Review of 'Frozen II'

This sequel, set three years after the first film (see Frozen), sees Elsa (voiced by Idina Menzel) hearing a mysterious voice calling out to her. Elsa and her sister Anna (Kristen Bell) recall a story told to them by their parents King Agnarr (voiced by Alfred Molina) of Arendelle and his Queen Iduna (voiced by Evan Rachel Wood) in which their grandfather, King Runeard (voiced by Jeremy Sisto), established a truce with the neighbouring tribe of Northuldra by building a dam in their homeland, the Enchanted Forest. The Northuldra were not magical but learned to live with the elemental spirits of Earth, Fire, Water, and Air of the forest to perform miraculous feats. On the day the creation of the dam is celebrated the two groups start fighting, enraging the elemental spirits who enshroud the forest with an impenetrable mist. Back in the present, Elsa unintentionally awakens the spirits who attack Arendelle forcing the inhabitants to flee up a nearby mountain. The Rock Troll colony arrives at Arendelle with their leader, the Grand Pabbie (voiced by Ciarán Hinds) telling Elsa that spirits are angry over a wrong-doing in the forest that must be corrected. Elsa, Anna, Olaf (Josh Gad), Kristoff (voiced by Jonathan Groff), and Sven travel to the forest to learn the secret of what happened there and the source of the mysterious voice. What awaits them is a dark secret that threatens their whole world.

Frozen 2 is a lot busier than the previous film…and far more serious. The charm of the first film is here only in part which is a bit disappointing. The music was never going to be as memorable as the first as well though it is still quite good…just not amazing.

The story is quite complex and was fairly difficult to follow even as an adult but younger children will likely simply delight in seeing their favourite characters on the screen again despite a noticeable lack of fun. For light relief it is good to see Olaf the snowman, Sven the reindeer and his friend Kristoff but even here Kristoff is suffering nerves as he repeatedly unsuccessfully proposes to Anna throughout the story. There is not enough of this lightness of touch as the story dives into deep, troubled waters though perhaps this is a good thing as it shows that nothing is perfect and darkness is always around us. As always, Elsa is incredibly serious despite her young age with her sister, despite being far less serious needs to face not only marriage but possibly becoming queen.

Entertaining but not as fun as the first film despite some good music and the familiar characters.

Rating: “It is OK but I have some issues”

Review Date: 2025-12-31

Directed by: Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee

Studio: Walt Disney Pictures

Year: 2019

Length: 103 minutes

Genre: Animation

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4520988/

• Frozen (2013)