Three years have passed after Anna (Kristen Bell) and Elsa (Idina Menzel) reconciled and opened the gates of the castle to the people of Arendelle, the sisters celebrate Autumn with their subjects. But a mysterious voice calls out to Elsa. As she heeds the voice, the kingdom is besieged by elemental spirits who force the townspeople to flee town. Elsa and Anna must find out the connection of the voice with Elsa's powers and an enchanted forest to the north of Arendelle. Also Kristoff (Jonathan Groff) and Olaf (Josh Gad) come along.
In the interest of full disclosure, I had not seen Frozen until this past Saturday in preparation for this movie and review. I'm glad I was able to go into this with fresh eyes and the previous film still fresh in my mind. That all having been said, I can say I get that why this IP has become as popular as it has. Even if its use of subverting conventional Disney tropes is a bit passe at this point, it is still an engaging, heart-warming story of sisterly love and learning to live without fear of others or of yourself. Frozen 2 shows that not everyone is strong enough to face their fears, but everyone has the capability of overcoming them if they are willing to.
This time, we have songs about Autumn, being yourself, a Peter Ceterra-style power ballad about not knowing where you stand in a relationship, maturity, and so many more songs. If you like songs with a lot of musical numbers then Frozen 2 has more than its fill. I'd venture as far to say there's at least two too many. Elsa gets at least two big musical numbers, (Into The Unknown, Show Yourself) and they both feel important to the story on top of just being really good songs.
The story this time around does expand the world of Arendelle somewhat, revealing an enchanted forest full of magical forest spirits and perhaps the secret behind Elsa's powers. We see that the conflict is not a particular villain they have to fight, which is pretty refreshing for a Disney movie, in my opinion, but the same enemy as before: fear. The entire theme of the story appears to be exploration and conquering fears of the unknown or that you don't readily understand.
Watching both movies back to back, it occurs to me that the Frozen movies are, first and foremost, character movies. They focus more on the growing and developing relationships with Anna and Elsa and their respective friends circles. While Frozen was a bit more heavily focused on Anna repairing her bond with Elsa as well as finding what real love actually is, this time around Elsa gets the bulk of the heavy lifting with the onus of the story being how she gained her abilities as well as finding out more about her and Anna's parents.
Kristoff and Olaf, for the first two acts, seem to simply tag along in order to remind us they're there, though Olaf's constant rambling about "water having memory" does provide some plot critical information later. Kristoff's only major contribution seems to be Lost In The Woods, the aforementioned 80's power ballad. It's a hilariously cheesy and over the top scene but I also get where he's coming from. He thinks highly of Anna and wants to propose but isn't quite able to get the words out properly, leading to, admittedly, groan-inducing misunderstandings between the two. He's a little insecure and unsure about himself because he finds himself struggling to keep up with someone who can challenge, if not surpass him. It's relatable but I don't think the movie really gets a chance to dig too deep into it.
That's something of a flaw in Frozen 2. There's a rich, deep story beneath the glacier of potential, but the storytellers seemed to want to give us a small tidbit of it, not digging in too deeply into the world being built. We're introduced to the Northuldra, a Native American-esque tribe that resides in the enchanted forest and we're given virtually nothing about their history, their ancestry. All we're told is that they live in balance with nature, which is how some can commune with or harness the forest spirits. But once the mission is underway, them as well as Kristoff vanish for a good chunk of the movie.
For the most part, I enjoyed Frozen 2, it's a good, logical continuation of the story of Anna and Elsa, changing from one status quo to the next. If I'm being honest, though, I'd either conclude the story here or maybe fast forward the story a few years. Or at the very least, explore the history of Arendelle a little bit more.
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