Frozen II (2019, PG)

Like a lot of sequels to movies that weren’t really written to have sequels, Frozen II doesn’t strictly need to exist. The results of this can be varied, from movies so bad they retroactively steal a tiny bit of your love for the first film, to surprisingly-sharp movies that are way better than they have any right to be, and everything in between. Frozen II falls in that in-between place, but it’s pretty heavily on the “good” side of the spectrum (premise spoilers.)

Since the events of the first film, Anna, Elsa, Kristoff, and Olaf have cultivated a nice little family life for themselves, but nothing stays the same forever. Elsa is haunted by a song from a mysterious voice that only she can hear, and it’s somehow tied to an elemental magic that threatens the kingdom. The sisters (with Kristoff, Sven, and Olaf in tow) set out to 1) save Arendelle and 2) find the voice that Elsa is hearing, both learning important things about themselves along the way.

For my money, the plot isn’t put together quite as well as the first one. There’s a lot of good, even great, stuff in here, but not all of it feels cohesive, and it definitely feels overstuffed at points. In particular, there’s a conspicuous-feeling effort to give Kristoff his own separate plot for the sake of him having an “arc,” rather than integrating him more naturally into the main story. However, the main thrust of it is interesting, entertaining, and inspiring, and the interactions between Anna and Elsa are worth the price of admission for me.

I’d say Olaf is used pretty effectively. A little Olaf goes a long way, but here, he mostly avoids overstaying his welcome and one scene of his features the biggest laughs of the movie by far.There are also some new characters (my cousin’s small kid, who adores Frozen and doesn’t have experience with the idea of a sequel, can’t wrap her head around that,) most of whom remain pretty two-dimensional. More exciting are the new creatures/magical sources, which run the gamut from adorable to awesome.

As for the music? I’m still debating how I feel about it. My immediate reaction is that the score isn’t as good as the first film, although I’m not sure how much of that is down to the fact that I’ve had six years (whoa!) to listen to the original songs. I don’t think the score features an obvious slam dunk like “Let It Go” or a delightfully-fitting character piece like “For the First Time in Forever,” but I’m sure my impressions of the songs will change as I listen to them more.

What I will say is as follows. “Show Yourself” undeniably brought tears to my eyes, and Idina tears it up as always. Anna gets a couple strong points in which to shine – I enjoyed “Some Things Never Change” a lot, and “The Next Right Thing” has some beautiful themes. Jonathan Groff gets to do more actual singing as Kristoff, although his big song is kind of goofy. Will need to investigate further before I can say any more.

Warnings

Scary moments for kids, scenes of violence, and thematic elements.