ONCE UPON A SNOWMAN

Name: ONCE UPON A SNOWMAN
Item: ONCE UPON A SNOWMAN
Author: Tess Farrand

"Everyone Needs Warm Hugs"

Family Content: +1 Moderately questionable elements. (Discernment required for young children.)

Entertainment Quality:

	None	Light	Moderate	Heavy
Language
Violence
Sex
Nudity

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What You Need To Know:

ONCE UPON A SNOWMAN is a cartoon short on Disney Plus about the origins of Olaf the Snowman from the first FROZEN movie. The cartoon picks up with Elsa using her powers in the mountains. Right away, she creates Olaf the Snowman. However, Olaf can’t remember his name and doesn’t have a nose. The clerk at Wandering Oaken’s store gives him a summer sausage for a nose. Happily, Olaf walks out of the store, but he runs into a pack of snarling wolves who chase him to eat his new nose. Will Olaf escape the wolves? Will he find his name and discover his identity?

ONCE UPON A SNOWMAN is a funny, exciting, heartwarming cartoon short. Josh Gad again does a wonderful job as the philosophical talking snowman. In the end, the reborn snowman re-discovers his identity through a loving memory. He also remembers his real name. The movie uses warm hugs as a potent metaphor for the meaning of love. ONCE UPON A SNOWMAN is a delightful cartoon short for the whole family, but watch out for those hungry snarling wolves!

Content:

(BBB, CC, V, M):

Dominant Worldview and Other Worldview Content/Elements:

Very strong moral worldview with strong redemptive elements promoting true love and warm hugs in line with the first FROZEN movie’s Christian, moral messages and premise as a reborn talking snowman searches for his identity and finds it in a loving memory, plus a line of dialogue from the first FROZEN movie may remind discerning viewers of one of the first movie’s messages that love should not be treated lightly, in a superficial manner

Foul Language:

No obscenities or profanities but talking snowman’s head says to his stomach as they slide separately down two snowy hills next to each other, “Have you seen our butt?”

Violence:

Light cartoon violence includes Elsa’s cape falls onto talking snowman, and he rolls down a hill as the cape forms a ball around him, rolling snowman covered by cape hits a tree and stops rolling, but he laughs it off, snarling wolves chase talking snowman because he’s using a summer sausage as a nose, snowman tumbles over a large cliff and breaks into separate pieces that slide down a snowy hill, wolves and snowman slide down snowy hills, snowman performs exciting ski jumps as he slides down the snowy hills, snowman and wolves tumble over small cliff onto icy lake, snowman and wolves slide across icy lake

Sex:

No sex

Nudity:

No nudity, but Olaf the Snowman tells the owner of Wandering Oaken’s that if you scramble the store’s name, you can spell “Naked Norwegians”

Alcohol Use:

No drinking but Olaf the Snowman tries to use a bottle with green liquid in it for a nose but the liquid runs through his mouth as he spits it out

Smoking and/or Drug Use and Abuse:

No smoking or drugs; and,

Miscellaneous Immorality:

Large store owner speaks with an effeminate voice.

More Detail:

ONCE UPON A SNOWMAN is a short animated comedy on Disney+ about the comical origins of Olaf the Snowman from the first FROZEN movie. ONCE UPON A SNOWMAN is a funny, exciting, heartwarming cartoon short about love, memory and warm hugs.

The cartoon picks up with Elsa deciding to start using her powers in the mountains as she sings “Let It Go.” Right away, she creates Olaf the Snowman. Elsa walks away singing. She throws away her cape, and the cape lands on Olaf, rolling him into a little ball that rolls down a large hill and hits a tree. Olaf laughs it off and starts talking to himself. He stops in his tracks, however, when he realizes he doesn’t know who he is. Of course, in actuality, Olaf has been reborn, but he doesn’t remember. He asks loudly if anybody’s there to hear him. “I’m having a bit of an identity crisis, I think,” he adds.

As night time falls, Olaf wanders into Oaken’s store from the first movie. He tells Oaken he doesn’t know who he is. He doesn’t even have a name. As he looks into a mirror, Olaf also realizes he doesn’t have a nose. Olaf tries on different things to use as a nose, including a snowglobe. Meanwhile, Oaken hands him a Viewfinder and several slides with beautiful scenes of summer. Immediately, Olaf falls in love with the summer season, so Oaken gives him a summer sausage for a nose.

Happily, Olaf walks out of the store, but he runs into a pack of snarling wolves who want to take a bite out of Olaf’s new nose. The wolves start chasing Olaf, who runs, or slides, across the snow for his life.

Will Olaf escape the wolves? Will he ever find his name and discover his identity?

ONCE UPON A SNOWMAN is a delightful cartoon short. Josh Gad again does a wonderful job as the philosophical, summer loving talking snowman. The movie includes brief snatches of scenes from the first FROZEN movie, with songs and dialogue from Elsa, Anna and Kristoff, that brings back fond memories. It also includes many funny and thrilling moments. As usual, the Disney animation is top notch.

In the end, the reborn talking snowman re-discovers his identity through a loving memory. This causes him to remember the name Elsa gave him when she first created him when she was a child. The movie also uses the notion of warm hugs as a palpable metaphor for the meaning of love. ONCE UPON A SNOWMAN is a funny, exciting, heartwarming cartoon short for the whole family. There are, however, three things to concern parents and grandparents of younger children. The story includes snarling wolves who chase Olaf because they want to eat the summer sausage he’s wearing for a nose. Also, Olaf tells the owner of Wandering Oaken’s that, if you scramble the store’s name, you can spell “Naked Norwegians.” Finally, as Olaf’s head and his tummy ball slide down on separate snowy hills, Olaf asks, “Have you seen our butt?”

Watch ONCE UPON A SNOWMAN →

Quality:

- Content: +1