Well, I survived.
Not really the way a movie review should start, is it? Well, I suppose it is a little melodramatic.
Let’s just say I felt vastly outnumbered at last night’s early screening of Disney’s Frozen II. I don’t recall seeing that many little Elsas and Annas at the last comic con I attended as I did last night. Heck, maybe the last three cons combined.
I may also have underestimated how great the desire for this sequel was (Frozen came out in 2013). I have a daughter, but she was well past the Frozen expiration date by that time, so I had no real sense of what kind of response the kids were going to have.
Oh. My. God.
It was like a new Marvel movie had dropped down from the heavens, and I was in a theater full of (fellow) comicbook geeks.
It was that insane.
The kids were laughing at all the spots Disney wanted them too. They seemed excited about the musical numbers (of which there seemed to be more than in the first movie), and really, really, really loved any time Olaf the Snowman was on screen doing anything.
Frozen II tells the story of Elsa and Anna trying to learn the secrets of Elsa’s power, after she awakens the four spirits (Earth, Air, Fire, and Water) and the Kingdom of Arendelle is in jeopardy.
Traveling north, they seek the enchanted forest, where they might learn the secrets of the past, and thus right them, saving the present.
But the stories they were told as children weren’t as truthful as they might liked to have believed. So many stories about kingdoms and families are often shined up, or changed altogether, and theirs are no exception.
Finally, after a trip even farther north to the river of memory, Elsa learns the truth of the past (both her family’s and her own), and Anna, who wants nothing more than to keep Elsa safe, both make choices once deemed unthinkable, because they’re the right thing to do.
In the end, the lesson to be learned from Frozen II is just that: “do the next, right thing.” It is a point hammered home in dialogue (multiple times), actions, and song.
I think the target demographic for Frozen II will be very excited about what they’re going to see, even if the parents might feel like the film runs a little too long.
Frozen II doesn’t feel as good as the original, but it’s pretty good.
Grade: B