Frozen 2
🕑 2 minute read || Updated August 22, 2024 || by Daniel Norther
Written without AI
6/10
(Frozen 1 is a 7/10)
Way better than the average movie. Excellent for girls at Christmas-time.
Girls will like it, maybe some boys. Liked 1? Then 2 is for you. Men will be bored, and some women will have as much fun as their daughters. The audience knows who they are, and they get exactly what they pay for.
Same flavor, same songs, same imagery, and almost as good as the first Frozen. Yes, I am biased toward liking it since I’m into Norse mythology. Few men will be so entertained.
If I had young daughters, I’d show them the sing-along YouTube videos. I can imagine young women singing Anna’s song about doing the “next right thing” when they try something difficult, like studying for an exam or feeling nervous about tomorrow’s tasks. There’s value here. The deep personal lessons in Frozen 1 aren’t as deep or as personal in Frozen 2, and yet they’re the same lessons. Elsa (the ice queen) learns to accept herself and find where she belongs. Anna (the normal girl) learns to never give up on her task and her people. The blond guy (Anna’s boyfriend) learns to ride his reindeer even faster; Good for him. Olaf the snowman actually made me laugh, again.
The pacing is too fast half of the time. There isn’t much focus on any “villain”. And a few things fall apart when you scrutinize them. However, the mistakes are not hard-baked into the moral fibers of the film. The errors are in the presentation, not the meaning. But most of us are not here for high-art, only fun.
It’s got amazing visuals, decent music, and some good humor. Most people won’t ask for more and will be happy with this tasty meal. Give your daughters the gift of Frozen 2! That’s what it’s here for.
But I want MORE.
Alright, the review’s over. Everything else is just scientific analysis.
*SPOILERS AHEAD*
This sequel is much less disastrous than Shrek 3 or Shrek 4, which would have been treasures if they had been more similar to Shrek 1. The plot is heavily contrived, and many elements make no sense upon scrutiny..
Smoothe out the pacing in the beginning with hints of the elements’ changes around town, like a lamppost flickering or complaints about crop yields.
Show Elsa doing queen-duties and holding up queenly responsibilities, like helping with crop temperatures perhaps, instead of just playing party-games, to make us worry a little more about Arendelle and its people, and to make it harder for Elsa to leave. This would show Elsa’s attachments and make a space for her feelings.
It needs a deeper investigation of the tensions between the two nations. Soldiers stuck in the woods for 34 years need to look worse. Dislike and contempt for the opposing faction would have grown like grapes on a vine, but proximity could have taught them to tolerate each other while keeping a distance… Maybe. In a Disney film, yes. In a PG-13 film, there would be blood. I wish I had a team of soldiers so mentally indestructible as these prisoners of war.
Separating Anna’s boyfriend from the rest of the northern villagers was a weird choice that left him hanging out alone until we needed him.
Major spoiler here. You’ve been warned: Why does Elsa freeze? Their mother’s cautionary lullaby said “drown” not “freeze”. She’s the goddess of ice, for crying out loud. It worked in the story because it passed the ball to Anna, to give Anna her time to shine, but it might have worked if Elsa had been turned into an ice-elemental spirit or something like that. We could brainstorm options. We need better explanations for what’s happening in the second act.
*SPOILERS OVER*
