Frozen Fever is an animated short sequel to the 2013 film Frozen. The short was directed by Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee and features the main cast from Frozen.
The short was announced on September 2, 2014, as part of The Story of Frozen: Making a Disney Animated Classic. [3] It premiered on March 13, 2015, before Disney's live-action feature Cinderella. [4] [5]
It's Anna's birthday, and Elsa is determined to give her the best celebration ever. She leaves Kristoff in charge of looking after the courtyard while she takes Anna on a birthday scavenger hunt around the kingdom, telling him not to let anyone in before they're ready, not to touch anything, and to keep an eye on the cake. As Anna gets dressed, it is revealed that Elsa has a cold, producing little snowmen called Snowgies with every sneeze; however, this goes unnoticed. As the royal sisters wander the kingdom for more birthday surprises, Kristoff, Sven and Olaf are at the mercy of the Snowgies who are desperately trying to get a bite of the cake. Meanwhile, after nearly falling off the clock tower, Anna finally convinces Elsa to let Anna take her home and help her get better. But as they open the gates, Anna is surprised to find the courtyard beautifully decorated for the party and everyone in the kingdom has been invited. Only then does an embarrassed Elsa figure out the origin of the hundreds of tiny snowmen scurrying around the courtyard. But in the end, the party is a hit. All of the Snowgies get a fair share of the cake (thanks to Sven), and the party concludes with Elsa blowing, or more accurately, sneezing into the birthday bukkehorn, creating a giant snowball that flies all the way to Southern Isles and hits Hans, who has been sentenced to hard labor. The next day, Kristoff, Sven and Olaf take the Snowgies to Elsa's ice palace atop the North Mountain to live with a bewildered Marshmallow.
The first announcement of Frozen Fever and its new song came on ABC's special The Story of Frozen: Making a Disney Animated Classic, [3] with its title and release of spring 2015 announced by Variety. The magazine also confirmed that the short would be directed by Jennifer Lee and Chris Buck, and produced by Peter Del Vecho, and the song would be written by Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez. [6] [7] [8] Idina Menzel later confirmed in mid-October that the vocal tracks were already recorded by the cast: "We just worked on a short for Frozen." [9] Aimee Scribner was later revealed in December 2014 to be the co-producer, and it was also announced that Frozen Fever would be released in theaters on March 13, 2015 with Disney's live-action Cinderella remake. [4] [5] The directors soon said to the Associated Press: "There is something magic about these characters and this cast and this music. Hopefully, the audiences will enjoy the short we're doing, but we felt it again. It was really fun." [10] Additionally, Dave Metzger stated that he already began work on the short. [11]
Walt Disney Animation Studios used Hyperion, a new rendering system used to make Big Hero 6, to render Frozen Fever. [12]
Only a few weeks before the short's release, the song's title was confirmed to be "Making Today a Perfect Day". [13] While attending the El Capitan Theatre's premiere of Frozen Fever and Cinderella, Josh Gad apologized to all of the parents who came to the premiere for having their children listen to another catchy song, [14] although his wife Ida Darvish noticed him still humming the song a few days after it was recorded. [14]
The directors confirmed during an interview with BuzzFeed in March 2015 that Disney got the idea of a Frozen short in April 2014, although being reluctant as they were trying to figure out why Frozen was a big success. [15] However, they did agree to start possibilities of brainstorming. [15] After they had early discussions that center on Olaf, Marc Smith thought of the idea about what occurs if Elsa receives a cold, which was used for the basis of the short. [15]
The short was first shown in theaters with Cinderella on March 13, 2015. [4] [5]
Frozen Fever was released alongside eleven other shorts in Disney's Short Films Collection on August 18, 2015, and on the home video of Cinderella on September 15, 2015. It will be released on September 30, 2015, in Australia. [16]
The short was given a rating of three out of four stars by Claudia Puig of USA Today, who thought the song "Making Today a Perfect Day" was "pleasant", and that despite the short not being "as exhilarating and inventive as the original, it's still a treat to see an abridged tale of these two sisters in a warmhearted spinoff." [13] Natalie Jamieson of BBC News' Newsbeat stated that the short is "catchy and fun". [17] The short was called "cute" and "really sweet" by Forbes' Scott Mendelson, who also said that the short in his opinion "works just as well as a gorgeous and funny romp for those who just want to spend another five minutes in the world of Arendelle [sic]." [18]
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