Written and Directed by: Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee
Cast: Kristen Bell, Idina Menzel, Josh Gad
Clearly, the Frozen hype train hasn’t stopped. People are still going crazy over Elsa, Anna, Olaf, and the rest of the gang. They are all over the Disney Parks, and Frozen II has been in theaters for a few weeks now and has broken all kinds of box office records. But was it really that great? Let’s investigate . . .
I saw it on opening night (of course). Just like with Frozen, the previews didn’t give away much of the plot, which is GOOD! I didn’t know what to expect, except that the same cast from the original returned for the sequel. Elsa (Menzel), her sister Anna (Bell), their friend, or pet, or I don’t really know what he is to them, snowman Olaf (Gad), and Anna’s boyfriend Kristof (Jonathan Groff) and his reindeer Sven are back in Arendelle, except this time, they leave Arendelle on an adventure!
Now that Elsa has control of her powers, things have been going well. Except lately, Elsa keeps hearing a voice, and it seems to be calling to her. Actually, it’s more like singing out to her. She can’t ignore it, and it keeps getting stronger and stronger until one night she just can’t ignore it any longer.
Suddenly, strange things start happening, and nature starts rebelling and it’s almost like an earthquake happened. All the citizens of Arendelle flee to higher ground, where they are met by the Trolls and the Grand Pabbie tells them that the spirits of the Enchanted Forest are ticked off over something that happened in the long long ago, and they have to go make it right. Now, I can’t remember if this was mentioned, but why this is coming up now and not years ago or years in the future is beyond me. But whatever, something has to happen for there to be a movie, right? They can’t just sit around and sing songs and do nothing.
Moving on . . . Elsa, Anna, Olaf, Kristof, and Sven head off on their adventure to the Enchanted Forest which is surrounded by a mysterious mist. They get sucked in and separated. Once they regroup and find their bearings, they meet a tribe of Northuldra and their leader Yelena (Martha Plimpton) along with a group of soldiers from Arendelle and their leader Lt. Destin Mattias (Sterling K. Brown). Both groups have been trapped in the Enchanted Forest for years because of the mysterious mist and an apparent curse because of the bad thing that the Grand Pabbie was talking about.
The remainder of the film involves finding out about the bad thing and rectifying it, Elsa finding out the reason why she has her power, and the truth about what happened to their parents (and a debunking of a certain fan myth). Some new characters are introduced, including Ryder (Jason Ritter), his sister Honeymaren (Rachel Matthews), some mean looking Earth Giants, a Wind Spirit that Olaf names Gale, and a Fire Spirit named Bruni who is SUPER CUTE!!!! If you haven’t noticed, this movie deals with the elements a lot.
Of course, there was Disney quality music. I thought the songs were great, especially Kristof’s boy-band-esque performance of “Lost in the Woods.” The “Let It Go” song from this movie is “Into the Unknown,” which actually mashes up pretty well if you sing them both together – “Let It Gooooooo Into the Unknoooooooooown.”
Frozen II was darker than the first, both visually and story-wise. It’s still a family-friendly film; it’s just not all lighthearted sunshine and fun. There were a few emotional moments as well.
My investigation revealed that Frozen II really was that great! Young children might be a little frightened of the Earth Giants, but as long as mom or grandma are there to protect them, they will be ok! This continued the story that started with Frozen, picked up again in “Frozen Fever,” then resumed in “Olaf’s Frozen Adventure.”
