Frozen ll Is A Darker And More Mature Film Than It's Predecessor That Satisfies Audiences

      

      One of the winter seasons most anticipated films has arrived on the big screen with the much anticipated sequel to Pixar's 2013 smash hit Frozen titled Frozen ll. The first Frozen became a huge hit with audiences through a combination of its impressive animation, strong characters, and a story that pushed themes pertaining to the empowering of young women, along with iconic musical cues that instantly became engraved in pop culture with the audience hearing the song Let It Go a million times since the first films release much to their annoyance. Regardless of whether audiences enjoyed Frozen or not (There's been a growing consensus since it's release that while good, the film is a bit overrated), it stands as being one of Disney's biggest hits with the greenlighting of a sequel being inevitable. Fast-forward six years after the release of the first film, Frozen ll arrives on the big screen to continue the story of siblings Anna and Elsa, with the latter continuing to make the case that she'd be an excellent addition in the X-Men universe. The sequel to Frozen presents a darker and more mature story with the established characters, while giving audiences more of what they loved about the previous film. The end result is a genuinely satisfying and worthy sequel to the original, that feels like an improvement over the first film.

      The plot for Frozen ll takes place three years after the events of the first film with sisters Anna, Elsa, and friends Kristoff, Olaf, and Sven (Voiced to perfection by Kristen Bell, Idina Menzel, Jonathan Groff, and Josh Gad) going on another adventure in search for the source to Elsa's magical powers to save their kindgom when she begins hearing voices, calling for her to uncover the truth about the enchanted forest. Frozen ll's plot manages to appropriately position itself as being a natural follow-up to the first film, with a logical progression of the main characters. The first Frozen worked very well in regards to building up the main characters of Anna and Elsa, along with creating an appealing side characters such as the fun-spirited and goofy snowman Olaf, and Anna's lover Kristoff. The sibling characters were given a tragic backstory surrounding the loss of their parents, that made them sympathetic to audiences with Elsa's characters powers being a clever twist on the story. Whereas the first movie showed Elsa's special abilities along with her struggling to control her powers (She has moments where she unintentionally uses them or sets her kingdom in winter mode), the sequel moves the story further by having her character search for the origin of her powers, as well as answering questions that the audience had with the first one in regards to how she got her powers. Frozen ll also explores the family tree of Elsa and Anna with their grandfathers backstory being developed along with his ties to the dam in the story. The film maintains the spirit, the charm, and the heart of the first film with the characters being appealing once again (It's hard for audiences to find a reason not to care about Anna and Elsa as their sibling relationship feels real and relatable to audiences), along with the story being strong enough to give the sequel a deeper emotional complex than the first, while further exploring the characters kingdom.

       As far as the voice acting performances go, the cast does an equally great job of fitting back into their roles and bringing the same kind of energy and enthusiasm they brought to their characters previously. Kristen Bell is terrific as Anna, bringing a likable performance and humility to her part. She does a very good job in regards to looking after her sister in an overprotective fashion along with being supportive, but also not wanting her to walk into danger with her powers. Irina Menzel shines once again as Elsa, working off a script which gives her character deeper development that includes her character traveling to a magical land, meeting magical tribes of characters, and helping to bring together a divided group of people. One of the things that makes Elsa's character a striking and appealing female Disney character, is her independence in which she doesn't need a male character to help complete her character arc. Jonathan Geoff does well once again playing Kristoff, ice harvester and boyfriend of Anna, with his character stressing over the perfect way to propose to Anna, whose completely clueless about his intentions given she's completely distracted looking after her sister. Josh Gad once again steals the show as the magic snowman Olaf created by Elsa's magical powers. He provides the film with both humor and charm, while routinely commenting about the nature of change. Other noteworthy supporting roles are Sterling K. Brown as Mattias, leader of a group of Adrendelle soldiers trapped in the enchanted Forest for over thirty years, Evan Rachel Wood as Elsa and Anna's mother Iduna, and Alfred Molina as their father Agnarr. As a whole, the cast is a strong one that goes above and beyond in regards to bringing their characters to life on the big screen along with giving them distinct and memorable personalities when they're on the screen. The performances from the main cast go a long way in terms of giving the film a sizable dose of heart, as well as a feeling of sincerity to the story. Like the filmmakers, the voice actors take both pride and care in terms of bringing their characters to the big screen, particularly the returning ones with the newer side characters being interesting and fun additions to the cast.

      In terms of the films directing, directors Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee return to the directing chair to continue the story they began six years prior along with expanding on the enchanting world of Arendelle. Buck and Lee maintain much of the snowy and winter style of the first movie while creating a more mysterious and darker atmosphere, that possesses an adventure type feel to it. On a visual note, the films animation is scene-stealing and stunning to watch, making it one of Disney's most groundbreaking breakthroughs with visuals that will impress viewers of any age group. The cinematography, art-set decoration, and costume design all go hand in hand with complimenting the films beautiful animation with Elsa's character looking more amazing the second time around. The pacing of the film feels perfect as it keeps the story moving even when the characters split up during the middle portion of the story in a fashion similar to that of a Lord Of The Rings/Hobbit story arc. The films soundtrack is once again one of the films main highlights with the main difference being the sequel utilizes the music as a tool in regards to pushing the story forward rather than the previous film surrounding it's plot around key songs in that film such as Let It Go. Although when comparing both soundtracks, there isn't a song in the sequel that matches the level of impact that one had on audiences the first time. However, the songs as well as the score all remain solid and help drive both the characters and story arc with the film properly prioritizing them, and working each piece of music effectively into the films narrative. On a note regarding the films musical aspect, the sequel feels like the directors took notice of what worked and as well as what didn't about the first film and improved upon those issues here, with the music having the appropriate balance with the rest of the story.

      The films script and story by Jennifer Lee, Chris Buck, Kristen Anderson Lopez, Marc Smith, and Robert Lopez is noteworthy in regards to giving the characters an interesting enough story to continue their adventures while maintaining the audiences interest. Compared to the first film, the sequel has more of an adventure style feel to it with the main plot revolving around the characters of Elsa. The sequel gives all the main characters from the first movie their individual character subplots, which in some cases has them going their own separate ways in the story for most of the film. While that might come across as challenging in terms of keeping the narrative even, the writers and directors maintain a firm grip on the story while giving it a deeper emotional core. The sequel maintains themes that make it's story connect well with the first Frozen such as friendship, family, respect, and trust with the sequel further exploring ones pertaining to spirits, indigenous people, one's maturity such as Elsa learning to cope with her powers, adventure, responsibility which once again revolves around Elsa looking after her kingdom while controlling her powers, feeling out of place, grief, the death of loved ones, and transformation. One of the key themes regarding the plot for the sequel is isolation as Elsa's character ends up being split from the rest of the group upon realizing that she may be able to discover the truth behind the origin of her powers. It also serves as a device for the rest of the crew becoming separated with each character having their own individual subplots in the story such as Kristoff trying to find a way to propose to Anna, with the film showing several goofy scenarios where he attempts to find the perfect way to do it. Although both movies place the siblings as the main characters of the story, the main focus has always been aimed towards Elsa's character with Anna being the supportive and overprotective sister that looks after her. Elsa's character is the heart of the story as she embodies much of the series personal themes regarding sibling loyalty, friendship, being different from everyone else, maturity, discovering ones self, and wanting acceptance. At the core of Frozen's story, the films are about a pair of sisters struggling to have each others back no matter what cause they're all they got. Some of the subplots come across as feeling forced or convenient such as Kristoff planning out his proposal to Anna being such a huge part of his characters arc in the first part of the film, then disappears in the second half only to be brought back up at the end of the movie to close the arc between him and Anna. As fun and entertaining as Olaf comes across as being, his character feels overused a bit at times in terms of driving the humor of the film, definitely moreso than the previous film. The origins of Elsa and Anna's grandfather feels vague and underdeveloped despite playing a major part in the story. What could've easily ended up being a huge mess with the narrative being split by the side adventures with the main characters, manages to stay well-balanced without the narrative being disrupted for the most part. What Frozen ll does well as a sequel to the first movie, is provide a continuation of the story that feels like a natural evolution of the characters and concepts the first movie threw at audiences, while maintaining the heart and spirit of it's predecessor.

      Will everyone like Frozen ll? No, some will take issue with the films darker and more mature tone, as well as feeling that the film isn't quite as fresh as the first. They may also feel that the music isn't as hard-hitting not as iconic as the previous films soundtrack (The first films music is great but has been overplayed to death since it's release). For those who wanted a deeper and more emotional story with the sequel with a more straight-forward narrative, Frozen ll manages to be a sequel that improves it's predecessor, along with giving fans more of what they loved about the previous films. Regardless of whether one thinks the first film is better or vice versa, both movies compliment each other very well with how well their stories connect. The sequel carries enough action, humor, heart, and emotion to make young and old fans of the original care as well as appreciate the films message, which basically says that one shouldn't give up nor lose hope and that both emotions and talents are magic, that can generate incredible beauty which is seen with the character of Elsa. The Frozen movies carry with them empowering messages for young children that says being different is not a bad thing, and that it's ok to want to build a snowman. For those who've been waiting in anticipation to see the story of Frozen continue, Frozen ll doesn't disappoint and proves to be worth the wait, though it will have fans debating on which is the stronger film of the two. Definitely stands as being one of the stronger films released this winter, as well as one of the best animated films of the year that's worthy of a Best Animated Film Oscar nomination in that category. Fans will be left waiting for the release of Frozen lll with great interest. Here's hoping they continue to expand on these characters along with their visually striking and mesmerizing world as the filmmakers did a really good job of expanding the universe with the sequels storyline.

Final Verdict: For Disney fans as well as fans of the first Frozen film, Frozen ll is a must see.