Read Cabell's review of Frozen 2.
Why was Elsa born with magical powers? The answer is calling her and threatening her kingdom. Together with Anna, Kristoff, Olaf and Sven, she'll set out on a dangerous but remarkable journey. In “Frozen,” Elsa feared her powers were too much for the world. In “Frozen 2,” she must hope they are enough. From the Academy Award®-winning team—directors Jennifer Lee and Chris Buck, producer Peter Del Vecho and songwriters Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez—and featuring the voices of Idina Menzel, Kristen Bell, Jonathan Groff and Josh Gad.
Frozen 2 is in theaters on November 22nd, 2019.
Why was Elsa born with magical powers? The answer is calling her and threatening her kingdom. Together with Anna, Kristoff, Olaf and Sven, she'll set out on a dangerous but remarkable journey. In "Frozen," Elsa feared her powers were too much for the world. In "Frozen 2," she must hope they are enough.
So as opposed to the first film, I am very mixed on Frozen II. Once again helmed by Chris Buck (who has previously directed “Surfs Up” and “Tarzan”) and Jennifer Lee (who has previously written “Wreck it Ralph” and “Zootopia”) comes the highly anticipated sequel. And first I have to get this out of the way, the animation is beautiful. Specifically the coloring done in this film. Many shots are honestly breathtaking works of art. The pacing is also outstanding. The hour and forty-three minute runtime zooms by.
Now to dive into the cast. I really did enjoy some of the new additions. Specifically Sterling K. Brown (previously seen in “Black Panther” and “The Predator”) playing the royal guard Mattias. However, besides Elsa I really felt like the rest of the original cast was incredibly one note or had nothing to do and that's very disappointing for me. See for almost half of the movie new elements are constantly brought up as we try to figure out what the plot is. It really has you lost, because you’re not sure what is important and what's not. And by the halfway point you finally understand what it is about and it takes some more time before you can actually engage in what is happening. Don’t get me wrong, once the plot actually came to fruition, I was engaged but that doesnt make up for the first hour of the film.
The last thing I wanted to mention was the music. While the score is great, the new soundtrack really let me down. I saw this film just last night and can only remember one song. While watching, I really felt like the songs were written more to move the plot along and they totally forgot what makes a good memorable song. And something that I just can’t excuse is the scene where Christoph sings an 80's inspired song even with visual references to the Bohemian Rhapsody music video. It’s really going to be make or break for audiences.
Over all, I wasn't huge on Frozen II. It’s fun and my little sister really enjoyed it, but compared to the first film it’s a major letdown. Even though the animation is fantastic, with the music, the underused original cast and the very rough storytelling, I really think this is something you can skip.
Rating: 3.25 out of 5
Cabell (Senior Contributor) is a filmmaker from Tampa, Florida. He will watch just about any film but when he's not reviewing the latest hits he spends time directing films of his own.Click Here to check out Cabell's Articles.