They say:
Good things come in small packages
. . . And when it comes to Frozen Fever, the brand-new short from Walt Disney Animation Studios, we couldn’t agree more! Though a short film, Frozen Fever marks the return of our favorite characters from Frozen in an all-new story. It’s Anna’s birthday and Elsa hopes to make up for a lifetime of closed doors by throwing her little sister a party she’ll never forget.
D23 spoke with Frozen Fever’s director, Chris Buck, and producer Peter Del Vecho, who revealed that they’d originally thought of focusing on a more “Olaf-centric” idea for the story, before deciding that they wanted the royal sisters of Arendelle to enjoy some quality time together in the short. “Because they’d been separated through most of the movie [Frozen], it was nice to have something re-igniting them,” Del Vecho said. “We realized they actually hadn’t celebrated a birthday together, because they were probably always kept separate, except when they were very young.”
Fans of Frozen will be happy to see Anna and Elsa spending time in familiar locations. “We wanted to use locations from the feature,” Buck explained. “They should go down the hallway together—they should ride the bike.” He added that they even included a sequence on the dock where Anna met Hans. “We framed it so it was very much identical to the feature, same kind of composition.”
In addition to Anna and Elsa, Kristoff, Sven, and, of course, Olaf will be helping with Anna’s birthday celebration. And we can expect to meet an adorable group of newcomers: Snowgies. Elsa’s best-laid plans for a perfect birthday for Anna are complicated by the fact that she’s fighting a cold. And every time she sneezes, the magic within her makes tiny snowmen. According to Buck, “They wreak havoc on the party. Like Olaf, they have their eyes on Anna’s cake.”
Before Frozen’s release the filmmakers never imagined the original film would have such legs and inspire the short film that would open in theaters in front of Disney’s live-action Cinderella this Friday, March 13. “I think we knew we had a good movie,” Del Vecho admitted, “but I don’t think any of us knew that it would become the phenomenon it became.”
Buck was quick to agree. “People made Frozen part of their lives… they made it their own. Everybody saw themselves in Frozen in one or two of the characters,” he said.
Moviegoers caught “Frozen Fever” in 2013 when the feature was released. Now we’re excited to catch Frozen Fever at theaters this weekend.
