Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Myth: A Frozen Tale’ On Disney+, A Gorgeous and Soothing Animated Short

Myth: A Frozen Tale is a sequence of stories that take place in the forests near Arendelle. Myth began as a VR experience, bringing a whimsical forest to life in order to make viewers — to borrow a phrase from another Disney heroine — part of that world. Disney+ has now released a non-VR version, and the animation is proof that Disney animators spare no visual details when they’re given the opportunity to go big.

MYTH: A FROZEN TALE: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: A little unconventionally, Myth: A Frozen Tale begins with a behind the scenes look at the making of the piece, something that might otherwise show up as a DVD extra or a bonus clip, not integrated into the piece itself. In the intro, director Jeff Gipson and production designer Brittney Lee, for whom Myth was a labor of love, explain how the short came to be, and the techniques used to create the beautiful animation.

The Gist: In the woods near Arendelle, a woman opens a book to regale her children with the legendary stories of the elements, earth, wind, water, and fire (as well as a fifth element which is, in this case, humans). No surprise, the humans ruin everything. The story is told with narration from Frozen 2 star Evan Rachel Wood, although she isn’t necessarily in character as Queen Iduna, and in fact she’s never identified at all. Instead, she is just a storyteller, explaining to her children a story of how the elements preserved harmony on earth by keeping one another in balance. When her narration trails off, this tale is depicted by the essences of these spirits blowing through the cloudless, moonlit forest that glows with their presence.

Soon we see a fiery woodland creature spreading flames across the land, then another appears to douse the flames, and equilibrium is restored. The cycle continues until the humans – the fifth spirit – arrive. The human spirit coexists with the other four for a time, but eventually loses its rhythm and throws the cycle into chaos, eliminating all the other spirits. “It is said that if the fifth spirit can find its rhythm, the others will return, bringing with them that beautiful harmony, and the world can dance again,” the storyteller concludes. Be the change you want to see in the world, because you mucked it up in the first place.

Though it ends on a bit of a dire note, the story is perhaps less important than its medium, and the animation is used beautifully. It’s very clear that production designer Brittney Lee, who illustrated the book Mary Blair’s Unique Flair, has been inspired by Blair, one of the original Disney artists (she designed all of the visuals for the “It’s a Small World” ride, and her DNA is in countless other Disney projects, including Myth). Because Myth was originally created for a virtual reality experience, in a way it represents the next generation of Disney art and technology, applying classic Disney visuals to all-new platforms.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? While the stories take place in the Frozen universe, the film is a direct descendant of Fantasia, with it’s whirling, swirling, wordless scenes of grandeur.

Our Take: I am about as big a Disney geek as it gets. One of my favorite things in life is sitting in the darkened theater in Epcot Center’s France pavilion watching Impressions de France, an 18-minute movie with a French impressionist soundtrack that soothingly takes the viewer on a trip across France (bonus, it was all filmed in the 1980s and it looks it). Projected on a 200-degree wraparound movie screen, France envelops the viewer and it’s a delight, a wonderful respite from riding Mission: Space for the 6th time in a row. Having said all that, if Myth: A Frozen Tale were to replace the Impressions de France experience in Epcot, I wouldn’t be mad. It is meant to be viewed in VR but, absent a headset, watching the elements of earth, wind, water, and fire as they’re depicted so beautifully here swirl around you on a massive widescreen would be the next best thing.

That is my only complaint about Myth. I’m glad it’s available to the masses on Disney+, but it really is meant to be experienced and not just watched on a wall-mounted flatscreen TV, and hopefully there will be a way for people to immerse themselves, and hopefully more Disney projects like it, in the future.

Sex and Skin: None.

Parting Shot: The final line, which explains that humans have essentially decimated all of the other elements and must find a way to restore them in order to bring harmony into the universe, takes this previously mellow experience to more apocalyptic depths. Is it a criticism of our human destruction, or an optimistic look at our potential for change? A bit of both, and while it’s not the message we expected, maybe it’s a necessary one.

Sleeper Star: None.

Most Pilot-y Line: Director Jeff Gipson explains that, much like Fantasia, Myth was created to be “very much a visual poem, in a way,” and it is. It seems daunting to tell a story about the symbiosis of humans and their world, but the animation team is very successful in doing it visually.

Our Call: STREAM IT! Myth is a visual savasana. Meditative, beautiful, calming. There is little dialogue and the music is definitely on your massage therapist’s playlist, it exists for the viewer to get lost in this sparkling world of saturated colors and creatures. That being said, kids who are expecting Anna and Elsa might get antsy, but if you’re an adult who needs a moment of zen, this is it.

Liz Kocan is a pop culture writer living in Brooklyn. Her biggest claim to fame is the time she won on the game show Chain Reaction.

Watch Myth: A Frozen Tale on Disney+