Frozen II: Thank you Olaf!

And yes ladies and gentlemen… We finally managed to watch a full movie!!! Yes! Yes! Yes! My daughter FINALLY sat through a full 1 hour and 43 minutes!!! It is truly a huge, majestic and fantabulous milestone for my daughter!!

I had a two failed movie experiences with my daughter. The reason was partly because I did not do my homework and perhaps had a high expectation for a three year old. I mean, I read reviews and I guess I had this pre-conceived mindset that my daughter should be able to sit through an animated film. But.I.Was.Wrong!

First Failure

I totally regret not doing my homework. I was so excited that Lion King was opening in the cinemas, I had assumed that it would be similar to the animated version. I did not realise that it was CGI animation. Every character looked so real. And I did not watch the trailer and neither did I read the reviews and recommended viewing age. My daughter started crying and wailing 25 minutes into the movie and we left the theater. The reason: She was so sad when simba left his mom and got lost. I failed.

Second failure

I mean seriously… Wouldn’t you expect toy story to be toddler friendly? Yeah and that’s what I thought too. But I guess my daughter had other expectations. She started crying and wailing 45 minutes into the movie (a progress don’t you think?). She was heartbroken and really upset that Bo Peep lost her arm (but still could not accept that it could be taped back). So we left the theater again. Once again, failure.

First success and praying for many more

So I took some time to read the reviews for frozen 2. Different parents have different views and a considerable number did not recommend to children below the age of 6. And I was really torn because my daughter loves frozen. And I mean school bag, water bottle, wallet, socks, dresses etc… kinda crazy. And she really wanted to watch it. It did not help that the malls were decked with more frozen posters and life-size cutouts as compared to festive Christmas decorations. Totally commercialised.

So I took a risk. A huge risk. Daddy and I talked about it and decided that if there was a scene that was too overwhelming, we’d do a timeout and explain to her at the back of the theater. So I bought us aisle seats (finally).

And I must honestly confess that frozen 2 was technically heavier in story line and carried more deeper messages and had darker and mild violent scenes that were not friendly/appropriate for a toddler. We had to do a 5 minute timeout at the back of the theater when the earth giants came. But somehow, the writers managed to incorporate Olaf at the appropriate time and scene to lift the tension on the impending dark messages/scene and focus on Olaf’s funny and extremely hilarious antics.

Dear Olaf

Thank you for being a very special part of the movie and for lifting the tension whenever needed. My daughter was able to laugh throughout the movie (of course with prompting from us parents). The older children were laughing too and that was a cue for my daughter to join in the laughter. You appeared at every opportune timing and you were just amazing. It was truly artful how you manged to turn around a dark scene into something totally hilarious. Thank you Olaf for making this movie experience a success. Love you!