Halfway through “The Further Adventures of Walt’s Frozen Head”, the titular head (portrayed by Ron Schneider) muses on a bench next to his put-upon chauffeur Peter (Daniel Cooksley) about how everything around him is fake in the theme park they sit in: the rocks, the lakes, the buildings. The twist, however, is that the park is actually SeaWorld Orlando. Peter, bewildered, calls Walt on his hypocrisy having built the world’s first theme park, filled with fake towns and landscapes.
Without a beat, Walt corrects him in that Disneyland was never fake, but in fact built on a very real memory that he had. While SeaWorld offers guests a lush and tropical oasis in which they can view wildlife, it can’t compare to stepping into the recreation of a raw, personal story scooped out of the mind of a legendary storyteller, almost mythical in stature by this point.
“The Further Adventures of Walt’s Frozen Head” is interested in exploring those myths that surround Mr. Disney, err, sorry, I mean Walt. (he only goes by on a first-name basis, of course) Whether it be on what people read into his image, or the urban legends about him, director and writer Benjamin Lancaster eagerly seeks to answer a strange question that many of us may have wondered sometime in our lifetimes. That being, what would Walt Disney think of the world if he was cryogenically unfrozen in our present time?
I’ve seen many cynical takes on this concept throughout the years, some are funny and others are just edgy hitjobs on the corporate entities they despise. Lancaster is clearly uninterested in saying anything nasty about The Walt Disney Company, or using the platform to make a statement against their modern-day values. Of course, there are some focused jabs here and there that will tickle some Disney fans (a particular exchange has Walt wanting to check out the ‘Imagination’ attraction at Epcot he’s heard good things about, which Peter dejectedly responds, “I’ve got bad news for you”), but the heart of the film is about its story of being able to let things go.
Walt’s indifferences aren’t treated as gospel (such as his disinterest in Pixar films), and he is keenly aware of it. Awoken once a year for 72 hours, Walt is greeted by various top executives deep underneath the Magic Kingdom in the utilidors. Each year, they allow him to view security footage of the park, go over various company details and watch rough cuts of upcoming films in the promise that his decisions will have some impact. However, it’s very clear Walt has caught onto the fact that what he says barely matters anymore and that the Disney company has moved on from him. Culture has rapidly changed in the last fifty years, and Walt can sense it. In fact, the executives have not allowed him to go above and actually see the park himself, having last been up there on a rogue outing over twenty years prior. (this might be the film’s funniest and most savage barb when it reveals who helped him, and how they benefited from it)
Luckily for Walt, Peter Carter, a low-level box office sales cast member accidentally stumbles upon the frozen head while searching for a rare Mickey doll for his daughter. Walt convinces Peter to kidnap him and head upstairs to see the Magic Kingdom again in exchange for a better job that can help him win back his estranged wife and daughter. The latter of which (Molly, played by Kathryn Jenkins) Peter is having trouble accepting her growing up as her sixteenth birthday looms. When Molly discovers Walt, she blackmails her way into becoming part of his trip and the heist to ironically sneak Walt Disney into Walt Disney World is on.
Approximately one-third of the film is shot on property at the Magic Kingdom, with surprisingly high quality results. This will undoubtedly remind most of the dark surrealist indie pic “Escape from Tomorrow”, which was shot almost entirely on property. The film was in black-and-white and was wildly uneven. The intent of that film was to marry the twisted story of a husband and father losing his grip on reality as his life crumbles with the “happy-go-lucky” family vacation of Disney, ultimately chiding the corporate experience as fake. It’s a cynical, cold take on the experience, whereas Lancaster intentionally shoots for sunnier aspirations. The Magic Kingdom footage is in color, pristine and shot vividly outside of an intentional shaky cam sequence towards the end. He and his cinematographer Amber Steele deserve commendations for delivering a stunning tribute to the most popular theme park on Earth. One particular montage, set to the catchy faux-Disney tune “Meet Me at the Magic Kingdom”, showcases breathtaking attraction footage.
The rest of the film that takes place in other locations is slightly less rich in production value. Of course, “Walt’s Frozen Head” is an indie film and was crowdfunded, so I wasn’t expecting Hollywood blockbuster sets. A faux Utilidors set works nicely, but scenes set at a birthday party and in various areas of Peter’s parents’ house leave something to be desired. It is a bit ironic that places that the filmmakers had more control over versus those they had not come across less polished, but maybe that’s attributable to the Imagineers’ doing their job at creating such a rich movie-set-ready environment.
A couple of other small quibbles relate to the film’s shaky sound editing, some unfortunate acting choices that flub some jokes here and there and minor issues with the film’s script. Some scenes tend to go on longer than they should (Peter meeting Walt is a bit of a bloated scene), and the third act feels thin and could’ve used a bigger sense of agency. There’s little threat that the audience can detect, which makes Molly and Peter’s heist feel a bit for nothing overall. I’m not sure if a subplot involving the Disney executives was cut, but it seems like that needed to be in there.
Yet, we can bluster over the inevitable indie qualities that “Walt’s Frozen Head” offers for ages, which would overlook what it’s really all about. Ron Schneider, famous for portraying Dreamfinder in the classic EPCOT Center days, does an amazing, pitch-perfect job as Walt. He may not be Tom Hanks, but damn it if he’s not the next best thing. You can sense Walt’s preferences, glee and stubbornness in every line he delivers. He’s got his charm, but he’s not without his pride. Lancaster gives a detailed and accurate portrait of Walt in his script, adoring models, trains, old-fashioned Disney musicals and small details, such as the color of a certain hat shop on Main Street. Reading dozens of books on Walt Disney, I can tell you that this captures him fantastically. Schneider and the character steal the show and charm throughout, especially during intentionally cheesy scenes in which Peter’s hysterically nonchalant parents meet Walt. Sure, it’s strange that they aren’t freaked out but Walt doesn’t care: he’s just happy that somebody else is happy and loves what he does.
While the character arc of Peter learning to let Molly become an adult may not be as strong as the Walt one, it’s ultimately charming and works overall. The aim here is recreating a corny old family comedy that Walt himself would’ve approved shortly before his death, and the pieces are there. Again, the sense of a possible antagonist would have helped sell the idea a bit more (those irascible types were all over those films), but the heart is still there. In-between all of the in-jokes, winks and shenanigans, “The Further Adventures of Walt’s Frozen Head” is ultimately about letting the memory stay as a memory as reality chugs forward. Nobody deserves to (or should be) be frozen in time, but it’s important to keep the heart just the same.
“The Further Adventures of Walt’s Frozen Head” is still screening at various film festivals, and will be on sale via VOD platforms and DVD soon. Please check https://waltsfrozenhead.com for future details.
BONUS NOTE: Be sure to stick thru the credits, as not only is there a MCU-esque mid-credits scene, but one crowdfunding prize was to have a faux credit. Those who did were sure to list their “job” with as many Disney Twitter and Walt Disney World in-jokes as possible. There’s a ton of them, so be sure to take a look for one last chuckle.
