Welcome back to another review everybody! In this one we will be finally checking out the latest animated feature from Walt Disney Animation which just so happens to be a sequel to their one of their very biggest hits ever. When the first Frozen came out in late 2013 it was an instant pop culture phenomenon that was everywhere! It spawned tons of merchandising, two shorts that played theatrically, a ride at Epcot (soon its very own land in France), and a chart topping, best selling soundtrack (which included the iconic “Let It Go” which I think is a very good song even if it got a little annoying after a while). So of course a sequel was inevitable even if I wasn’t fully onboard with the idea. Now I really like Frozen and have come to appreciate it more over time (even if I still have some issues with it and find it to be their weakest film this decade), though I will admit I thought the story ended just fine and did not see the need for a follow up film. But then the trailers really piqued my interest as they seemed to promise a much more interesting, darker sequel that looked to justify its existence beyond merely making more money for Disney. So naturally I was really excited to see what the crew came up with and now I can safely say that they did a good job crafting a worthy if not perfect sequel to the original. Now let’s see what went very well and what I personally thought could’ve been improved in this strangely polarizing blockbuster.
Taking place 3 years after the events of the first one, Elsa is now the Queen of Arendelle ruling peacefully over the kingdom with the help of her sister Anna, and their friends, Kristoff, Olaf, and Sven. Recently though she has been hearing a strange voice calling to her from the north and has not idea what it means even if it sounds very familiar. She attempts to follow it but ends up awakening magical spirits that cause everyone in the kingdom to evacuate. In order to set things right Elsa must follow the voice and learn more about Arendelle’s past leading her, and the gang (since Anna refuses to let her sister go alone) to set off on a quest. That quest leads them to an enchanted forest shrouded by an ominous mist which Elsa is able to get past through thanks to her powers. But once they get inside they encounter many strange things including different elemental spirits, and survivors who have been inside for years due to an unfortunate incident (which I will not give away here). With all of this happening, can Elsa, and Anna be able to find answers regarding what happened to their parents, and how to save Arendelle before its too late?
Now this seems like a simple enough story to tell and yet it is in the way that its structured, and paced where most of my problems with the film lie. The structure feels uneven and feels more like we’re going from one scene to the next instead of a more cohesive narrative. This really hurts the pacing where the movie sometimes doesn’t know what to do and it feels like its just meandering in place, and I also found the climax to be a little bit rushed (not completely anti climactic but still could’ve been worked out better I feel in terms of the screenplay). Often times its more episodic in nature more than anything else and it doesn’t help that one of the subplots, Kristoff trying to propose to Anna, adds very little to the feature and just feels more like filler than anything else. There are also certain things that the film sets up well but then never really pulls through with them all the way (more on that later) like certain dark implications or ideas that just aren’t developed as they could be. I will say though while it falters a bit in certain aspects it mostly makes up for some of it with other things it does extremely well. For one I actually though it worked really well on a character level with both Anna’s, and Elsa’s specific journey’s being extremely compelling, developing them both very well. There is also a lot of great banter between our foursome with everyone getting at least a couple good laughs out of me and there is a lot of hard hitting emotion throughout that just worked really well (slight spoilers, but there was one certain moment that I expected to get undo but it was just so well done that I didn’t really care all that much). I also appreciated the many great messages at the heart of the feature like unlocking your true potential to become the very best you can be and not being afraid to show it, doing the right thing (even if it might not be the easiest task), and (in a twist reminiscent of Thor Ragnarok and Black Panther learning from the mistakes of the past (or specifically your families mistakes) to make a better future. All of this is powerful stuff and is given the amount of depth required. Also appreciated some more world building here as we do learn more about Anna, and Elsa parents and Arendelle’s past and also some different beings in the form of the elemental spirits (each of which represents a different element). While the story is a bit messy the other elements I feel are able to elevate it just enough to compensate.
This is a WDAS movie we are talking about here, so of course the animation is going to be absolutely spectacular. I mean have you seen the trailers! But in all seriousness, yes this film looks amazing and even improves upon the visuals of the original (which were already good to begin with). For one the textures, and overall aesthetic looks better and I continue to be impressed by the ice, and water effects on display since it a hard element to animate and it looks shockingly real here. The designs have that typical Disney look to them though that’s not a bad thing and I like how the characters look more mature than before showing that they have aged since last time, and there are many little nice details in the designs (like the hair, and clothing in particular are very well realized) and the designs of some of the spirit elements are creative (with the water horse, Nokk being an especially impressive creation, though Bruni the fire gecko is pretty cute). I also adore the amount of expression, and emotion that’s shown and how you know exactly how certain characters are feeling just by looking at them. As for the movements they are nice, and smooth but with a touch of exaggeration that comes in handy during some of the more comedic, or action packed sequences and the backgrounds are a sight to behold as they look very realistic and are also very well realized (with the forest, and one place in the climax that look very nice) and without spoiling anything I liked the use of different animation techniques used in clever ways throughout. Even whenever there was action it turned out really exciting, and intense like when Elsa is trying to tame Nokk (probably the best sequence in the film) which is something I think this one did better.
Also not going to lie I think I also liked Elsa’s arc here more than in the first (granted she was gone for a good sized chunk of the middle) and it was really compelling and once again Idina Menzel gives in a fantastic performance with a gorgeous singing voice as well. Same goes for Kriten Bell as Anna who is another highlight here handling both the comedic moments, and her dramatic ones with ease and their chemistry is even more fully realized since they spend even more time together. They also have some cute interactions with Kristoff, Olaf, and Sven who do have their moments even if I wasn’t a fan of how certain things were done with them. Like I said I about Kristoff’s arc, despite Jonathan Groff giving a very good voice over, I wish he his arc was more compelling and it does feel like he’s gone for a good chunk of the movie. Josh Gad’s Olaf has the opposite problem because the way he was handled here was a bit of a mixed bag. On the one hand he is absolutely hilarious this time around and got some of the biggest laughs (one scene involving him retelling the first one is a stand out moment) and he had some pretty thoughtful scenes. On other hand though he can get a little too much at times, and his comedy can sometime distract from the more serious moments, though I still liked him here. Though I will say one of the more disappointing aspects was the underused supporting cast since one of the things I love about sequels is the new characters in a world that we get introduced to and this movie doesn’t really do much with them unfortunately. The most interesting of the batch are Sterling K. Brown as Lieutenant Mattias, a solider who served Anna’s grandfather and is trapped in the mist with other soldiers, and Martha Plimpton as Yelena, leader of the Northuldra Tribe. Both are introduced with a lot potential to play a bigger role and are interesting in their own rights but their lack of much screen time makes them feel like a missed opportunity. Others like the siblings Ryder (Jason Ritter), and Honeymaren (Rachel Matthews) also don’t get much to do with the latter existing to give some exposition, and the former to give Kristoff someone to befriend. But hey at least that gives more focus to the returning cast to keep doing their thing.
As mentioned before one of the reasons Frozen was such a pop culture sensation was its killer soundtrack with everyone having at least one favorite song they hummed to. While the songs here are most likely not going to come anywhere near that level of popularity, they still work well on their own terms. In the prologue there is the opener “All is Found” which is mostly there just to give exposition and fore shadow things later on but it gets the job done. Then there’s the typical setting up the status quo song, “Some Things Never Change”, which re introduces us to these characters well and it is pretty catchy all things considered. By far the most popular song here is “Into the Unknown” which feels like its trying to be the next “Let It Go”, but it still works in setting up Elsa’s internal conflict and is a pretty powerful number. Olaf gets another number with “When I’m Older” which admittedly comes out of left field and wasn’t really necessary but is still cute nonetheless. There’s also Kristoff’s song, “Lost In the Woods”, which is powerful love ballad though it was really the visuals that stood out the most here as it captures the feeling of an old 80s music video and it shockingly works. My favorite song though would have to be “Show Yourself” which feels more like a spiritual follow up to “Let It Go” as it tackles similar themes though it still works very well and is a very satisfying number. Lastly we have “The Next Right Thing” which Anna sings after a pivotal moment and it also conveys what she’s going through greatly and is overall a very good song. So while not as memorable as Frozen’s soundtrack I still think this is a very good selection that is sure to have at least some people singing along.
So while it may not have been as amazing as I was hoping, Frozen II is still a more than worthy follow up to its popular predecessor. Its far from perfect thanks to an uneven story structure, lack of any truly memorable newcomers, and some character arcs being more developed than others, but it still has some powerful themes, cool world building, compelling character arcs, gorgeous animation, and a solid soundtrack to make up for some of it. I’d say I liked it about as much as the original as this one does some things better while the other does things better as well (though I will appreciate the fact that there is no straight out villain here since it really wasn’t needed here). I think most fans will be satisfied as there is a lot to love, though if you weren’t big on the first one then you’ll either think this one is better or think its inferior, as it is hard to tell. While I personally think these films are the weakest of the new WDAS era, they still have clearly connected with many people and I’m glad this franchise has such a huge fanbase. Heck I wouldn’t even mind there being a third one as I can see the potential for another one. Still in the end though while it might not be an awesome sequel to a very good predecessor (its no How to Train Your Dragon 2), it is still a very good sequel to a very good predecessor (and I’ll take that over something lousy any day).
Rating: B+
Leave your thoughts down below in the comments and see you guys later!
Review Time 