Once Upon A Snowman is full of Frozen fun! It tells the story of how Olaf was created and how he came to find Anna and Kristoff. The tale goes on for a short amount of time, but packs all key elements in perfectly. Josh Gad is terrific, once again, as Olaf. The best part is that you can enjoy Frozen elements all over again with some new ideas thrown into the mix. Definitely worth the watch!

"Once Upon a Snowman" is an American animated short film from 2020, October 2020, so this is slightly over three months old now. It runs for minimally over 7.5 minutes and the poster here on imdb makes it very obvious of course that this is a little add-on to the (so far) two Frozen movies. The writer and director is Trent Correy and his co-director is Dan Abraham. With Disney and especially Pixar, these short films that are usually included on DVDs and Blu-rays offer the opportunity for younger and aspiring fimmaker to show their talent and maybe get enough attention to make the transition to the next animated blockbuster. So let's stay curious what we will be seeing these guys next on. As for the cast list, you will find of course mostly actors that also appeared in the Frozen films. I am not entirely sure though to which extent they had to record new stuff here. I mean Gad obviously did and Chris Williams too, but with Menzel and Bell I am not sure. I still think it was nicely done how they combined moments and developments from the original movie (and this is all about the first Frozen film because that is where Olaf shows up for the first time) with these new scenes that are happening at the very same time. Overall, it was an okay watch. The beginning was alright, the middle part seemed forgettable and not really funny, but the ending with the dog that wants the sausage was cute again, also how Olaf gets to the point where he realizes he likes warm hugs. I initially wondered a bit how he could talk if he had never heard anyone really talk and why he knew all these words, but then you need to keep in mind he is a magic creature, not a random simple snowman.

The scene with Oaken was fine too. There is even a little explanation on a specific name and where it may originate from. After finding out at the very start that Olaf has a bit of an identity crisis (they love to combine his innocence with mental disorders in a playful manner, also in the movies),we also see how much he loves summer and almost ODs on it when he sees all these beautiful images there. When we see his eyes on one occasion before it gets too much, he almost looked like Floyd, the video game character. I guess not too many will know him, but it really looked like that, like taken from the video game with the focus on the eyes and also the exact camera perspective. Anyway, the rest of the film is basically Olaf wondering what he should put in his face. Many options there, none of them seem to work out. His best bet may still be a sausage and I liked how the makers here played with the audience thinking "oh look, he found it" when there is this carrot and it gets stomped a little second later. The massive explosion also came out of nowhere. If Olaf can survive that, then there is no need to be worried about sunshine I suppose in terms of temperatures. The chase sequence with the dogs did not do too much for me, but maybe the kids will like and it was made up for by how this amounts in the cute scene with one specific dog begging for food. That's all. Animation-wise, this is top-notch anyway. The story may not have blown me away, but it was good enough overall. The music was nice too of course with how they could conveniently use the super famous "Let It Go" early on and also in the end we hear a version of Olaf's tune without singing. I liked that. The drawings that came with the closing credits were also really nice. This film gets a thumbs-up from me and thinking about it, it's not even close. No true greatness either though, but a solid achievement in making it a little easier for us to deal with the wait until Frozen 3 happens. See it.

'Once Upon A Snowman (2020)' is a short film set during the events of 'Frozen (2013)' that follows Olaf as he comes to terms with his newfound existence. It's supposedly the 'untold origin' of the character but it feels rather redundant, finishing just when it feels like it's getting started. Of course, the thing is enjoyable enough for what it is. For starters, it's visually gorgeous. There are a few inventive sight gags and a relatively exciting central set-piece, all of which integrate themselves into the established plot of the first flick in fairly seamless ways. There are also some moments that go out of their way to contextualise elements of that movie, even if those elements have never been 'plot holes' and therefore don't really need 'filling in'. The overall experience is passively entertaining, but it doesn't exactly feel inspired and it lacks much of the charm that its feature-length relatives are soaked in. It isn't bad, by any means, but it isn't all that good, either. 5/10