Die Eiskönigin II

The animation in Frozen II is stunning. The level of detail and flow is a triumph. The story, however, is preachy and forced. Anna is annoyingly controlling and overprotective. All of the songs are overwrought and not really memorable, and the characters sing a lot. No need to buy this one, one viewing is enough.

This is a beautiful movie, and Elsa's journey is a powerful one to watch. But outside of this it's narrative is completely unfocused and none of the character moments are given the time they deserve on screen. It seems that it's trying to be more adult with more lore and a darker tone, but also still gives Olaf an unnecessary about of screen time doing things that the little kids would laugh at. The pacing also feels quite rushed, even by kids movie standards. You could have cut 20 minutes out of this movie and it would have been just as good.

Frozen 2 (2019) is a movie we went and saw as a family in theatres as soon as it came out. The storyline involves Anna, Elsa, Kristoff, Olaf and Sven getting back together again when Elsa's power get a little quirky and she needs help mastering them to save the community. They set out to find the origin of Elsa's powers deep into the woods to work with the trolls. A series of adventures ensue and are needed to save their home and Elsa. This movie is codirected by Chris Buck and Jennifer who both also created Frozen. This movie includes voices by Josh Gad (21), Kristen Bell (Veronica Mars), Idina Menzel (RENT), Alfred Molina (Frida) and Jeremy Sisto (May). The animation was outstanding and as you would expect from Disney; however, the storyline, songs and sub plots were much weaker than the original. While the first Frozen was a classic, I barely recommend watching this. This just doesn't have the magic of the original and falls on the sword of so many Disney sequels. Unfortunately this Disney picture disappoints and I would score it a 5/10.

Six years is not a particularly long time to wait for a sequel, but in the case of Frozen it is hard not to feel that the decision to return was totally motivated by money-making potential and not much else. Of course it is naïve to think that any sequel is made out of love for the audience etc and without money in mind, but usually it doesn't feel so brazen as this; and that impression is not helped by Disney digging up its own back catalogue to remake and resell them. In the meantime Frozen made over a billion dollars, with hit records, merchandise, stage shows etc, so the sequel was not a great surprise - but it is a bit of a disappointment.

The plot is the aspect that hurts it. It feels like it was written by a committee, and puts too much effort into keeping all the characters busy by giving them something to do. As a result the plot feels convoluted due to the number of threads that don't have direct relationship to one another. In addition, the threads themselves have a lot going on that is hard to translate for children - the link to past generations, the origin of powers; all sorts of things like this rob it of impact because it feels less smooth - you can hear the gears grinding as it moves along. There are several strong songs, not quite the strength of the first film but that was a high bar to clear. There are funny moments, but the whole thing does feel less 'fun'.

At the same time my reduced investment in the film meant it had less emotional impact; it doesn't take much for me to get choked up but nothing did anything for me in this one. It wasn't awful of course, just disappointing. It still offers the songs, the laughs, the spectacle but it does it in such a heavy-set way that it doesn't spark or feel organic as it does it - and as a result the feeling gets stronger that this is only really about squeezing more money from the audience.

Frozen II felt unsatisfying. There was lots of build up to a very short climax that felt way too easy and simple. I kept expecting another adventure which never came. The film feels short and unfinished. That said, the animation is absolutely gorgeous and I did find the film quite funny. If you go into this with low expectations I think you'll enjoy yourself.