This first clip is early hand-drawn animation tests from 2011. At the time, Frozen was not yet finalized as a computer-animated film, so tests like this were done to see if the desired affect could be done by hand.
"Play Sword Fight"
Click the picture for larger view.
"The Dressing Room"
"Never Underestimate the Power of Elsa"
"Halt, You Swine!"
"Life's Too Short"
"Meet Kristoff 1"
"Meet Kristoff 2"
If she was closer to her ORIGINAL self, which seemed to be more mischievous and headstrong (not necessarily evil) it would've worked better. From what we gathered, she did not seem as wanting to be accepted for who she was as our current Elsa. Plus they would've had to keep Anna being ignorant to Elsa's feelings about wearing her gloves and hiding herself, and that would've done no favors for Anna's character. At least to me, it would've made her seem rather cold-hearted about it LOL
But the Reprise works better in my opinion, not just because we have those wonderfully powerful vocalizations from Idina Menzel, but also because visually it represents Elsa's anxiety a lot better. You can sense the oncoming danger as the song builds, not like Life's Too Short, which is honestly more "playful" and having a dramatic scene right after that and then jumping back into the fun with Fixer Upper, it would've taken away a lot of the movie's impact.