Well, that was a longer gap between articles than I had hoped. I’d apologize to my loyal readers, but the stats suggest I don’t have any…
Anyway, while I tend to go to the movies every week these days, that was not the case when the first Frozen came out. At the time, I had little interest in a kid’s movie with a song that everyone seemed to love, making me think that alone was a good reason to avoid it. Yes, I am that snob sometimes. Consequently, I only got around to seeing it rather recently. And…I actually liked it. Good animation, a nice twist or two on the classic Disney fairy tale structure, and yeah, that song was that good.
So, anyway, I did opt to see the new Frozen II immediately.
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Time has passed in the kingdom of Arendale. Ilsa is still the queen, Anna is still dating Kristoff, and Olaf is still there. But there’s something strange in the air. Ilsa is hearing a strange voice in the air coming from the enchanted forest to the North. A tale she and Anna heard in their childhood told them something terrible happened there between the princesses’ grandfather and the natives up there. Since then, the forest has been cut off from, oh, everybody. But when Ilsa awakens the nature spirits from there, the citizens are forced out of Arandel by what seems to be odd magic. No one is hurt, but the only answer is for Ilsa to venture into the forest and learn exactly what happened with her grandfather all those years ago.
Naturally, Anna, Olaf, Kristoff, and Sven go along.
So, Frozen II has a lot of strengths to it The animation is actually better, as demonstrated when the movie shows a couple flashback scenes to the original. A horse made out of water is incredibly impressive by itself. The characters are still fun, and the more female-oriented heroics are still there kicking ass. And the plot mostly revolves around solving a mystery from years earlier.
That said, it isn’t quite as fresh as the first. Few sequels are. Arguably, Frozen II doesn’t offer any new tricks, and that is especially true in one crucial area: the songs. It’s doubtful the movie could hope to match the power and magic of “Let It Go,” so instead the movie features many more songs than the original had. If you can’t get the quality, I suppose they opted to go for quantity instead. All of them were fine, but none really stood out to me. The best might have been Kristoff’s solo, something that sounded like an 80s romantic power ballad.
Ultimately, Frozen II does a good job of advancing the story of Ilsa, Anna, and the power of sisterly love. What criticisms I can make are relatively mild, and it’s a fine movie that doesn’t quite live up to the first one. Then again, a near miss to such a great original is hardly a bad thing.
Grade: B+
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