Frozen 2
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Frozen 2, stylized as Frozen II, is an American computer-animated musical fantasy film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios. The 58th film produced by the studio, it is the sequel to the 2013 film Frozen, and features the return of directors Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee, producer Peter Del Vecho, songwriters Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez, and composer Christophe Beck. The veteran voice cast Idina Menzel, Kristen Bell, Jonathan Groff, Josh Gad, and Santino Fontana return as their previous characters, and are joined by newcomers Sterling K. Brown, Evan Rachel Wood, Alfred Molina (both replacing Maurice LaMarche and Jennifer Lee), Martha Plimpton, Rachel Matthews, and Jason Ritter. The film premiered at Dolby Theatre in Hollywood on November 7, 2019, followed by the film's release by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures in the United States on November 22, 2019.
Plot
Three years after the events of the first film, Elsa starts to hear a strange sound from the north calling her. Together with her sister Anna, Kristoff, Olaf, and Sven, they embark on a new journey beyond their homeland of Arendelle to discover the origin of Elsa's magical powers and save their kingdom.
Why It Freezes Again, Except Still in a Good Way
- We finally get to find out the origins of Elsa's powers, which the original had a vague explanation of how she got them. It will also answer multiple questions that were never answered in the original.
- It's also shown here that Elsa's powers have grown immensely since the first film. The very beginning of the film shows that small releases of ice from her hands are powerful enough to be able to form thick frost around whatever it comes into contact with. And this, combined with honed concentration, leaves her capable of conjuring her magic in impressive and stronger forms, from controlling all the ice particles to creating lifelike ice sculptures of people from memory to trying to cross the dark sea by freezing the deadly waves from the sea. Whereas Frozen showed that she was capable of manipulating the flow of snowflakes, her control over heavier forms of ice was truly demonstrated here, the most prominent example being during the song "Show Yourself". Where Elsa successfully lifts the ice pillars through the air with nothing but a whisk of her hands as if they weighed nothing. When the fire spirit attacked, Elsa was able to extinguish an entire forest floor covered in fire
- Beautiful and well-done animation, which is a major step up from Disney's other films. The whole winter landscape is well done and not just a fairytale place or a dream world. And the amazing animation also helps some of the already dazzling scenes like the visuals of "Show Yourself" pop a lot more.
- The voice acting is still great (as to be expected from most Disney films), especially when it comes to singing.
- The new cast also includes Sterling K. Brown, Evan Rachel Wood, and Alfred Molina.
- The musical numbers are no short of phenomenal, with stellar vocals, complex lyrics, and breathtaking visuals to back them up. And while all of them are amazing, three in particular especially stand out as possibly being some of the best masterpieces in both animation and vocals in the entire movie, which is saying a lot: "Into the Unknown", "Lost in the Woods", and "Show Yourself". "Into the Unknown", a song that is considered by many to be this film's answer to, "Let It Go", from the first film, is dedicated to both Elsa's reluctance, and urge, to follow the mysterious voice, that's calling out to her. "Lost in the Woods", is an expansion on, "Reindeers are Better than People", another song from the first film. And "Show Yourself" is the song with the most amount of singers; Elsa, Queen Iduna, and a group of vocalists to back up.
- Again, it's able to evaluate sisterhood, love, and empowerment, for its themes, and messages.
- Also, it even spreads a message about teamwork, courage, and perseverance.
- The characters are still likable.
- Anna continues to be a brave, kind, and loving sister, and Elsa, now that she's able to control her powers, uses them so that she can save her kingdom. Both characters care for and support each other throughout their journey.
- None of the dialogue is preachy. "I can do it--you can do it--we can do it.", is demonstrated as the main thrust, of all the action sequences, which is brilliant.
- The whole concept of Spirits of the Enchanted Forest (mythical creatures that harness the magic of nature, these elements include water, fire, wind, earth, and a fifth spirit that bridges magic and humanity) is a very interesting one, and each one introduced is unique and fascinating in their way, which is to be expected given how they're mythical elemental creatures.
- Bruni, the elemental spirit of fire, is a purple lizard who's shy at first, but quickly bonds to those with the patience to understand him.
- The Nokk, the elemental spirit of water, is a horse-like creature with a body made completely out of water.
- The Earth Giants, the elemental spirits of Earth, are 4 mountain-sized colossuses made entirely out of rock.
- Gale, the elemental spirit of air, is a living tornado with a playful personality, despite her introduction implying her to be hostile.
- Their backstory is also very interesting. The spirits originally dwelled in the Enchanted Forest, a magical area inhabited by the Northuldra tribe. The Northuldra have a deep reverence for nature, and in gratitude, the spirits used their magic to aid the tribesmen. So long as their home was respected, the spirits lived with humanity in harmony. 34 years before the events of the film, however, King Runeard of Arendelle secretly sought to drain the Northuldra's resources. Runeard commissioned the construction of a dam in the middle of the forest and presented it to the tribe as a gift of peace. When the Northuldra leader realized the dam was hurting the forest, Runeard secretly killed him and initiated a war between the Northuldra and the Arendellians, though neither side knew that Runeard was the instigator. The spirits were angered by the violence and turned their magic against humanity. Amid the chaos, a young Northuldran girl named Iduna rescued Runeard's son, Prince Agnarr, thus allowing the two to escape. Afterward, a curse was placed on the forest, encapsulating the land and all of its inhabitants within an impenetrable mist.
- The, "Lost in the Woods", sequence is a perfect blend of both emotional and funny.
- The dark tone handles very well, more than the first movie.
- Christophe Beck's musical score is amazing.
- Olaf's recap to the previous movie and this film's recap during the post-credit scene is a pretty nice touch to the (possible) send-off to the Frozen franchise.
Bad Qualities
- The plot can be a bit hard to follow for some.
- Except for Elsa, all the major characters from the first film have lost their charm due to devastating characterization from the first film, the new characters aren't also very interesting either, like Lieutenant Mattias and Yelana. They get less than five lines of dialogue each, and have little-to-no impact on the plot.
- King Runeard is portrayed as a weak and minor villain who has little-to-no onscreen presence other than in flashbacks. The reason why he feared magic is lame, as it's just because, "it makes people feel too powerful [and] entitled [to] defy the will of a king." However, the novel Dangerous Secrets: The Story of Iduna and Agnarr shows him to be more heinous.
- Anna's just kind of there her cheerful personality is sadly no longer in the second film. She mainly just follows Elsa around and gives her emotional support. Although to be fair, she does get to be active during the climax. Her bad characterization almost ruined her character, like somebody else.
- Olaf's pretty much-repeating everything he did in the first film, so he gets nothing new to do.
- Kristoff has been reduced to pointless comic relief who constantly fumbles, and fails to propose a marriage to Anna which will quickly get repetitive.
- Sven barely gets to do anything.
- The new forms of magic were vaguely explained and maybe a bit confusing for certain viewers.
- Wasted potential for the ending. Since this film was trying to take a darker route with themes of colonialism, lies, and xenophobia, having the giant wave of water crash into Arendelle and drown the city could've been a great and powerful moment, showing that there are consequences for bad deeds from your past; especially what Runeard did to the Northuldra all those years ago as some of the audience would have known that King Runeard never cared about the dam holding a towering amount of water behind it which would create a tidal wave big enough to annihilate his kingdom when broken showcasing him not minding about endangering his homeland simply to consolidate his power, although one could say that it was more deserving due to how he never truly cares about Arendelle.
- As catchy as the musical numbers are, some of them can be a bit unnecessary considering there are new songs every three or four minutes, some of them could be cut without missing a thing.
Reception
Frozen II received generally positive reviews with praise for its characters and humor, though its story was considered inferior to its predecessor. The film's music received a polarized response. The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reports that 78% of 331 reviews given to the film were positive; the average rating was 6.70/10. Its critical consensus reads: "Frozen II can't quite recapture the showstopping feel of its predecessor, but it remains a dazzling adventure into the unknown." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 64 out of 100, based on 43 critics, indicating, "generally favorable reviews". Audience polled by CinemaScore gave the average grade of "A–", lower than the previous film's A+, on an A+ to F scale, while PostTrak reported a 4.5 out of 5-star rating, from audiences on the film's opening day.
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