Frozen II Review

Frozen is arguably Disney’s most successful animated film, it certainly is from a financial standpoint. Disney has been milking that film ever since by making shorts, licensing the property, and now the first theatrical sequel for one of their famous princesses.

Since the events of the first film, Arendelle has entered into a time of peace, prosperity, and openness. Despite this Elsa (Idina Menzel) starts to hear a mysterious voice calling to her, leading to the snow queen accidentally awakens the elemental spirits. The spirits end up forcing the people of Arendelle to evacuate the capital. Elsa, Anna (Kristen Bell), Kristoff (Jonathan Groff), Olaf (Josh Gad), and Sven the Reindeer travel northwards to Enchanted Forest and find out why the spirits and people of the forest turned against Arendelle.

For a long time Disney refused to make sequels to their films. The only exception was The Rescuers Down Under which was considered a flop for the studio. In the ’90s and ’00s, Disney dumped out straight-to-video/straight-to-DVD films that hurt the company’s reputation. Yet Frozen made over a billion dollars, so the laws of cinema dictate a sequel had to be made if the film was a standalone adventure.

Considering Frozen II is Disney’s first proper sequel to a Disney Princess film the studio had to put in the effort when making it. They waited six years before releasing the sequel and Jennifer Lee came back as writer/co-director. And the people involved did a good job of continuing the story.

Frozen II’s DNA was more in line with 2016’s Moana. Like Moana, there was a lingering threat upon a community due to the spirits of nature being disturbed. Also like Moana, the main characters have to travel to the unknown to find the source of the problem. The filmmakers who made Moana did extensive research on Polynesian culture and Frozen II did something similar with the Northuldra tribe who were based on the Sami people. The Northuldra were peaceful people who were in tune with nature. All of this, along with a big reveal at the end of the second act, gives Frozen II an environmental theme.

The other aspect Frozen II was like Moana was through the character arcs. Moana and Elsa wanted to explore and do more with their lives. They have a duty for their people and go on the quest because of the threat homes face. And the quest allows for the characters on a journey of self-discovery.

Frozen II had a surprisingly philosophical edge. Elsa and Anna have to find out about the truth of what happened when the leadership of Arendelle and Northuldra met and explored Elsa’s need for belonging. The other philosophical storyline involved Olaf the Snowman who believes that life will make more sense when he gets older.

The film opens with a backstory about the four elements and this brought back memories of the Avatar: The Last Airbender series. More particularly the second season of The Legend of Korra where spirits were rebelling and Korra had to fix a great wrong. The elemental spirits had a physical manifestation and Elsa had to tame them. Her job in the film was to bring two distance people back together.

Although Frozen II adds new plot ideas the film keeps one central element from the first film: the relationship between the sisters. In Frozen Elsa and Anna grew apart and when Elsa runs away Anna has to go out and find her older sister. In the sequel, Elsa and Anna try to protect each other on their quest. Elsa’s view was her powers to protect her, whilst Anna feels Elsa cannot go on the quest alone.

Frozen was known for its musical numbers with “Let It Go” being one of the most famous Disney songs. Frozen II had a lot to live up to and it did provide some solid songs. “Into the Unknown” and “Show Yourself” were the big numbers for Idina Menzel and were essentially this film’s “Let It Go.” Both songs were emotionally charged, especially “Show Yourself” when Elsa goes deeper and deeper into a cave to find out about the past.  However, “Show Yourself” has a reference to “Let It Go” where Elsa shakes her head in embarrassment – this seemed like a reference to the backlash to the song being overplayed.

Anna had an emotional sound, “The Next Right Thing”, which was sung at her lowest moments. My favourite was Kristoff “Lost in the Woods” because it was a cheesy ’80s power ballad. It adds to Kristoff’s subplot where he is trying to propose to Anna.

Frozen II worked as a continuation to billion-dollar original. It built on the backstory and the mythology of this world and avoided being a carbon copy of the first film.