Frozen II

“I believe in you, Elsa, more than anyone, or anything. If anyone can save Arendelle, it’s you.”

Anna

It’s been six years since the release of Frozen, the animated film that smashed records left and right almost immediately after debuting. It’s finally been long enough where I don’t find “Let It Go” as annoying as I used to, and have come to appreciate several of the songs. I really liked the first Frozen the first time I saw it, it wasn’t until the rest of the world saw it that I began to have problems with it, but even to this day I find it an enjoyable film, but I rank it as one of the most overrated films of all time. The trailers for the sequel looked promising though, and I found myself anxious to go and see it.

Walt Disney Animation hasn’t really missed a beat with their recent films, Ralph Breaks the Internet I feel was the closest to a miss comparatively, but by no means was it bad. Frozen II is no different, the last several years writers and directors have been patiently crafting this film in a way where it aged up with its target audience since the original. I enjoyed the plot of this one quite a bit, it was very layered and complex compared to the fairly simple plot of the first film, and it gave some of our side characters like Kristoff and Olaf things to do that contributed to the story.

The visuals in this movie were phenomenal, not quite Toy Story 4 but pretty close, and some of the songs had a very Fantasia feel to them which I thought was awesome. That does bring me to my main complaint about this movie, and it’s that I felt the soundtrack was lacking compared to most Disney animated films, especially for a musical. Moana, for example, has 12 songs not including the cover versions for the credits, while Frozen II only consists of 8, and one of those is a 26 second version of “Reindeer’s Are Better Than People” returning from the first one. There are 3 pretty solid songs in this soundtrack though that stick out and I admittedly listen to in the car probably slightly louder than the average person does, particularly “Into the Unknown” and “Show Yourself.” (what can I say, I love Disney songs!)

Overall I think this is a case where the sequel is better than the original, having a reason to go on a second adventure rather than pumping out straight to DVD sequels (which I should add this is the first Disney animated sequel to go to theaters). The soundtrack in the 2013 original is far superior to this one though and I found that disappointing, but the movie in general I gave a 7.5/10, where I liked it but didn’t love it, putting it slightly higher than the first (7/10) for me personally. What did you think of Frozen II? Did you love it, or do you feel it’s time to let it go?