A Reel Review: FROZEN II

Even though it is only six years old, Disney’s FROZEN has become one of the famed studio’s classic animated films. With familiar and beloved elements such as princesses, castles, magic, funny animals and talking characters that shouldn’t be talking (and singing), the film has become a permanent fixture in our culture. FROZEN ended on a pitch-perfect note, but this is 2019 where everyone wants to build a franchise. So here comes our princesses and their friends again in FROZEN II. 

Elsa (Idina Menzel), begins to hear a mysterious call from the forest that no one else can. She journeys off to find its origin, and is joined by her sister Anna (Kristen Bell), Anna’s possible husband-to-be Kristoff (Jonathan Groff), and their snowman Olaf (Josh Gad). 

When FROZEN ended, Elsa and Anna came to terms with themselves; with Elsa learning to control her powers of ice and snow, and Anna re-discovering her sister. With such a perfect ending, the burden for FROZEN II is on returning directors Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee to justify a sequel. Their solution to evolve the FROZEN story is to take a look backwards, as the journey into the forest turns into a revelation of Elsa’s origin and their family history. 

The sisters’ journey is very much Heart of Darkness, with each stage of their trip leading to one pickle after another, including old missing soldiers, warring natives, and stone giants. During all this Elsa and Anna get their own arcs, with Elsa intent on finding her origin and Anna just wanting to be there for her sister. The plot has a lot going on, becomes complicated in places, and also takes a long time to establish. It feels like it could have been a lot simpler. 

FROZEN II goes into some dark places, with many close-calls and one significant character demise. The tone is heavier than the first film and it mostly feels like a very serious movie. Still, the movie is very funny with Olaf providing most of the side-splitting laughs. The animation is spectacular; the autumnal setting provides some stunning landscapes, and the eventual snowscapes equally breathtaking. The songs are excellent, with Idina Menzel’s Into the Unknown a spectacular highlight. As good as that song and the overall music is, FROZEN II lacks anything iconic like Let It Go or Do You Want to Build a Snowman.

Since this is Disney, we certainly get a happy ending, although the sisters wind up in places that isn’t quite satisfying; we’d much rather prefer the ending they had in the first film. FROZEN II is fun and worthwhile, even though it doesn’t fully re-capture the magic that made these characters and the world they inhabit so special the first time around. It’s not a disaster, but not a classic either. 

BOTTOM LINE: Rent it