The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com Arts Wednesday, March 18, 2015 — 5A ‘Frozen on Ice’ is faithful to film Movie adaptation exceeds writer’s expectations By CHRISTIAN KENNEDY Daily Arts Writer “Why are you going home this weekend?” “I’m going to ‘Frozen on Ice,’ ” I said, straight-faced. I don’t mess around when it comes to the “awesomely cool” new age classic (the tickets were free, so that didn’t hurt either). But no matter the ticket price, it was certainly a spectacle worth seeing. Before the show at The Palace, a cast of classic Disney characters glided across the ice gracefully to get the child- dominated crowd prepped for the show. Princes, princesses, lions, fish and a nightmarish Pumba did rounds with their specific theme songs before the show got underway. Mickey began to tell Minnie (let the record show that they are married, NOT brother and sister, as I have thought my entire life) a story about true love, between sisters. It was a progressive message that most Disney stories haven’t yet embraced compared to the typical prince/princess story lines. Out of excitement for “Frozen,” moments before the show began, I had a minor panic attack, a reaction friends who I brought for moral support successfully made fun of. Wait, will it be the actors’ voices? Or the ice skaters’ voices? Will it be the skaters singing? I do not give a shit about their voices. GIVE ME IDINA MENZEL AND KRISTEN BELL OR GIVE ME DEATH. After a vocally questionable intro with Sven and Kristoff, it was clear they kept near identical voices to the movie and the exact soundtrack recording for the musical numbers. Phew. Furthermore (and I guess more importantly than my burning questions) the ice skating adaption stayed true to the film’s plot points, with minor cuts due to restrictions by the live production. Elsa and Anna’s parents were not present in the performance (But do we care? They were kind of dicks). Anna falls into a fruit stand instead of a boat when she first meets ultimate fuck-boy Prince Hans. But no worries, the really important stuff is still there. Olaf’s head comes off as many times as I could’ve asked for, Elsa whips off her cape in her fuck- you-guys-I’m-awesome anthem “Let it Go,” and of course, there was an impressively large, inflated snow monster, which successfully scared the shit out of the young children surrounding me. The live production was impressive to say the least. It came with snow falling from the ceiling, sparks and the occasional flame. A contraption on the ceiling worked in tandem with a staircase on the floor to give a buyable version of Elsa’s HGTV- dream ice castle. The biggest disappointment of the show was definitely when several green balls (presumably trolls) rolled across the ice into a woodlands set. We waited and waited for people on skates to burst out of their balls into full-on troll-hood, but to no avail. Soon after Anna and Kristoff’s dialogue, the balls rolled away and skaters came onto the ice separately. A small, yet extremely disappointing moment. Sans some ball-enclosed Trolls, “Frozen on Ice” was everything I expected it could be. I got to sing “Let it Go” alongside an arena full of tiny humans, and believe it or not still got a little choked up when Anna saved Elsa. The ice- skating added another aspect to the “Frozen” story, and the actors skated flawlessly around the arena floor for two hours slowing through dialogue and catchy musical numbers. Leaving Ann Arbor for the day and missing that party at Tower Plaza that was all over Yik Yak was totally worth it. “Frozen on Ice” was totally worth it. A- Frozen on Ice The Palace of Auburn Hills ‘Returned’ mimics French predecessor By MATT BARNAUSKAS Daily Arts Writer A bus full of high schoolers careens off a mountain side. Four years later, a girl named Camille Winship (India Enne- ga, “Treme”) climbs up from the same spot the bus fell. She walks home through her town of Caldwell, Washington. She gets home, where her mother Claire (Tandi Wright, “Jack the Giant Slayer”), hav- ing just lit candles at a shrine for her daughter, stares at Camille. While Claire stands silently shocked but happy, Camille remains oblivious, not know- ing she’s been dead for four years and hasn’t aged a day. Based on the Internation- al Emmy-winning French drama “Les Revenants,” “The Returned” is a perplexing remake developed by the pro- lific Carlton Cuse who also produces A&E’s “Bates Motel,” a show which “The Returned” complements nicely consider- ing both of their dark natures. At least for its first episode, “The Returned” remains large- ly, sometimes overly, faithful to its French counterpart and effectively captures a sense of psychological complexity and unease within its small town setting. Just like the idea of people returning from the dead, “The Returned” is a difficult show to initially wrap one’s head around. The show challenges viewers to think of the conse- quences that a person returning from the dead might yield. None of the answers are exactly easy to grapple with. By primarily maintaining focus on the Winship family in its first episode, the show gauges the effects that a loss can have on a family and how this supernatu- ral interference can further open these wounds. The home Camille returns to is drastically different than the one she left four years ago. Her parents are divorced, as her father Jack (Mark Pellegrino, “Lost”), is particularly embit- tered, angrily attending group grief counseling sessions led by Peter Lattimore (Jeremy Sisto, “Suburgatory”) – who is now see- ing Claire. Meanwhile, her iden- tical twin Lena (Sophie Lowe, “Once Upon a Time in Wonder- land”) has aged four years and deals with her problems by par- tying at the local bar. The family’s reactions to Camille’s return run the gaunt- let of emotion. Claire’s initial happiness contrasts with the almost horror experienced by Lena. While Jack emotionally questions, “What kind of accep- tance am I supposed to have now?” when talking to his wife and Peter, he reflects the inher- ent sadness of what Camille will have to face, saying, “She has absolutely no idea what she’s returned to.” The performance of Pellegrino is the strongest from any actor in this impres- sively acted premiere. Jack is a troubled man who now has to wrestle with the guilt of seeing his daughter return to a broken home. Camille is not the only deceased to return though. There’s Simon Moran (Mat Vairo, “Revolution”) who wan- ders the town trying to find his bride-to-be Rowan (Mary Eliz- abeth Winstead, “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World”). And there’s the mysterious silent boy known only as Victor (Dylan Kin- gwell, “Big Eyes”), among sev- eral other plotlines introduced. There is an unease in the pre- miere regarding these returns. The night of the returns cov- ers the town in shadows and characters attempt to navigate the unknown territory they are experiencing. The efficient use of the Dutch angle in cinema- tography makes several interac- tions with the title “Returned” feel effectively off, as though reality were rejecting the very concept that has been made real. The use of these tech- niques displays an influence of horror in the series which is further reinforced by turns “The Returned” makes near the end of its premiere. The success of “The Returned” lies in it being able to distinguish itself from its acclaimed predecessor. In the coming episodes, the show will need to take opportunities to diverge, tinker or subvert what came before instead of strictly following the blueprint of “Les Revenants.” The pieces are there for a strong debut season, but it’s up to Carlton Cuse and his writers to effectively adapt the source material beyond a simple copy. B The Returned Season 1, Episodes 1-3 Mondays at 10 p.m. A&E DISNEY ON ICE Prince Fuckboi. A&E “I hear dead people.” GIVE ME KRISTEN BELL OR GIVE ME DEATH VIDEO GAME REVIEW ‘Rainbow Curse’ is lazy game-making By JACOB RICH Daily Film Editor “Kirby and the Rainbow Curse” looks absolutely amazing. Its unique blend of Claymation and CGI gives the game a fabu- lous, colorful look that’s much more consis- tently appeal- ing than other games like “The Neverhood” and “Clay Fighter” that attempted video game Claymation back in the ’90s. Unfortunate- ly, it’s also total- ly boring. Its unique look just isn’t enough to make up for its lacklus- ter level design and heavily flawed cooperative gameplay. “Kirby and the Rainbow Curse” is a 2-D platformer controlled exclusively using the Wii U Game- pad’s touch screen. Kirby (whose limbs have been compacted in what we can only assume was a truly horrific accident) takes the form of a sphere, which the player controls using rainbow pathways he or she draws with the stylus. It’s the same system used in the early DS game “Kirby: Canvas Curse,” only it’s way less interesting here. Kirby can’t copy the abilities of his enemies, and the gameplay of “Rainbow Curse” feels empty without this staple ability that has consistently been the most interesting part of “Kirby” games throughout the series’ long history. Perhaps I have been spoiled by Nintendo’s other recently released platformers, like “Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze” and “Super Mario 3D World.” These games are highly regarded for introducing a new gameplay con- cept into every single level, always shaking things up enough to keep its solid base of platforming mechanics interesting through- out. “Rainbow Curse” fails to reach this high bar. By the second world, I was tired of controlling Kirby with the stylus and the over- ly simple mechanics introduced as I progressed had me clamor- ing for complexity. I can remem- ber most of the levels in “Super Mario Galaxy 2,” because of the new gameplay dimensions it intro- duced in each of its dozens of lev- els. I’d be hard-pressed to come up with more than a few innovative mechanics introduced in “Rain- bow Curse.” The game tries to shake up the typically bland level design with simple vehicle-based segments. Sadly, these levels fail to interest after their initial impact, and they quickly become just as boring as their more standard counterparts. The game’s end-of-world bosses are initially moments of intrigue among the blandness, but only for the first three worlds. The bosses of worlds four through six are re- D+ Kirby and the Rainbow Curse Wii U exclusive Nintendo skins of the first three bosses. It’s an inexcusable corner-cutting measure, proving that this game likely would have been better if it had more development time. The game offers cooperative play for up to four players, but this cooperative experience is heavily flawed. No matter what, the first player dictates the boundaries of the screen as Kirby (the other play- ers follow along with Wii remotes as secondary “Waddle Dee” char- acters). While I played through World One with two other players, the newcomers were consistently warped to my location after lag- ging behind or running ahead of me. Besides being able to attack foes, they had no agency over the level’s progression and quickly became frustrated. The co-op in “Rainbow Curse” typically boils down to “run around pointlessly while player one actually accom- plishes things,” completely defeat- ing the purpose of multiplayer. To make matters worse, playing in co-op mode adds a tedious mini-boss fight into each level, in which the non-Kirby players must defeat an enemy that grabs and restrains Player One. It feels like a lame concession to the co-op players, with the designers acknowledging the lack of substantive multiplayer gameplay. If you’re looking for a great Wii U platformer, leave “Rain- bow Curse” in the dust and head straight for “Donkey Kong Coun- try: Tropical Freeze,” a game with infinitely better level design and a whole lot more heart. “Kirby and the Rainbow Curse” was reviewed using a digital copy provided by Nintendo. NINTENDO A Rainbow Curse doesn’t sound all that bad, actually. It challenges viewers to think about consequences.