Disney\u2019s Frozen<\/em> has remained an impressive cultural phenomenon since it hit theaters in 2013. We\u2019ve now had six years of little girls dressing like Anna and (mostly) Elsa, and carrying around stuffed versions of Olaf the snowman and Sven the reindeer. Usually there\u2019s some lag time between the first and second films in a franchise \u2014 not just calendar-wise, but in the public consciousness. Somehow, even though it\u2019s been more than half a decade between Frozen<\/em> and this weekend\u2019s Frozen II<\/strong><\/em>, when the opening credits roll, it feels like no time has passed at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Perhaps that familiarity is responsible for a certain amount of coasting where parts of Frozen II<\/em> are concerned. The movie has some truly gut-punching emotional moments in it, but it also suffers greatly from sequel-itis. The songs aren\u2019t as instantly catchy as in the first film. There are lots of unnecessary references to Frozen\u2019s<\/em> plot points and characters, and some odd self-awareness about the nature of sequels that seems out-of-place with the movies\u2019 overall style. Fortunately, Frozen II<\/em>\u2019s plot still manages to go to some worthwhile dramatic places, and has a surprising dark streak that builds on some of the more interesting aspects of the first film.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Frozen II<\/em> begins with a flashback in which we see a little more of Anna (Kristen Bell) and Elsa\u2019s (Idina Menzel) childhood in Arendelle, and their royal parents, King Runeard and Queen Iduna (Jeremy Sisto and Evan Rachel Wood), before their death. Runeard tells the girls about a nearby magical forest he visited as a boy with his father, and its human inhabitants, who mysteriously vanished after a battle with Arendelle\u2019s royal guard. The mystery of the forest and the people who live there becomes central to Anna and Elsa\u2019s new adventure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the present, everything seems to be going wonderfully, with Arendelle under Elsa\u2019s rule and Anna and Kristoff (Jonathan Groff) happily in love. Of course, that doesn\u2019t stay the case for long. Elsa is distracted by a mysterious siren call from the magical forest. Thinking that the source of the mysterious song might have something to do with the source of Elsa\u2019s icy magic, Elsa, Anna, Kristoff, Sven, and Olaf (Josh Gad) head into the wild. What they find has larger implications about Arendelle\u2019s past, and consequences for its future.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Frozen II<\/em> retains the female empowerment and family bonds that made Frozen<\/em> so good, but creatively speaking, it often feels like the second film is riding the coattails of the first. The many visual touchstones meant to remind audiences of the parts we liked from the first film feel like a lazy emotional appeal. The songs, by returning songwriting team Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez, try to hit the same beats as the first film\u2019s, but are a little too lyrically complex to hit the earworm status of \u201cLet it Go\u201d or \u201cLove is an Open Door.\u201d The plot expands the world of Arendelle and its surroundings, but the central conflict is also harder to grasp, with developments that address issues the first film seemed to deal with pretty cleanly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, once Frozen II<\/em> finally hits its stride, it shows an impressive emotional maturity. The movie hits on very real feelings of grief and depression, with one song in particular that has a hopeful message, but also goes to some dark places and stays there longer than the first Frozen<\/em> dared to. The movie also contains messages of social justice, reconciliation and trying to do right by others that have the potential to resonate strongly with its young target audience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On the whole, Frozen II<\/em> still feels like the market-demanded sequel we know it to be. However, it\u2019s worth noting that despite the parts of it that were more than likely the result of studio notes, there\u2019s still an emotional core worth appreciating. It\u2019s a retread, yes, but it\u2019s not a blind cash-grab. Or at least it\u2019s a blind cash-grab made with a modicum of care for the DNA that made Frozen<\/em> what it is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n B-<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Disney\u2019s Frozen has remained an impressive cultural phenomenon since it hit theaters in 2013. We\u2019ve now had six years of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":577,"featured_media":12902,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[340,1381],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12901","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movie-reviews","category-movies"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12901","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/577"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12901"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12901\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12902"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12901"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12901"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12901"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}1 hr., 43 min.; rated PG for action\/peril and some thematic elements<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
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