Frozen II
Early on in “Frozen II,” it feels as though the film is going to just go full-on fan service and encore mode without really telling us an interesting emotional story. Granted, the opening has the setup for the plot that Elsa and Anna will follow through on in a story their parents tell them about the time a dam was built for a neighboring village by their grandfather, but the way the film builds up to the journey that will lead them towards discovering the truth of that act, one gets the sense that Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee are simply going through the motions of a crowd-pleasing sequel, thinking our affection for the characters will carry us through the story for 103 minutes. Thankfully, the film catches some emotional grounding in expanding on Elsa and Anna as characters, and the result is a successful sequel to the 2013 blockbuster, even if it doesn’t live up to the expectations the first one built up.
This film looks stunning from an animation standpoint. It’s darker visually, and the detail is immaculate. There’s some beautiful imagery in the film. Buck and Lee also make some great choices in how they stage musical sequences- my favorite is one that Kristoff has that is animated like an ‘80s power ballad music video- but the songs, though fine to listen to, are not as memorable on the whole as the original’s are. “Into the Unknown” and “Show Yourself” are really good high points for Idina Menzel as Elsa, and “The Next Right Thing” highlights Kristen Bell very well, but Olaf’s solo song, “When I Am Older,” doesn’t appear to have much value beyond giving Josh Gad a chance to use his singing style again, and be funny. I wish there was more that I really liked about this soundtrack.
The premise of expanding this world, the magic that Elsa has, and how their family’s legacy shaped everything, is a solid one for a sequel to this movie. The plot mechanics to get to the film’s emotional thrust is where the film kind of loses me. It’s not enough for this film to have musical numbers or great visuals, but we have to have the emotional weight of this story for Elsa and Anna charted from the outset, and it takes too long to get there. The first part of this film is reintroducing the characters, and it’s filler. (I will say, though, that Kristoff’s continually-interrupted proposals to Anna, which have her questioning the “romantic” things we typically hear in movie proposals, is one of the funniest things I’ve seen this year.) This story comes down to Elsa and Anna, and when it gets to those emotional beats, they’re affecting in the same way the original was. The film ends up landing its punches; I just wish it hadn’t taken so long in setting them up.
