A Mommy Story

Back in February, when we were at Walt Disney World for our family vacation, we were excited to see some of the art they were working on for the upcoming Disney animated feature, Frozen. The whole family loves Tangled, and we’ve been anxiously awaiting the next princess film. Seeing that this would be a musical about the Snow Queen, we were immediately excited about it and looked forward to the November release.

Earlier this summer, when I received a notice about the first trailer to promote the film, I was again excited. The day it was released, I clicked through to watch it. And this was what I saw:

Um…what? The wacky antics of a talking snowman and a reindeer on the ice is not what I was expecting.

Nowhere in this trailer did it feature the sweeping score and dramatic songs that were claimed in the exhibit at Hollywood Studios. We didn’t even see the Snow Queen, or her sister, who is to be the actual hero in this story. The animation didn’t reflect the beautiful landscapes we witnessed in the still drawings. Just a snowman and reindeer falling all over the place for a carrot in the snow and on a frozen pond.

I was so disappointed. If I had based my opinion on this trailer alone, I would not be interested in this film at all. It was slapstick humor in the snow with little substance – if I wanted to see that, I’d watch Ice Age on Netflix and save myself a lot of money.

Cordy and Mira saw the trailer, too. They laughed at the silliness, but as far as they were concerned, that’s all there was. They considered it a fun animated short. There was nothing to leave them wanting more.

I kept hoping that this was a joke and we’d see a real trailer the next day, or a week later. But we’re nearing the end of the summer now, and this is still the only trailer we’ve been given. And this movie comes out in November, which for movie marketing departments is really just around the corner.

I know more about the upcoming Thor movie (made by Marvel, who apparently doesn’t share its Marketing Department with its parent company, Disney) than I do about Frozen. Where is the marketing to get people excited about this film? Where’s the hook to make people say “ooooh, we are SO going to see that when it comes out!”

Over the weekend, Aaron found that hook. But here’s the kicker: it’s not in English. Meet the international trailer that the rest of the world is being shown for Frozen while those in the US & UK get the slapstick “chase the carrot nose” trailer:

You can also find it here in Japanese.

Now THAT’S the trailer I wanted to see! It draws me into the story, makes me want to find out more about the characters, and dazzles me with some pretty animation. The only thing it’s missing is a small snippet of one of the songs to musically tug on heartstrings in that unique Disney way.

Finding the international trailer and realizing there was no English equivalent has made me wonder what Disney’s plan could be for marketing this film? That first trailer left me completely uninterested and now that I’ve seen the trailer the rest of the world is getting, I can’t help but feel let down.

Do they think US audiences are that dumb that they need to feature the goofy sidekicks to get our interest? Even my kids think the international trailer is more interesting, and they don’t speak French or Japanese. After watching that trailer, both Cordy and Mira asked when we could go see the film – isn’t that what Disney should be aiming for with their trailers? (To be fair, Cordy said it looks a little scary, but she says that about nearly everything.)

I hope Disney plans to get the marketing machine going for this film soon. I’ve been a Disney animated film fan for nearly my entire life, and I want to see continued success with this genre. Now that they’ve shown more at the D23 convention (the official Disney Fan Club convention), I’m hoping we’ll see new trailers featuring the main characters, the story and the music.

Please wow us with a good trailer for Frozen, Disney, and then wow us again with a fantastic movie. I’m trying to hold out hope, but you’re not giving me much to go on so far. Let’s hope the marketing for this is better than the marketing for their live-action films. (coughcoughJOHNCARTERcoughcough)