Frozen 2 - Film Review

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Frozen 2 is a 2019 American animated film and the 58th film produced by Walt Disney Studios. Frozen 2 is the sequel to the 2013 film Frozen, which was based loosely off the Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale "The Snow Queen". Frozen told the story of a young princess named Anna who sets off on a journey with an iceman, a reindeer and a snowman to reunite with her estranged sister, Elsa, whose ice powers have plunged their kingdom into winter.

Frozen was well received by critics and earned significant commercial success, bringing in a box office totalling $1.276 billion. The film was nominated and won a number of awards, including two Academy Awards, one for Best Animated Feature and another for Best Original Song (Let It Go). After the cultural impact of Frozen, Disney announced on 12 March 2015 that a sequel was in development.

The success of Frozen saw the same team that created the first film return to create the sequel. Frozen 2 was directed by Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee, produced by Peter Del Vecho, the screenplay was written by Jennifer Lee, Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez returned as songwriters and Christophe Beck composed the music. The film stars Idina Menzel, Kristen Bell, Jonathan Groff and Josh Gad.

Frozen 2 is set three years after the end of the first film and follows the adventures of Elsa, Anna, Kristoff, Olaf the snowman and Sven the reindeer who go on a quest to discover the origins of Elsa's magical ice powers.

Kristoff (Jonathan Groff) was the most poorly written and useless character in this film. Kristoff was first introduced in Frozen as an ice harvester who becomes friends with Anna and helps her find Elsa. Kristoff is introduced as a Disney Hero and as a love interest for Anna. He is loyal and kind and very devoted to Anna.

In Frozen 2 Kristoff spends the entire film trying to build up the courage to propose to Anna. He has no other purpose other than this. He has his own song in this film called 'Lost in the Woods' where he laments about Anna leaving him behind to continue their adventure with her sister Elsa without him.

Kristoff's song irritated me a little bit. It was so corny. It had a lot of 80's imagery in it which just made me cringe. Kristoff is so enraptured with Anna he can't imagine a life where the two of them are not together and he is not her guy. He fears they are on different paths and are growing apart. He wants to be the one to guide her through the woods, but has realised she is fine on her own and that bothers him. He tries to make Anna's problems all about him. All he can worry about is their relationship. He can't see things from Anna's point of view. She left him because she wants to support her sister and to save the kingdom of Arendelle. There is a time and a place to propose to a woman and fretting and asking 'What about me?' when she is trying to help her sister and free her people from an evil curse is not the right time.

Kristoff's romance with Anna felt completely unnecessary in this film. As much as Kristoff is a nice enough guy, did this film really need a Disney Hero? Could it not just be about two sisters? It also doesn't help that Kristoff is not that interesting compared to Anna and Elsa. And also, to quote Princess Jasmine, Anna is not a prize to be won. Just saying…

Olaf the Snowman (Josh Gad) was great in this film. He is not my favourite Disney character but the children in the audience loved him. He had them in hysterics the whole time. I liked the scenes he had with Anna and the bond the two of them share.

Princess Anna (Kristen Bell) was the strongest and bravest character in this film. She has the best leadership qualities, cares deeply about the people of Arendelle, has a strong bond with Elsa and always finds the strength to do what is right even in the face of heartbreak and adversity.

Queen Elsa (Idina Menzel) makes a lot of reckless and foolish decisions in this film. In the first movie, Elsa struggled to accept herself and her powers. In Frozen 2 she no longer hides her powers, but feels unhappy living in Arendelle and can't help wondering if she is really where she is meant to be. When Elsa hears a mysterious voice calling out to her one night, she feels compelled to follow it. But in doing so she unintentionally awakens the elemental spirits, who then force every person out of the kingdom of Arendelle. Elsa, Anna, Kristoff, Sven and Olaf then leave to go on a quest to make things right, discover the origins of Elsa's powers and the truth about their parent's death and Arendelle's past.

Elsa had an interesting storyline, but I felt that the movie played it safe with her. I wanted to see her character be taken in a bold and brave new direction, but Disney failed to do anything new with her.

Frozen 2 was a fun film and a decent sequel to [i]Frozen.[/i] It had some entertaining musical numbers and an interesting plot that answered some questions that were left unanswered in the first film. I really liked the mythology that they are developing and the important role that Elsa plays in everything. The visual effects in this movie were amazing. My favourite scene was when Elsa runs across an ocean and tames a water spirit in the shape of a horse that had a mane of glittering, shimmering water.
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Frozen 2%% will be released in Australian cinemas on 28 November 2019.



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