Six years after the original movie hit theaters, Frozen 2 shows up in theaters this week. There wasn’t the same hype surrounding a new Star Wars. There were no photo leaks from the set like we see when a new Marvel movie is in production. Make no mistake though, this may be one of the most anticipated sequels we have seen this decade, and the good news is the second Frozen doesn’t disappoint.
The strength of the second film is that it recognizes the little girls that stood on their couches and pretended to build ice castles or started singing “Let It Go” in 2013 are now six years older. Queen Elsa, Princess Anna, Kristoff and even Olaf the magical singing snowman are dealing with more grownup fears and feelings. Watching this movie with my 10 year old daughter, I was very aware that if this were the movie that came out when she was four, that DVD wouldn't likely be played on a loop in our house the second she got home from pre-school everyday.
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Six years later, things are relatively peaceful in Arendale. Queen Elsa has a handle on her powers, but she keeps hearing a strange siren song. She tries to resist the urge to follow it, but eventually relents. From that moment things in the kingdom start to get strange and the citizens are forced to evacuate to the mountains while Elsa, Anna, Kristoff, his reindeer, Sven, and Olaf go to the Enchanted Woods to investigate.
We learn through flashbacks that the girls’ father nearly lost his life in the Woods when he was a child. Since then, the spirits that control the Woods have made it impossible for humans to ever get in or out of again.
Speaking of these flashbacks, eagle-eyed Disney fans should be on the lookout for cameos from Dumbo and Big Hero 6’s Baymax. And speaking of an eye (or in this case ear) for details, as a former rock radio DJ, I couldn’t help but appreciate that the siren song is an “ahh aaaahhhhh ahh” that comes from a land of ice and snow. Google it, kids.
Frozen 2 is much more of a musical than the original was. I don’t just mean that there are more songs as plot in the sequel. It also leans into some of the familiar beats of a musical script and checks the boxes of what those songs are supposed to be. That isn’t a bad thing, because there is still plenty of room for invention and originality.
This soundtrack has more bangers than the original. There are three songs that would be shoo-ins for the Academy Award for Best Original Song in a year they were not all nominated against each other. Elsa has two “Let It Go” songs in this movie. “Into the Unknown” is the adventure song. “Show Yourself” is the inspirational number that will almost surely be adopted as an LGBTQ anthem within the year. Both tracks are absolutely excellent and total ear worms.
The real standout in terms of the prestige songs belongs to Kristin Bell as Princess Anna. “The Next Right Thing” is beautiful and heartbreaking. So look, I am a fanatic for The Good Place, which stars Bell as a reformed Arizona trash bag just trying to do the right thing to redeem herself and save humanity from the judgment and whims of the beings that control the afterlife. It is hard not to hear Kristin Bell’s voice singing this song and think it would be just as perfect for Eleanor Shellstrop singing this to her boyfriend Chidi, who cannot hear her as it is for Anna singing it to her sister Elsa, who isn’t there to understand how and why Anna is lost.
Now, the real standout song period is Kristoff’s solo number “Lost in the Woods.” This is the piece that shows songwriters Robert Lopez and Kristin Andersen-Lopez are just operating on a different level from the rest of Disney’s go-to songwriters. The song itself and the animated sequence that accompanies it are a perfect send up of Richard Marx’s 80s and early 90s soft rock anthems. When you hear it and see it for the first time, keep “Glory of Love” in the back of your mind. It has way more in common with the sound of “Lost in the Woods” than any Disney musical number does.
It would be a crime to review Frozen II and not mention just how beautiful this movie is. The landscapes and wardrobes are perfectly detailed. The color choices perfectly compliment, and probably more likely set the mood of each scene.
Finally, a Disney movie isn’t a Disney movie without an adorable sidekick, and Olaf the snowman may be the most perfect adorable sidekick the company has ever created. He has all the fuzziness and hugability of Thumper with the goofy innocence of Pumbaa, and the smart aleck nature of the Genie. He is a genuinely funny character and a big part of that is Josh Gad. It may be the most perfect voice casting Disney has done since James Woods was cast as Hades in 1997’s Hercules.
The combo of Gad and Robert Lopez and Kristin Andersen-Lopez has paid off before, and it’s reasonable to assume that the hiring of one led to the hiring of the others for the Frozen franchise. Olaf is so imbued with the sensibilities and silliness of Book of Mormon’s Arnold Cunningham (the Broadway role that earned Tonys for both Gad and the Lopezes) that it is impossible to see anyone else as that adorable little snowman.
It would have been so easy for Disney to get Frozen II wrong. I don’t think the company intended for the sequel to take six years to make it to theaters, but it is clear the time that has passed was considered in and influenced the script.
It has been a rough year for animation at the box office. Beloved franchised like the Lego Movie and How to Train Your Dragon saw their latest entries flop earlier in the year. That means that it isn’t just Disney, but all of Hollywood hanging its hopes on Frozen II having a big 2019. In terms of entertainment, this movie absolutely delivers. Whether that translates into ticket sales remains to be seen, but who are we kidding? This thing is going to make a billion dollars by the end of the month.
Demetri Ravanos is a member of the N.C. Film Critics Association and has reviewed movies for Raleigh and Company, Military1.com and The Alan Kabel Radio Network.