Surprisingly to everyone, including Disney, it became a monumental pop culture phenomenon, inspiring a bevy of spin-offs and merchandising possibilities, that helped Disney establish their newfound position as a global superpower. And despite the rarity of seeing Disney Animation tackle a sequel, perhaps the dollar signs made Frozen all too irresistible, as we now rejoin the continuing adventures of Elsa and Anna, as they venture into the unknown in Frozen II, an ambitious follow-up that, nevertheless, is a bit of a fixer-upper.
Set several years since the original film, after mysterious elemental forces plague the kingdom of Arendelle, Queen Elsa (Idina Menzel) intends to find the apparent source of the power, a mysterious siren that calls to her. Believing it to be linked to an old bedtime story told by her parents (Evan Rachel Wood's Queen Iduna and Alfred Molina's King Agnarr), she sets off to find the mythical Enchanted Forest with her sister Anna (Kristen Bell), snowman Olaf (Josh Gad), ice harvester Kristoff (Johnathan Groff) and his reindeer Sven. In doing so, she may uncover the secrets to the forest's downfall, and even the origin of her mystical powers.
Frozen II brings back most of the original team behind the first film, including directors Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee, whose goal with this follow-up is to simultaneously tell a more intimate and epic story, while expanding on the greater world beyond Arendelle. As such, there is a lot of potential to mine from this story, but while those ideas are terrific in concept, in execution there's much to be desired.
The strongest quality of the original story was the bond between the two sisters, with the younger Anna getting the lion's share of focus and character development. In the sequel, leading status has been shifted to Elsa's favor (played terrifically once again by Idina Menzel), to give her more growth as a player. Since the original, she's learned to better control her powers, and finally has some long overdue peace in her life. Time to spend looking over the kingdom, and share in friendly games of charades with her family. But there's still so much she still wants to know, history she has to uncover, but in doing so, that may mean uprooting herself out of her happy kingdom life, for answers she may not want to uncover.
Change becomes a major recurring theme for Frozen II, and the sometimes unpleasant consequences and fears of those changes coming to pass. Loved ones drifting away, irrational fear of the foreign or unknown, even to the dark side of change, directly evoking connections to historic colonialism. For better and for worse, all that change and more becomes a necessary stepping stone for Elsa, to further aid her in controlling her abilities, and possibly find closure she's long since craved.
All the other original characters also find their way back, but their mileage wildly varies from character to character. Kristen Bell's Anna is once again a winning creation, sharing in an excellent and tender chemistry with her sister, grappling with her own fears of change for the future, frightened by the idea of losing her sister all over again, while also pushing past that fear to be a braver individual. Josh Gad's Olaf also makes a return, albeit with less successful results. For the most part, his character's contributions are as a reactionary figure, bringing levity to the film through his comic relief. While he does get some effective comedy as a result, most of his devoted screentime is really just padding, and it's at this point that his novelty is wearing off. But at least he has something to do, because I genuinely wondered why Johnathan Groff's Kristoff was even here, as his sections of the film are the dullest. His schtick mostly revolves around his repeated attempts to propose to Anna, sometimes leading him into some sitcom level stakes, and every time it cut back to him, my interest waned.
Screenplay duties are once again handed off to co-director Jennifer Lee, aided in the story department by four other writers (and contributions by Alison Schroeder), so it's no surprise that Frozen II is a mess in story and structure, because there is just too much plot. Frozen II has a number of juicy ideas and interesting subplots to make use of, but rather than pick a few of them and expand them to their fullest potential, the film throws out any semblance of self-control, throwing all of those ideas and the kitchen sink into the mix.
Outside of the main driving force of Elsa's quest to uncover the secrets of her past, and anything to do with the original cast, we also have new conflicts present within the Enchanted Forest. One of which is owed to a mysterious rivalry between Arendelle, and the Northuldra who inhabit the land, with Sterling K. Brown and Martha Plimpton voicing the two sides' respective leaders. That in itself could have made for strong material, but they get sidelined almost as quickly as they're introduced, and so much of the film feels like that. Poor Evan Rachel Wood is brought on to serve as the new voice for Queen Iduna, but she might as well be a bit part for how little significance she has.
And there is so much ambition that is ripe for the picking, but by the end of it all, the film just leaves all those threads dangling. That is, if those threads even started at all. With the amount of ground to cover in this film, often all the film will do is pay the bare minimum of attention to them, and then proceed to do nothing with it. As such, the stakes end up feeling incredibly low or artificial because of it, which you can get a real taste for in the film's climax, which is such an underwhelming conclusion, I was honestly surprised the movie was almost over. It was so non-eventful and indifferent, I was almost convinced I was watching one of Disney's direct to video sequels.
That said, the film has its share of incredible technical skill to its credit, none the least of which is Disney's always impressive animation. While the film doesn't take full advantage of its world in the story department, the animators go that extra mile in making their world feel alive and mystical, from the wonderful expressions present on each character's face, to the awe-inspiring beauty of the magic flowing through the world, as well as one adorably destructive salamander.
Being a musical, we also have Kristen and Robert Lopez returning for songwriting duty, penning seven original numbers for the film. That said, one may want to keep their expectations somewhat tempered for their contributions this time. Compared to the original film, the staging and songwriting are a lot more subdued, perhaps owed to the film's attempts at a more serious tone, which unfortunately means it can't go as stylized. But the songs are still incredibly effective when they do show up, with their own catchy melodies and more of the Lopezes witty writing, with highlights including "Into the Unknown" and "Show Yourself." Just don't expect any of the songs to hit the majestic heights of "Let it Go."
Frozen II had a lot of promise, especially coming off the feels of such a great film as Frozen. But, while this certainly had no shortage of enjoyable qualities, it's also a lot messier as a production. What narrative ideas it does have are commendable, and if it had streamlined and expanded on just a few of them, those that shone brightest could have made this an epic to rival the original. Instead, it feels like no idea was left off the table, and the film suffers for it. The film can be best described by Olaf himself, who in one comic set-piece recounts the story of the original film, including the line "then a bunch of other stuff happened, and there was a happy ending." That is perfectly representative of how scattershot this movie feels, unfolding a bunch of ideas in front of us, and then it stops. By the time it has the chance to go full steam, it's already time to walk out, when it should feel like much more of an event.
If you're a fan of Frozen, then I imagine you'll get some enjoyment out of this follow-up, but it adds little to the original's legacy.
*** / *****
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