Frozen II Goes Deep Into the Mediocre Unknown
In Frozen II, the stakes are higher than ever before, as Anna (Kristen Bell) and Elsa (Idina Menzel) try to find out mysteries unknown to their past, as Elsa hears a voice that calls her to a forbidden forest. Yet, why does this movie feel so hollow? Is it because it doesn’t really have anything to say? Or is it because the Frozen craze has run cold when every single radio station in the world played Let it Go and milked it until people couldn’t stand it anymore?
You could say I’m over Frozen, after seeing the Freezing the Night Away with Anna & Elsa & Friends on Disney Ships more times that I can count, but I still wanted to give the film a fair shot. And from what it’s worth, I did find some enjoyment in it. The film looks visually stunning, as expected, and is best seen in IMAX, where you can soak in every single detail of its sumptuous animation. Yes, it’s computer generated, and it has become quite a fad lately, but Disney has always made computer generated animation incredibly enthralling to look at because of its fine attention to detail. Every location that is encountered by its characters are so detail, vivid and lush that you can almost touch them (the fantastic IMAX projectors obviously help that greatly), and its sound design beautifully transports you “Into the Unknown”. BUT, this time around, I wasn’t interested in [most] of what Frozen II was presenting.
Frozen had literally reinvigorated Disney Animation Studios and brought a film that was reminiscent of the 90s Disney renaissance with a timely story, colorful and memorable characters, catchy songs and eye-stopping animation. Frozen II feels like the direct-to-video Disney sequels of the 90s. Well-animated, but lacking substance, an interesting story and a reason to exist. Yes, the characters are still as colorful as ever. Josh Gad’s Olaf is the best part of the movie. Every scene involving him is as gut-bustingly hilarious as the last one. Especially when he recaps the first film in Olaf fashion, the sequence is so surprising that you never know what he’ll say next that will make you fall out of your chair with broken ribs. It’s that funny (and its post-credit scene summing up the second film is equally as funny). The voice cast is still great, especially Idina Menzel singing her heart out (though I will say that Jonathan Groff felt quite flat as Kristoff and Sterling K. Brown’s Lieutenant Mattias added nothing to the story). Unfortunately for Menzel, the songs in this film are really forgettable. Yes, Into the Unknown has great rhythm to it, but it doesn’t go in your head as quickly as Let it Go, because the lyrics are more complex and its beat flat. It might win awards, but, at this point, I couldn’t care less about original songs. It might be the best one by default!
The first two acts of Frozen II tries to cram in way too much and its story feels so unjustified that I couldn’t really get invested in it. It’s got really unnecessary songs as well (especially Lost in the Woods which feels like a riff to Air Supply’s All Out of Love) that only stretch its runtime. The movie really gets good in its last act, with fantasmagorical visuals that made some audience members in the sold-out crowd gasp in complete awe. With its stunning animation, score and voice-work, the final act of Frozen II is a real knocker (without giving anything away). It almost can forgive its messy first and second act, because it’s an absolute 10/10. You’ll know exactly when the third act starts, because things dramatically change in tone and become surprisingly bleak, dark and quite mature, something lacking in most modern CGI animated movies today. Yes, it’s great to see that animated movies go in dark and bleak routes, because that’s what life is — Disney has always kept it real to younger audiences and aren’t afraid to go the extra mile (literally going the distance), but always with an objective in mind.
Frozen II completes its objective in a half-assed manner, but its final act cannot be overshadowed. It left me in a complete emotional wreck that I wasn’t expecting, because the first two acts are only mildly enjoyable and a complete tonal/script mess. Children will definitely enjoy this, film pundits who have a critical eye and notice the flaws and tropes of modern animation movies might not. Its voice-cast, animation, score, visual style are all terrific. However, it’s the most unnecessary Disney animated sequel that I’ve seen in a while whose only interest is to make “1 billion dollars!” (to read in Dr. Evil’s voice). Disney is now a purely totalitarian company who wants to ALL of your money (until the day you die). OH WELL!
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