Why Kristoff Is A Bad Character

Kristoff is a main character of frozen who generally doesn't do much.

[bohgirl]

Its so sad how both he and Anna were reduced to one note characters in "Frozen 2". Anna became overly moody and focused on ALWAYS wanting to know where Elsa was. And Kristoff was just awkward to watch and listen to as he struggled to find the best way to propose to Anna.

[robin_hatter]

In my opinion, Naveen is the best Disney prince, he has his own character arc alongside Tiana. Their stories and personalities complete each ❤

[analuizadefigueiredosouza]

It's ironic how Frozen's best character was Hans and they f*cked it up by turning him into a villain in the last minute 😅

[LigeraDays]

To this day, i still believe the trolls were the real villains of the film

[disneytriviabuff]

The reason I always disliked him and by extension post-twist Hans is because I've always thought that pre-twist Hans and Anna made a better couple. They had some adorkable flirting and an adorkable song (in fact, Love is an Open Door is my favorite song from Frozen) whereas Kristoff spends most of his screen time with Anna criticizing her and/or bickering with her. Now you can do bickering couples right (Tiana and Naveen is a perfect example) but you have to give them moments where they seem genuinely glad to be with one another and given that Kristoff and Anna never smile at each other until the very end of the movie, you never get that. If I had been the writer for Frozen, I would have scrapped Kristoff entirely and had Hans' kiss fail because he's just as naïve about true love as Anna is and they both learn they need more time to get to know each other. That would fix one of my other main issues with the movie which was throwing in a villain at the last minute into a story that didn't need one.

[Nightmank]

Krisoff is one of my least favorite love interest characters, mainly because of how much Frozen wants to beat us over the head with "Anna and Kristoff aren't like those OTHER Disney couples" with Kristoff browbeating Anna for getting engaged in a day... only for his horrible troll family to decide for them that they should get MARRIED in a day... Also Kristoff is very bland, it just comes off as kinda gross (talking about him stinking and eating boogers, and eating the same carrots as his animal), quirky beauhunk that girlies can project into their own IRL boyfriends (since typically basic straight guys IRL talk about grossout jokes and neg-joke on their girlfriends). It's like they took Eugene (Eugene snarked on Rapunzel and had a touch of the grossout saying he liked that the Snuggly Duckling man-bar smelled like "the color brown") and tried to make him a roughneck but also downplay him (at least Eugene was an IMPORTANT character). I just like Kristoff much less than Eugene for some reason and I think it's cause Frozen is browbeating the audience with "subverting tropes" if he's not a subversion what else is there to him?

I'd like a movie with a less ironic male lead, like Eric, Naveen, Beast, Quasimodo, Philip, Aladdin, Hercules, Shang, Phoebus, and Tarzan (I guess John Smith too, even though he's very, very boring) just appeal to me more cause they're lovable and have great designs and their gimmick isn't, "quirky and kinda gross." It just makes me find Kristoff dull and repellant. Shrek can pull it off, he's Shrek. He's a lovable ogre... Kristoff? I dunno, I don't find it appealing coming from a pretty-boy who just exists to prop up Anna.

[sebastiantrias]

I think in the first film he wasn’t that bad, but he could have used a little more development, as for the sequel they didn’t knew what to do with him.

[QueSeraSeraaaa]

The "hello, i'm a doormat" kind of character..

[moritzmartini]

"You can´t just marry a guy you just met" "wait you wanted to marry a guy you just met" *meanwhile Kristoff, the SECOND guy Anna meets, becomes her love interest* And yes in the first movie there technically could be a time jump of a few months between saving Arendelle and the ending of the first movie but still. It was very strongly hinted that Kristoff will be Annas love interest. And I mean you technically could also apply the time jumo to any other Disney princess couple. Just bc we saw Ariel and Eric married doesn´t mean they got married just one week later but with princesses like Cinderella, Ariel, Aurora etc people love to complain that the romance is uNreAliStiC bc they bAreLy kNow eAch oTheR

[Kaleidosaur]

Something Kristoff says that is ignored from Frozen one "Yeah, people will beat you, and curse you and cheat you."
This implies that this is something he's experienced.
They dropped that bomb and then it was just left there.

[NinthShinigami]

Bro literally got reduced to the one note side male before Thor, Hulk, Finn, Poe Dameron, and any other male characters Disney has butchered the last few years 😂

[mgmboy]

I like flynn better
I think in the first movie they should have just made Anna and Elsa and be the main focus and should have just made kristoff to be a friend to the princess
.And then in the second movie they can try to work on a relationship with kristoff and Anna

[jendoe]

While I understand the Frozen franchise is meant to display familia more than romantic relationships, that doesn’t mean the romantic interest(s) should only have their lives and existence revolve around the relationship. One of the most common (though I would argue as weak) critiques against most movies with a male lead is how the female romantic interest is “bland, boring, and only seen to exist in relation to the man.”

In Frozen’s case, they did the same to Kristoff. Yes he has some interesting ideas and potential as a character, but the execution of the story pushes him aside in favor of Elsa and Anna so we never see him outside of being Anna’s love interest and a weird reindeer dude. We know he’s a reindeer guy (the “Reindeer’s are better than people” tune spells that out), a lovable dork, and would drop everything for Anna if needed. But that’s really about it. We don’t see him being on his own, expressing his own opinions, or just hanging around like an actual human being. He’s there for plot reasons and his story revolves around confessing his love to Anna, who is too hung up doing her own thing to pay attention to him.

It’s sad as there’s movies and shows that do let the love interests be their own character. The first to come to mind is Astrid from How to Train Your Dragon. Yes we do not get a lot of her personal backstory, but we honestly don’t need that from her. In the first movie, she represents to us the pinnacle of Viking-ness. Strong, fearless, focused, and willing to lay down her life for Berk. But, we also see in her interactions with Hiccup that she has an innate sense of justice and caring. She berates Hiccup partially because she dislikes his seemingly carefree attitude, but mainly because he doesn’t seem to be taking the dangers they face with the dragons constantly attacking them. “Is this some kind of game to you?! OUR parents’ war is about to become our own. Figure out what side you’re on.”
Though when she thinks he’s in danger when Toothless confronts them, she immediately tries to protect him even if she knows she doesn’t stand a chance. Despite all of that, Astrid is also capable of change when she lets Hiccup show her how the dragons aren’t the terrible enemies they grew up believing, and becomes Hiccup’s biggest supporter.

The movies and shows then expand on her character by giving her motivations and interests outside of her developing, romantic interest with Hiccup. She’s a weapons expert, a competent dragon rider, a bad cook (or at least, terrible with making drink concoctions), loyal to a fault, and not afraid to let her guard down around those she trusts. We see her and Hiccup together, and we also see her with other characters and even on her own. That doesn’t take away from Hiccup’s story (as that’s who HTTYD mainly follow), but actually enhances it because the world feels more alive when characters like Astrid are walking around and interacting in it.
When the two end up finally getting married and having kids, it’s less of a “gal settles down with her guy” thing and more of a “gal begins a new adventure with the guy she loves” thing.

Only cause it’s recent, but even the Trolls franchise does the romance aspect better. The first and second movie was definitely Poppy’s story with Branch tagging along, but there’s no way you could take him out without completely changing everything. There were hints of deeper feelings in the first one, and then confirmed in the second where Branch is struggling to confess to Poppy. Unlike Kristoff, though, confessing to Poppy is only a minor focus to Branch when they realize there’s a world stake’s issue at hand. His feelings for Poppy do get in the way of him making the best choices, but it also serves to display a character flaw Poppy needs to overcome in order to understand what she needs to do to make things better.
Poppy and Branch need each other to make the story happen, and both are better together than apart. Though like Hiccup and Astrid, they can function well on their own since they have distinct personalities that allow them to be their own character outside of their relationship. Not to mention that the 3rd movie really expanded on Branch’s backstory to where we can now look back on his previous actions and understand why him trusting and letting Poppy into his life is such a big deal. He’s not just Poppy’s former grumpy, gray companion who becomes her love interest because that’s what’s supposed to happen. He’s a character with his own story that merges with Poppy’s as the two grow and develop together.

Why didn’t Disney give Kristoff something like that? Some kind of backstory or a dream in life that gives insight into his character. Is he satisfied with being an ice harvester? Did he ever learn anything magical or interesting from his life living among the trolls? Has he ever thought about going on his own adventures? Is he a homebody by heart? Has he ever thought about settling down with a wife and raising a few kids?

Seriously, does he realize what he’s getting into by dating royalty like that? Will he have any actual responsibilities and be a good companion for Anna in that regard? Astrid knew being around Hiccup meant being the Chief’s wife once Stoick stepped down, and was more than up to the task of supporting him and giving a hand when she could. Even Branch has demonstrated how capable he is in keeping up with Poppy and helping her run the village.
But what skills does Kristoff have that can translate to being an effective royal companion? Maybe we’ll get some of that in the 3rd movie, but I highly doubt Disney will let a male character be good at something without first hitting us over the head that the female character has to tell him EXACTLY what to do first. I would love to see Kristoff succeeding in some aspects, like maybe people relations and local business matters, over Anna, but I can only see Disney making him an incompetent buffoon against Queen Anna’s natural ‘royalness’ (even though she has a LOT of problems to work out on her own).

[saskia]

I like Kristoff from the first Frozen, but the way they degraded him in the second movie is very sad.

[buccaneercat]

Kristoff’s problem is that he exists SOLELY for Anna. He doesn’t have much to him outside of that. Without Anna, he’s nothing. They even sang a whole catchy song about that in the second film.

It’s not a bad thing to be driven by your significant other… but the problem is that he’s not a character that feels like a living breathing person. He’s Anna’s accessory. Essentially Ken from the Disney brand.

Unlike Disney’s classics (including Tangled) whose target audience was FAMILIES, The frozen films are very much geared ONLY towards the female audience… so Kristoff is supposed to become an avatar for their ideal partner. Someone who lives, breathes, and dies for them. Can’t make a move without them. Always puts them first above all else. While that’s also not an inherently bad thing, it does heavily condemn Kristoff to eventually be forgotten, because again… he’s not really a character, he’s an accessory.

[DSS]

I haven't seen the sequel, but based on what you described it kind of exemplifies a bigger issue of modern Disney, which is their weird and problematic misconception that "feminism = reversing toxic gender tropes". In this case, since we often see female characters that are reduced to "the male hero's love interest, " they did the same thing with Hans and Anna but with reversed genders. Sorry Disney, that isn't feminism, that's just being shitty to men instead of being shitty to women. Like EVERY issue with Frozen, Tangled already did it in a better and more progressive way. Both Rapunzel and Eugene were deeply developed characters with intertwining arcs. I still can't wrap my head around how Frozen's romance was written AFTER Tangled came out. It's mind boggling.

[kevin-.]

That’s a good explanation of Kristoff, of why he is a boring character. Like why didn’t the other ice man question him on where is his parents are? And the trolls should be the villains in the first movie, like at first I’m not sure but you made me second thought that. After seeing what the trolls do in mythology, that would be a villain. And like I said before (or at least something like that) the trolls should know that, you shouldn’t marry someone you just met. Aren’t they supposed to be love experts and they completely ruin it when Kristoff ask for help. The writers could of showed us a flashback to his past or at least telling them about his parents. But no, his only goal was to proposed to Anna that’s it.

[jonathanj]

Kristoff had more of a big brother vibe with Anna then a love interest plus he had more chemistry with that Ryder dude

[bemiatto]

I'll never forget how everyone felt like him and Ryder had more chemistry than Kristoff and Anna did in Frozen 2 😂

[kristinahuchison]

I don’t hate Kristoff as a character or anything, but I find him the most boring of the blonde Disney “princes/heroes” because of how undeveloped he is. Imo the ONLY reason he’s in the movie is to show why Anna doesn’t end up with Hans (ignoring his villainy) I also found the trolls to be so annoying and only there to sell Anna and Kristoff as a couple. Unfortunately their “love” song actually did the opposite for me because its all about “not trying to change someone??” but instead accepting them as they truly are?? Since when was that an issue between Anna and Kristoff? I also felt so bad for how much he got sidelined in the sequel. All he does is struggle to propose to her and just unable to find the perfect moment to do it. Shouldn’t he be focused on their mission instead?? I’m really worried both 3 and 4 aren’t going to bother to give him a backstory and simply focus on Elsa like the first two.
Unpopular opinion, but I personally find John Smith to be a waay better example of a supportive boyfriend, considering he isn’t the “hero” in his movie. He makes a lot of sacrifices for both Pocahontas and her people but also his comrades. Even Phoebus is much more engaging as a character BECAUSE his mission isn’t to win Esmerelda’s love or anything, he wants to fight for the people of Paris and put an end to Frollo’s tyranny.
I personally find Kristoff just bland and not engaging in any way. All he does is constantly bail Anna out of danger because of how reckless she is. I seriously don’t understand why they fell in love when they spent a good chunk of the movie bickering and arguing. Like, all of a sudden they’re in love?? Sorry, but no. Hans was a waay better fit for Anna if Disney hadn’t forced him to be the villain