself with the Anna-Hans situation.
And, my final point: Indina Menzel. Her voice. Chills.
Oh, I already said that.
2. Their powers cause them to damage their sisters.
3. They have grown accustomed to being isolated and therefore prefer it.
Elsa in "For the First Time in Forever" (Reprise): "Yes, I'm alone, but I'm alone and free."
Elphaba in "Defying Gravity:" "If I'm flying solo, at least I'm flying free.
(Indinza Menzel has practically the same line in both shows. That's pretty cool.)
There are also many similarities between "Defying Gravity" and "Let it Go."
4. They have weird, unexplained birth defects. Elsa has white hair* and Elphaba has green skin.
5. Their names both start with the letter E (that's insignificant, but still a similarity).
6. Neither of them can control their powers until they find love, and before that they unintentionally use their powers for evil.
*I could literally go on and on about how unexplained Elsa's power is. Where did it come from? How did she inherit it? Why does it make one's hair turn white? Why did the father have that power? Why didn't he have white hair? How could he control it? Why didn't he teach Elsa how to control it better? Did the kingdom know about his power? If so, why did the king and queen hide Elsa? Why are the trolls the only experts on this magical power? Why didn't they tell the family from the beginning how to heal a frozen heart? Ugh. There is so much awesomeness this movie could have dived into but it did not.
Broadway
I won't confirm anything because I haven't actually researched this fact legitimately. However, I have seen on social media that Frozen will be a Broadway show eventually. I will definitely be seeing that, but I hope they expand on that unexplained magic thing. And as you know, WICKED is a Broadway production as well.
Awesome music
Let's be honest. I wasn't a huge fan of the movie Frozen, but I bought the entire soundtrack. I get chills listening to "Let it Go" and the reprise of "For the First Time in Forever." Every. Single. Time. The music for this Disney movie is absolutely phenomenal. And so is the music from WICKED. I get way more chills listening to that, of course. I play "Defying Gravity" on repeat too often. In fact let me do that right now.
That's the stuff.
The bad guy is the good guy at the beginning.
In WICKED there are two bad guys: the Wizard and Madame Morrible (Morrible rhymes with horrible and merges with morbid so one can figure this out just by her name, but I digress). The Wizard is basically Elphaba's celebrity idol that she wants to meet and team up with since he is (supposedly) the only other person who can do magic like she can. But he's an evil coward who has a weird villain-taking-over-the-world plot and ends up being the reason all of Oz thinks Elphaba is evil. Madame Morrible isn't all that great but she runs a school and pretends to take interest in Elphaba when everybody else hates her, and wants to help her meet the Wizard, which is Elphaba's dream. Turns out she is teamed up with the Wizard in his twisted power-gaining plot.
Hans... Oh, Hans. He's the perfect prince: "gorgeous" (according to Anna), single, vulnerable, believes in love at first sight, and finishes Anna's....sandwiches. But he will never amount to anything as royalty; unless his twelve older brothers die, he will never be king (he's the 13th child, kind of unlucky in this movie right?). So he woos Anna as part of his own power-gaining plot. He plans to kill Elsa (or something like that) and marry Anna so that he can be King of Arendelle.
Of course, at the end he gets sucker-punched in the face by Anna, so that plan didn't turn out to well for him.
Which brings me to my next point...
Romance plot twist
Elphaba, not Glenda, ends up with Fiyero. Anna ends up with Kristoff instead of Hans. Disney is basically making fun of itself with the Anna-Hans situation.
And, my final point: Indina Menzel. Her voice. Chills.
Oh, I already said that.
