Look Who's Freezing Too: "Frozen II" a solid, musically catchy sequel that dares to be different


Frozen II (2019)
104 min.
Release Date: November 22, 2019 (Wide)

Besides Disney, no one probably expected 2013’s “Frozen” to break out as the booming success it became or the next instant classic since the studio’s renaissance era. With success comes a sequel, and “Frozen II” is a solid successor that dares to be a little different than its wonderful predecessor, while deepening the sisterly bond between Anna and ice-creating Elsa, and the history of their homeland. After the “happily ever after” of “Frozen,” sisters Anna (voice of Kristen Bell) and Queen Elsa (Idina Menzel) are maintaining the status quo, living in Arendelle. It’s autumn, three years after Elsa’s coronation, and Anna is still main squeezes with ice harvester Kristoff (Jonathan Groff) and good friends with Olaf (Josh Gad), who’s been blessed with a permafrost. When Elsa hears a mysterious voice calling out to her, she follows it to an Enchanted Forest, where things must be set right with her kingdom and the sins of the past.

Returning directors Jennifer Lee and Chris Buck must have known better than to just crank out a manufactured money-grab or retell the same story all over again. Instead, they opt for a film that is more densely plotted and too complex to reiterate to children. “Frozen II” puts its characters first, but one also expects the music, again written by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez, to be a major highlight. Elsa’s anthem “Into the Unknown” will undoubtedly become the next “Let It Go,” putting Menzel’s pipes to the test, and Kristoff’s power ballad “Lost in the Woods” is catchy and knowingly presented as a goofy ’80s music video. The filmmakers also take what worked so splendidly before, like Josh Gad’s Olaf, and giving the snowman sidekick an uptick in his very funny antics and even his participation into the story (his recap of the first film is a hoot). It goes without saying that Disney does not create a bad-looking animated film, and “Frozen II” is yet another beautifully animated feather in the studio’s cap. All in all, “Frozen II” is a worthy follow-up without being outright forgettable, even if it can’t quite match the magic of “Frozen.”

Grade: B

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