‘Frozen II’ Review
Let’s take a moment to remember what made 2013’s Frozen such a massive hit when it came out: an absolutely killer soundtrack with original hit songs, well thought-out exploration of sisterhood and very pretty visuals. Well now in 2019’s Frozen II (directed by Chris Buck and screenwriter Jennifer Lee) the visuals are even more gorgeous but the songs are lacking overall and there is no real plan for the main characters. It seemed like with the first one money was spent for the story and vision where as with this second one, a story was made to justify the money that will be spent.
As mentioned this film is leaps and bounds more breathtaking to look at, pushing the boundaries on computer-animation mixed with shifting the color palettes to much darker shades. You’d be hard pressed to find a shot in this where the colors don’t pop and the details don’t matter. And when talking about Frozen, we must talk about the songs. The movie really begins to move forward when ‘Into The Unknown’ starts playing, again showcasing the vocal talent that is Idina Menzel (voice of Elsa). For a long while after you could think that the soundtrack has hit its peak but then comes ‘Show Yourself’ which surprisingly wasn’t the song that was most heavily promoted (that is Into The Unknown). ‘Show Yourself’ is way more challenging than most Disney songs and it’s combined with the best segment of the movie when it comes to the visual galore. The voice acting is solid all around and the pacing works well as the story doesn’t ever feel to be stuck for too long.
The movie takes a real nosedive when the main characters Elsa and Anna (Kristen Bell) are separated as it pretty much stops any character development for both of them. The bond of sisters was the driving factor in the first one in making their actions believable and true to who they were. The end of the movie is just nonsensical wandering and Anna is never portrayed anything but dumb for all of the movie, most obvious with the obnoxious scenes involving her and Kristoffer (who has nothing to do in this film). Where as in Frozen most-if-not-all songs were hits, here they are mostly misses. ‘All Is Found’ is sleep inducing, ‘When I Am Older’ is unimaginative and ‘The Next Right Thing’ should’ve been a writing practice left in the demo stage.
Smileys: Animation, pacing
Frowneys: Characterisation, story, premise
It’s pretty so it will again sell a lot of merchandise but the film probably has less replay value.
2.5/5
