'Frozen II' Follows The First With More Forgettable Fare
Starring Kristen Bell, Idina Menzel, Josh Gad, Jonathan Groff, Sterling K. Brown, Evan Rachel Wood, Alfred Molina, Jason Ritter, Alan Tudyk
PG
Animated
Run time: 1 hr, 43 min
Directed by Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee
In theaters November 22, 2019
It’s almost impossible to be a human in 2019 without knowing about Frozen. Especially if you have interacted with a child in the last five years. Between “Let It Go” and the myriad of toys available, Frozen fever was inescapable. There was hardly a single store that was Elsa (Menzel) and Anna (Bell) free. For some reason, that first movie in this franchise struck a chord that has rarely been matched by other animated films. I will admit, I don’t think it lived up to the hype (but I’m also a Justice for Tangled kind of person), but there’s something to be said about a story that tells the tale of a couple of sisters coming into their own and embracing who they are.
On that front, the Frozen sequel stands up to the task. This time around, the sisters have to go an adventure to stop disaster from striking their home city. There is some lore that seems to be true and they have to go visit an Enchanted Forest, using Elsa’s powers and Anna’s determination to solve a mystery and save their town. Kristoff (Groff), Olaf (Gad) and Sven are going along for the ride, with a handful of tunes, of course. A few side plots weave in and out (one of which includes a Kristoff solo song - something that was not present in the first) but almost seem to weigh the movie down. The film is easily at its strongest as it focuses on the main concept: in this film, girls run the world - and have to be the ones to save it.
Even without seeing a minute of Frozen, many still may be able to hum a few bars of “Let It Go” or “Do You Want To Build A Snowman.” Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately, for the parents of any Disney obsessed child), the songs in this sequel are lacking, being incredibly forgettable the second they’re done. The only one that sticks in my head is “Into the Unknown” and that’s more due to the Panic! At The Disco rendition that was released before the film. They’re clearly trying to remind us just how great of a singer Idina Menzel is, and while I’m not disputing that, these songs don’t serve her nearly as well as they could be.
Nevertheless, this movie is a great way to spend an hour and a half. It does fall victim to that sequel slump that tends to taint most series, but it’s not nearly as far as a drop as other Disney sequels (Mulan II, anyone?). One of the most striking moments of the whole film is another Elsa-feeling-herself kind of moment in one of her solo songs, which includes letting her hair fully down and changing into a dress that I couldn’t help but be envious of. If you’re a member of a family that loved the original Frozen, you’d be a fool to pass up seeing this on the big screen, but don’t go in expecting the same impact that the previous one seemed to have on every single little girl under the age of 10.