More than the Magic, Frozen 2 is an Inspiring Story About Bravery and Maturity [Contains Spoilers]: A Movie Review
As Elsa and Anna are learning about their family history, so is Disney in creating a sequel to their full-length animated movies that is equally engaging as the first one with “Frozen 2.”
When Disney created sequels to “Aladdin,” “Beauty and the Beast,” “The Lion King,” etc., some of us fans were a bit disappointed since the quality and narrative of these sequels have departed from their respective original materials. With the decline of the quality, these materials were painful to watch even for a home video level.
Disney should be thankful that social media was not yet around in the 90s, otherwise, Aladdin’s “Return of Jafar” and the rest will be bashed relentlessly due to the cited reason. Disney made it right this time with Frozen 2: The quality of animation from the first one is intact or even improved, same characters, same voices, and lots of humor. For its set of music, it will take time, or at least a second viewing, before finally absorbing them: Kristoff was given here a cool solo number reminiscent of a 90s boyband.
While we fear Elsa’s power might consume her to be evil in the first movie, Frozen 2 lets us celebrate her Snow Queen status and even made us wish that Elsa will discover more of her power and its uses. This is because Grand Pabbie, the leader of the mystical trolls, warned Anna (Kristen Bell) about the dangers that they might encounter as Elsa (Idina Menzel) has awakened the spirit of Enchanted Forest — “We have always feared Elsa’s powers were too much for this world. This time, let’s pray it’s enough.” Grand Pabbie was right at some point, and it’s a good thing that Elsa has an intuitive sister who seems to know what she needs and what must be done during critical times. The bond of sisterhood is stronger with this one, and this bond has led them to learn new things and mature gloriously.
First, let’s discuss how bravery, as the movie’s theme, manifests throughout. [SPOILERS] When Anna and Olaf (Josh Gad) reached the cave to search for Elsa, who was frozen in the mystical island, Olaf flurries. Both of them knew that something bad happened to Elsa and that Olaf will soon melt away. This is perhaps the most heartbreaking scene in the movie — imagine being trapped somewhere with your best friend who suddenly died, leaving you helpless, alone, and trapped. Despite the pain and hopelessness, Anna, through the song “The Next Right Thing,” has chosen to be brave in order to do the next right thing for the sake of others. Of all the songs in the tracks list, The Next Right Thing must be the most powerful and moving, with a message even better than what “Let It Go” says.
Of course, we cannot discredit Elsa’s bravery as well when she decided to go to Atohollan alone, the undiscovered island where the mysterious song comes from, without knowing what’s in there. She and Anna made a promise that they will go through everything together, but Elsa knew how dangerous it would be for Anna, who has no magical powers to survive the potential dangers await, so she sent her and Olaf into a sailing iceboat against their will, hence, their parting.
With Elsa’s bravery, she was able to tame the wild water spirit and discovered a family secret that explained her curse/gift in some way (but I am not totally convinced that’s only it). With Anna’s bravery, she was able to resolve the conflict between Arendelle soldiers and the Northuldra tribe, despite knowing the heartbreaking effect of the deed, and freed them from being trapped to the enchanted forest.
We all know how clingy Anna is to her elder sister and it is understandable since they only have each other after their parents died(?). At the final act of Frozen 2, Anna tried her best to stand on her own after assuming that Elsa has died as reflected through Olaf’s melting. This simply implies that Anna is almost ready to accept Elsa’s fate. That’s why she’s in great disbelief and joy when she sees Elsa riding the water spirit, alive, after all the chaos.
It’s not hard to understand that Anna will naturally accept Elsa’s decision to stay at the forest and rule the Northuldra tribe, and her as the new Queen of Arendelle. With everything that happened, Anna would probably bargain for this setup instead of having her sister completely gone. This may be a forced maturity at Anna’s part but this is such as momentous character development that is acceptable and mostly realistic.
Disney has brilliantly setup Frozen into a future franchise by planting mysterious subplots and unexplored characters. In the trailer, we were led to believe that Elsa and Anna’s parents were alive, or a possibility of it. However, we were given here a faint back story of how their parents met, but not the story of how their ship sunk or if they’ve survived at all. Obviously, Disney has a trick up their sleeves since the mystery behind their parents’ disappearance will probably be the next biggest plot for the potential Frozen 3 in the future.
It can also easily perceive that another sequel is in order when we see Elsa riding the water spirit as its final scene. The material still has a pulse and is wildly beating. There are still plenty of things to explore with the new characters, especially the spirits of the four elements that Elsa has all tamed, that may play a huge part in the sequel.
What I appreciate the most about this movie is the innovative storytelling when they made the family history as the “villain” and no physical villain has actually presented. No likes of Ursula, Jafar, or Scar have been introduced, not even another Elsa, yet it worked in the same entertaining level. I have to give it to Disney for a remarkable accomplishment.
Olaf provides all the LOL moments including unsolicited trivia which appeared to be helpful at all, particularly the “water has memory.” Fans of the song, “Do you want to build a snowman?” will feel rewarded as Elsa finally asked Anna here the same question before reviving Olaf (yes, kids! Olaf’s alive) containing all of his memories and new-found philosophies about maturity.
Frozen 2 demonstrates Disney’s capability to revise its original source yet made it timeless just the same without the help of Pixar. Frozen 2 is definitely a must-watch for its originality.
