Frozen 2
Directed by: Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee
Run-time: 103 minutes
It would be an understatement to say that kids really love Frozen. The bane of many parents’ existence; Disney’s 2013 princess tale was a surprise hit, making children worldwide dress in frosty blue outfits and sing along to the catchy tunes time and time again. Although this wide-reaching popularity had it’s price; Frozen moved from being a well-written and well-constructed Disney fairy-tale to an annoying, over-played (and some would say, over-rated) piece of corporate pop culture that sold far too much merchandise. In essence, Frozen wasn’t cool anymore (pun definitely intended). Children, however, have not been able to get enough of it, prompting the decision for Disney to make their first big-budget princess sequel (the direct-to-video trashy sequels do not count here).
It is important to say that, apart from the inevitable profit this thing will rake in, there was no reason for this film to be made. Like most fairy-tales, the original Frozen had a nice, tightly-crafted story that was neatly wrapped up into a happy ending. To be honest, I went into this film with absolutely no idea about what the plot of this thing could even be, and, I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised. Is the screenplay Oscar-worthy? Well, no. There were pacing issues all over the place, Anna’s character was quite uninteresting until she was given something at the end, and most of the mysteries were quite easily predicted. However, the story was engaging enough to hold my interest, and I really think a 5-year-old me would have loved this thing.
Frozen 2 excels in it’s world-building. One of my main criticisms of the original film were the obvious shortcuts taken in it’s animation, feeling like a lot of frames looked cheap. The sequel, however, has improved on this greatly. I felt a childlike wonder while gazing at the enchanted forests and lush landscapes, wishing I could use the cinema screen as a portal to step into the magical world. The concepts and designs of the elemental spirits, a beautiful piece of lore-building, were quite inventive and gorgeous, and it made the semi-predictable plot a little more palatable. Basically, this thing looked very pretty, and there were plenty of new princess outfits and cuddly toy concepts that will definitely empty money out of parents’ wallets this Christmas.
The first film is renowned for its iconic soundtrack; some love it, and some despise it, but we all know it. I would say that here lies the film’s greatest disappointment. This film’s main power-ballad, “Into the Unknown,” is definitely epic and catchy, and is definitely written to rival “Let it Go,” but only time will tell if it’ll transform into such a formidable ear-worm. However, the original soundtrack had more than “Let it Go;” every song was, for the most part, there for a purpose, with some engaging animated sequences to go along with them. The soundtrack to this film seemed very much like an ancillary soundtrack, like one of the cheap, bargain-bin records that boast “MORE music inspired by The Big Chill.” Sure, it’s always good to hear the likes of Idina Menzel and Jonathon Groff belt out a tune, but a lot of the ancillary songs throughout this film seemed a little lacklustre. For the most part, the story would grind to a halt only for a character to sing a song alone, as the entire background would turn black. “Lost in the Woods,” Groff’s power-ballad, at least has some personality to it… and was genuinely hilarious.
Is this film much more than a merchandise factories wet dream? Well, not really. There were some inventive ideas sprinkled throughout Frozen 2, and it was an entertaining flick, even if it didn’t truly step out of its pointlessness. However, I can’t bring myself to give it a hyper negative review for one reason; the absolute joy and laughter I felt permeating from the children in the cinema. This feeling was something I have very rarely felt before. Little girls dressed up in their prettiest blue dresses lined up outside our screening, so excited to meet the Elsa-stand-in hired for the premiere. To put it simply; this film made a bunch of kids happy, and you can’t get too angry about that. While the cynical adult in me inwardly groaned at the prospect of seeing this film, my inner child was singing along with the colourful characters and, sometimes, it’s nice to let go and give in to that naive joy.
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