A wicked Snow Queen? Fine by me

It's my second week back at work, and I can't say I feel particularly sprightly. But speculating on the Mouse's future plans usually perks me up, so let's do that.

At the latest D23 event, the audience got to see the first short trailer for Frozen III. (Roman numerals seem to be the norm when it comes to Frozen sequels, something I'm only now picking up on.) My first reaction when I heard that Disney Animation was going to do a Frozen III – and eventually even a Frozen IV – was a groaning "Really?". I wasn't too impressed by Frozen II: yes, the animation was lovely, but the plot was thin and the originally charming characters had started to grate somewhat. Consequently, I did not think Frozen had much left to offer as a franchise. However, after the D23 trailer (how much am I allowed to know about it? I'm assuming a lot as theories based on it have been plentiful on YouTube) I'm starting to wonder if I was wrong.

Look, if Disney has to do sequels, the world of Frozen may actually be one which can be mined for another movie or three, especially if the studio is heading in the direction it seems they are. For one, it appears they are steering away from the dreary Nature vs Civilisation storyline touched upon in Frozen II. The threat in Frozen III looks set to be not some long-dead Arendelle king who screwed over the noble tribe of the Northuldra, but good old magic, as wielded by a wicked counterpart to Elsa. 

And that's the next bit of good news: it seems we're getting a front-and-centre all-out dramatic villainess in the classic Disney mould, and frankly it's been a while since. It's like the animators at Disney brought out their old sketches of Elsa, back when she was supposed to be evil (and a more faithful adaptation of H C Andersen's Snow Queen), and thought: "hang on – these are too good to simply throw away". I'm all in favour of actually getting a villainous Snow Queen, especially seeing as the previous two Frozen films have had precious little to do with Andersen's tale. Personally, I would have preferred a foxy male winter-themed villain (where I come from, Jack Frost is not some mischievous teenager as depicted in Dreamworks' Rise of the Guardians  – only saying), but I'll settle for the razzle-dazzle of a Disney villainess.

There are causes for concern, however. On the hero side of things, the Frozen III trailer only features the original team of five: Elsa, Anna, Kristoff, Sven the reindeer and Olaf the snowman. It is telling that not one of the characters of Frozen II was considered important enough to be allowed to join the group. Also, Anna snaps at Kristoff, and this just before they are about to get married (or possibly directly afterwards). Anna and Kristoff's relationship has felt off ever since Frozen II, and if I'm going to be invested in it at all she needs to stop walking all over him. 

As for Olaf, who was fun in the original Frozen and the "Olaf presents" shorts on Disney Plus, he started to get on my nerves in Frozen II. As far as I'm concerned, this character has overstayed his welcome, and I'm afraid giving him a snowwoman love interest will result in him having too high a profile in the new film. It's a cute callback to Frozen II to call her Samantha, though.

Speaking of love interests, I'm not getting my hopes up when it comes to Elsa ever finding love. Here, the well-meaning speculations of the fandom may have hampered her chances. When Elsa was not paired off in Frozen (because she had other things to worry about), some fans started to theorise that she might be lesbian and clamour for a "girlfriend for Elsa". In Frozen II, Elsa's brief interaction with the rather bland Northuldra girl Honeymaren, who was so unimportant to the plot it was easy to suspect that something was left on the cutting-room floor, fuelled further discussions. 

For my part, I can't say I've so far detected any romantic interest on Elsa's side for any character, either male or female. A boyfriend would be as plausible as a girlfriend, in my opinion. But I'm guessing Disney won't introduce a female love interest for Elsa for commercial reasons, nor will they dare to introduce a male love interest for fear of angering the fans who wanted a girlfriend for her. Poor Elsa will have to remain celibate.

The chances of Hans returning and getting a redemption arc are also, let's face it, very slim. But as long as the Frozen films decide to go down the magical mystery route instead of pitting Arendellians against the one-with-nature Northuldra, I'm cautiously optimistic. Scandinavia has a lot of winter-themed folklore and fairy-tales to offer. Maybe the King of the Snowy Mountains, who rejoices when the sun sets for months on end leaving the North in darkness, would be a villain to consider for Frozen IV? Only saying.

Whoa, what are you doing, Jean Grey?

Spider-Man films tend to be the most popular Marvel-related films – partly, I guess, because this is a superhero just about everyone has heard of. You don't have to be a Marvel fan to go to see a Spider-Man flick. For my part, though, being a Marvel fan (or perhaps more correctly an MCU fan) is exactly the reason I saw Spider-Man: Brand New Day at my local cinema, instead of waiting for streaming. I did not want to miss out, though I have to admit Spider-Man is not my favourite superhero franchise.

This has nothing to do with the likeability of Spider-Man himself, quite the opposite. So many Spider-Man films seem intent on giving Peter Parker the worst time possible, and I find it hard to watch. (Life is no picnic for Miles Morales in the Sony Animation flicks either, but he tends not to settle for self-sacrifice so easily.) The serious bits are often well done and in line with the "with great power comes great responsibility" theme (which frankly I'm a little sick of by now), but I prefer not to have to pity the protagonist of a film to this degree. Take Spider-Man 2 from the old run of Spider-Man films directed by Sam Raimi as an example. Interesting character dynamics, superlative villain. But man, Peter's life was a mess.

Life is predictably shitty for Peter this time around as well, but there's hope towards the end. Also, the film never gets too unremittingly dark. While he's still separated from former girlfriend MJ and best friend Ned – who have forgotten his very existence because of an amnesia spell at the end of Spider-Man: No Way Home – Peter is not completely isolated. He has sweet character interactions with his gun-toting reluctant buddy Frank Castle aka the Punisher (I haven't watched any of the Punisher stuff but still enjoyed his role in this film) and the severely maternal NY police chief DeWolff. They only know him as Spider-Man, though, so Peter is still pretty lonely.

We don't spend too much time with the mopey stuff, however. This was one of the most enjoyable Spider-Man flicks I've seen, if not the most enjoyable. The characters are really likeable, the plot is preposterous but fun, the pacing works and the film looks great. I'm certainly glad I went to see it on the big screen. I only have one gripe, but being me it's not a small one, as it concerns the villain.

As has been widely speculated beforehand, the red-headed girl with telepathic abilities who gives Spider-Man so much grief during the first two-thirds (or even three-fourths) of the film turns out to be – ta-daaa – this universe's version of Jean Grey, known in other reiterations as a famous member of the X-Men team and all-round good egg. In the MCU, the X-Men don't exist – yet – and this is supposed to be this particular character's origin story.

Except she is horrible. Not as in badly acted – Sadie Sink does a good job with all the teenage angst – but as in behaving despicably and then being excused because of her heart-tugging motivation. I don't have a good track record when it comes to giving a teenage girl villain a break because "she's just a kid" (hello and goodbye Karli Morgenthau), and I would have thought Mind-Control Girl would have got away too easily even if she'd turned out to be someone else. But seriously, Jean Grey? Is no-one else bothered by this?

True, I haven't read the X-Men comics, but I have watched the original X-Men animated series, its recent follow-up X-Men -97, uncanonical high-school take X-Men: Evolution and all the Fox X-Men films, so I think I have a pretty good handle on the kind of character Jean Grey is supposed to be. In essence, she's a good girl. She and Scott Summers aka Cyclops are the Snow White and Prince Charming of the X-Men team. This means they can come across as a bit of a goody-two-shoes couple, but it also means they can serve as an anchor in an often highly-strung and morally conflicted team. Script-writers seem to love an "evil Jean" storyline, which is probably why the Dark Phoenix story arc has been adapted so many times (we've also had a Jean clone who went dark). But in order for a storyline like that to make sense and have the intended impact, we have to have a sense of what a decent person Jean Grey normally is.

Young girl Jean in Spider-Man: Brand New Day may have a reason for her fury, but if she'd only told Spider-Man all about it – and she has plenty of opportunity – then he could have helped her, and he and others would have been spared plenty of misery. As it is, Jean keeps her reasons for attacking the perpetually shady Department of Damage Control to herself, and in the process invades the minds of countless New Yorkers, among them MJ. She tortures Peter emotionally, has no compunction regarding the innocents whose minds she uses in her quest, and may even cause bloodshed (what happened to the guy who was run over, or the whole portion of the town she possessed when enraged?). Finally, she mends her fences with Spidey, but never apologises or faces up to all that she's done. 

Supremely charismatic villains might get away with a shoddy redemption arc like this, because they're villains. We're not too fussed about them apologising for their crimes – villain-lovers like me like them just the way they are. But a famous heroine, whose moral judgement we'll sooner or later be asked to trust in? What kind of an origin story is this for her? 

Still, what do I know: maybe Jean was a real wild child in the comics until Professor X took care of her education. And it's not as if I like Nice Jean that much. She seems suspiciously OK with letting Wolverine trail after her like a faithful Dobbin, when someone should really tell him to cut his losses and find another girl. 

As a Spider-Man film, Spider-Man: Brand New Day passes with flying colours. I just wish we had got another kind of villain instead of Puzzlingly Nasty Jean (nothing wrong with Obviously Shady DoDC Guy, though).