Frozen 2: Doesn't break any new ice, but squeezes a decent adventure out of its familiar characters
By Jim Slotek
Rating: B-minus
I remember seeing Frozen in 2013 thinking I hadn’t seen such a slam dunk in years - not one but two animated Disney princesses, with a message of sisterhood, embracing your power (literally) and no one marrying a prince.
(In fact, NOT marrying a prince was part of its charm.)
Sven, Olaf, Kristoff, Elsa and Anna head into the enchanted forest in search of the source of Elsa’s powers.
A billion dollars in box office later, and hordes of little Elsas and Annas at your door every Halloween, the inevitable Frozen 2 is here, and it is a sequel in the usual sense.
That is to say, it builds on familiarity and takes few chances. But it hews to the comedy and relationships from the original, ramps the pace a little, and offers up a song that everyone involved hopes will be as anthemic as Let It Go.
And in place of the aforementioned empowerment theme, you can’t go wrong with Save the Planet (and the introduction of Scandinavian Indigenous characters, who in real life are being recompensed by Disney for their representation).
The result is another chilly adventure that should keep the kids’ attention even if it doesn’t break any new ice.
As the movie begins, everyone but one just wants to enjoy their happy ending. Anna (voiced by Kristen Bell) sings a song about the joys of things staying the same. Kristoff (Jonathan Groff), Anna’s good-hearted rough-hewn boyfriend wants the same with the addition of Anna’s hand in marriage.
And Olaf the snowman (Frozen’s Jar Jar Binks, voiced by Josh Gad) is happy to just not be melting, courtesy of Elsa’s spell.
However, Queen Elsa (Idina Menzel), is not happy. A mysterious voice from the enchanted forest sings to her. Yes, there is an enchanted forest, as told in a childhood bedtime story flashback by the girls’ father. Seems it’s the home of the Northuldra tribe, who’d once seemed friendly, but greeted the well-meaning Arendellians’ kind gift of a dam project with a surprise attack and war. Ultimately, the spirit of the forest enclosed the place against further visitors.
(Pre-filming, Disney signed an agreement to honour the culture of the real life Sámi people, the template for Northuldra).
But something about the story doesn’t add up years later, and though Elsa sings a protest, “I’ve had my adventure” in the wannabe Oscar-bound show-stopper Into the Unknown, she follows the siren song and sets off to retrace her father and mother’s ill-fated footsteps, accompanied by Anna, Kristoff, his reindeer Sven and Olaf. (With a magically and evacuated Arendelle behind them).
Getting the gang out of Arendelle allows the filmmakers to dream up cute things native to the enchanted forest, including a puppy-eyed, incendiary fire-lizard and a water horse that becomes Elsa’s steed when simply freezing a path over stormy seas fails. There are also rock monsters that look like stony King Kongs.
Needless to say, the Northuldra aren’t the “savages” they were made out to be in bedtime stories. Lessons are learned. Bonds are formed. Characters pair up. Even Elsa gets a horse. Children will take what they what they will out of the message.
What they won’t be is bored. Frozen 2 makes up in pace and on-the-fly distractions what it no longer has in depth.
Frozen 2. Written and directed by Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee. Starring the voices of Idina Menzel, Kristen Bell and Josh Gad. Now screening in wide release.