Frozen II - Review (Spoilers)

Elsa, in new attire from Frozen II. Photo Credit: Disney Studios

Walt Disney Studios has just broke a Hollywood record by crossing $10 Billion at the Global Box Office. When you look at the massive hits that they have had with Avenger's Endgame, The Lion King and Toy Story 4, it's no wonder why. Also, just take this moment to think about they could be adding even more to that total with Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker opening next week. But the film that put the studio over the record breaking limit was the sequel to the extremely popular animated film, Frozen. Please keep in mind there will be some spoilers ahead!

First off, Frozen II has some seriously gorgeous imagery, fun song numbers and overall an enjoyable story. In some instances, you may find yourself more mesmerized by the technical achievements, like how the fabric of the clothes are so photo-real. When looking at elements, like fire and water, those are some of the hardest things to create in a computer, but the animators do a fantastic job here. So the film shines in its technicality, it may be a little lacking during in the story telling details. Let me explain. 

This film starts out like it's predecessor, in a flashback, looking at Anna and Elsa as little kids. It's an important choice because this movie focuses on who they are and what their family is like. So come to find out, their grandfather was a not so nice king that decided to build a huge dam in an enchanted forrest where magic reigns, even though I don't quite understand why, but it becomes the thing that must be destroyed to restore peace to the realms. There was a one-line explanation about it, so if you have squirmy youngsters sitting next to you and you need to tell them to not throw popcorn at strangers, you might miss critical blink-and-you-missed-it explications to things. Like, "How do you like your new permafrost, Olaf?" was a line to explain why he doesn't need a little snow cloud to follow him around anymore and never melts. 

The film is short on explanations, long on over explaining "there is a mystery afoot" and still hits the right amount of music to action ratio. The musical numbers are great and fun, and yes, "Into the Unknown" is a great song, even enough to rival "Let It Go." But I enjoyed the fact that Kristoff actually had a real song to sign, however funny it was, I was not really into the sudden jump into a boy-band music video rendition. 

The film does dip deep into flashbacks and dream-like sequences which ups the magical and mystery element to it. I mean, they are in an enchanted forrest, so magic is a plenty! There was a great reference to even Elsa scoffing at her past breakout song number, which was hilarious for all of us parents. There was also a nice little nod to the author responsible for these movies. There's another quick line about a "new Danish author" which if anyone has ever been to Solvang, California, could tell you this was talking about Hans Christian Andersen. 

Long story, short: If you liked the original Frozen, you'll like Frozen II too. If you're a parent, just be aware that Disney realized they can sell a lot more dresses by giving the characters more costume changes, even if they really don't make any sense at all to the story. But hey, it's just a cartoon, right? If you want the "adult" version of this movie, just watch The Fifth Element, because it's basically the same story.

​Rating: 3/5 Stars

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