The Reel Review
Disney’s long-awaited sequel to 2013’s Frozen has sisters Anna, Elsa, and the rest of the gang heeding Elsa’s call to head north to a mist-enshrouded forest, after a mysterious incident renders Arendelle uninhabitable. There, Elsa seeks to find the origins of her powers and restore order to her kingdom.
Like the original, the story’s focus is again about the bonds of sisterly love, with even more eye-popping visuals, a nice nod to medieval Scandinavian culture, and a line-up of new, predictably anthem-like songs from stars Idina Menzel and Kristen Bell. The big scene-stealing star of Frozen II, however, is Josh Gad’s Olaf the Snowman, whose eccentric, self unaware humor is a total riot. If you don’t recall the plot of the original, don’t fret – Olaf’s rapid-fire recap halfway into the film is easily the funniest part of Frozen II.
Where the film falls a bit short of the original is a confusingly convoluted story – a more racially-inclusive, kid-friendly Game of Thrones/Pocahontas mashup, complete with reparations – all shoehorned around a veritable conveyor belt of pleasant but uninspired tunes. Regardless, Frozen II remains a very predictable holiday season crowd pleaser, that, as long as brains are kept on autopilot, will continue to delight fans of the original with its super sweet, happy ending.
REEL FACTS
• The official teaser trailer for Frozen II is the most viewed animated trailer of all time, with 116,400,000 views in the first 24 hours.
• In the beginning of the film, one of the toys young Anna and Elsa are playing with resembles Baymax from Big Hero 6.
• Disney received input from the Sami indigenous people of northern Scandinavia for Frozen II and are releasing a version of the film in North Sami language (the most commonly spoken of the four Sami languages).
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