When I went to go see Coco, I was well aware that we would be seeing a 21-minute Frozen featurette. I was not looking forward to it, but perhaps the worst I expected of it was something kind of funny and clever, but jarring to sit through. A meh featurette overall. But I did not expect to hate this as much as I did. Olaf's Frozen Adventure is, brace yourselves, the worst thing Walt Disney Animation Studios has churned out this past decade.
Olaf's Frozen Adventure follows Olaf on a quest to find Holiday traditions for Anna and Elsa... That's it. It's nothing more than 21 minutes of exactly that. No conflict, not much of a real narrative. Just naive little Olaf giving me another reason to want to strangle him.
Before I go on, I would like to point out that I consider Frozen to be a perfectly decent film. Overrated and far from the studio's best work, but decent nonetheless. I am not a Frozen "hater" or anything like that, I'm just honest. And I can honestly say that this featurette is one of the most pandering, poorly written and annoying things that I have seen come from Walt Disney Animation Studios. I felt like I was watching something from the '70s, '80s or early-2000's era of the company. And the fact that it precedes Coco, a real bona fide masterpiece, makes it all the worse and even more of a slap in the face. It is borderline torturous to sit through because you know what is coming after is going to be something so amazing but you JUST CAN'T SEE IT YET! Because first, Disney wants to shove a 21-minute advertisement for Frozen merchandise down our throats.
Disney also managed to cram 4 new songs into this featurette, but they are weak and not at all memorable. I found myself singing Remember Me or Un Poco Loco instead of something like When We're Together, one of the cringe-worthy numbers here that do nothing but unintentionally emphasizes how easy it is to make a bad, corny Christmas special when you're lazy. Each musical number in Olaf's Frozen Adventure left me feeling nothing but "ughhh come on!" followed by a facepalm.
I am happy to say that people are calling Disney out for their bad choices. Audiences are seeing Coco because they want to see something moving and beautiful, and the fact that we need to sit through 21 minutes of "Oh no closed doors and gates imagery shoved down your throat and no holiday traditions and oh look Olaf did something silly! Buy a toy of him!" really pissed people off, myself included. Each time I went to see Coco, I heard many audience members getting antsy, wondering when the main event would start. When the credits for the featurette rolled, I heard the majority of the audience screaming out "Finally!" in unison. I am not joking. That actually happened at one of the screenings I went to. And people have even taken to social media about this featurette! It made me very happy to see because it really does deserve all the hate it's getting.
Disney, take notes, because I am about to state something so obvious yet you are so blind to see. Releasing Olaf's Frozen Adventure before Coco, even if it was for a limited time, was a mistake! You should have kept it on TV where it belongs and where no one is forced to watch it. I'm just glad the short is being pulled from theatres on December 8th, but if you plan to see Coco before then, I highly recommend you just come late. However, I will say that you shouldn't need to go to the theatre late just because some Disney executive didn't have enough faith in Coco and thought it would be a grand idea to release a made-for-TV advertisement for merchandise from a dying franchise into theatres. And the fact that we have no choice but to either come to the theatre late or sit through the featurette is insane.
As much as I have ripped this featurette a new one, is there anything positive to say about it? Well, the animation is pretty. But, coming from Walt Disney Animation Studios, the animation better look amazing!
Olaf's Frozen Adventure is not only weak as a Disney Animation featurette, but also as a holiday special. And, seeing how bad holiday specials can get, that is an incredibly low bar to reach. It is pandering, boring and you get a whole lot more story from a 4-7 minute Pixar short than this 21-minute featurette. And that is pretty sad.
"Short" Film Grade: D
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