When I saw Frozen Thanksgiving week of 2013, I knew that the movie was incredibly special. I hadn't heard much about it and I had no idea what to expect - but the moment Idina hit those notes of THAT song (no need to say it, we all know "that song,") I knew this movie was hands down, one of the best animated movies I'd seen. The humor was top-notch, ALL the songs were on fleek (are people still using that term?), and for once in the Disney universe, the focus wasn't on princesses falling in love, but being there for one another. The movie was beautiful, there was a twist ending - I mean, the movie had it all. It was also one of the first movies Avery sat through at a theater at the time - she was 3 - and on the way back from visiting her grandparents in San Antonio, we had already downloaded the album and listened to it numerous times by the time we got into DFW.
Without a doubt, the first Frozen movie was lightning in a bottle - these things just don't happen all the time, where a movie, culture and a societal movement all collide - but boy, did it in 2013.
So, imagine my excitement when 6 years later, I see the trailer for Frozen II. (I'm sure all of our excitement was pretty high). My daughter is still young enough to want to see it because she was so young when it originally came out, so she was excited as well. I knew better than to think they could catch lightning twice with this franchise, so my expectations weren't too high. I knew it was going to be entertaining, I knew it would be worth the money to see it and I knew all the original voices would be back, which meant the singing would be great. But I wasn't expecting to love it as much as the original movie.
After watching this, I can say that I'm pleasantly surprised that it exceeded my expectations, but I'm glad I didn't set those expectations too high. First of all - I will say that the one area this movie far exceeded the first was the visual animation and beauty that came across on that screen. I mean - you think animation has progressed, then you watch this movie and it blows you away. This is saying something because I thought the first movie was unbelievably beautiful to watch...so to say that this was one even more gorgeous is a real achievement. I dare you to find another movie, aside from Avatar, with as spectacular of animation as Frozen II. Let's just say that there is a horse in this movie that you will look forward to seeing every time it comes on screen because it is poetry in motion. Elsa has a few dresses in the movie with net overlays (she did in her iconic dress in the first one, too) but the detail of these overlays in this computer-animated cartoon - they look like actual silk and they are astonishing. Another thing I loved better in this movie was all the clothes and the look of Anna and Elsa. Elsa had numerous costume changes in the film, as well as new hairstyles. They didn't keep her in the braid except in the first few minutes. Anna had her hair down too, as well as beautiful costumes. The characters felt more mature in that way and they did a great job of showing the growth the ladies have gone through in the past 6 years. Do I think we need to keep showing these princesses as being toothpicks? No. I mean - these characters were supposed to be older teens, younger 20's in the first movie, I'm guessing? They are even skinnier in this movie than in the first - and they are now in their late 20's. I think that is an area Disney could improve on. I appreciate their attempt at showing more "diversity" in their characters as of late, but I still don't think Disney has grasped their responsibility to the little girls in the world in how they portray the women in their movies. I kept getting distracted by Elsa's neck and collarbone line and how much they focused on it in every outfit she wore. I thought - "Is this really where they want their audience's eyes continually focused?" I don't know - I found myself getting distracted with seeing her skinny neckline and rail-thin waist - but ample bosom and thinking, "Gees Disney - let's find a new way to animate girls and women that doesn't lead little girls to being weight-conscience by the age of 5." But - I digress.
Another thing I really liked in this movie was that for once, it wasn't the female character distracted by love and yearning for marriage - IT WAS THE MAN. Hallelujah, we are getting somewhere. Now - part of this, I'm sure, was because Kristoff and Sven were a big part of the first movie and of course, they had to come back for the second - ESPECIALLY since the actor who voiced him, Jonathan Graff found such immense popularity playing the king in a little known Broadway musical that started its' run in 2015 called Hamilton. (You might have heard of it, lol) Plus - in Frozen II, the songwriters owed Kristoff (um, Jonathan) a song, since he totally got stiffed in the first movie with nary a few lines to sing. Seeing the error of their ways, they gave Kristoff what was (in my opinion) the best song and montage in the entire movie. The issue was that in order to bring that character back, he had to have something to do. He's been a part of their family this whole time, and has been Anna's boyfriend since the last film's timeline ended - but what do you do with a man in a female-led movie where he's really only a supporting character? His storyline was pretty weak, but he made up for it with charm and the best 80's romantic-ballad-inspired tune I've ever seen in a children's cartoon (with the obvious exception of "Somewhere Out There" in An American Tail in the actual 1980's.) I don't know if the rest of the audience really got how cool it was - but I sure did. I have decided I would definitely pay money to have a Kristoff/Stranger Things crossover, where they become cartoons and all he does is sing his way through genres of music throughout the 80's, with them battling characters from Dungeons and Dragons. He does, however, find a delightful friend, another man about his age who shares the same affinity for reindeer as Kristoff does. That was nice to see.
I loved how they kind of made Elsa into a "super-hero" in the way she used her powers. There were definitely some similarities to Frozone, and Spider-man, in the way she cast ice almost as a web. I really loved that - the animation was really pretty as she did this - the scene in the ocean was really fun to watch. Olaf was in this movie as well, and seemed to be coming to terms with his own maturity and place in the world, as no longer a kid, but not yet an adult. There was a song he sang that was clearly for adults because I don't think kids really understood what it was about - basically, he was in the middle of this forest with obvious signs of danger but he still has the ignorance and naivity of a kid. He sings about how this forest must really not be actually dangerous, that it must just be his kid-like brain playing tricks on him, and when he gets to be an adult, it will all make sense, he'll have all the answers and wisdom to know the "truth" about things. It was supposed to be ironic (like his first song - singing about loving the heat of summer when clearly being a snowman) but it fell really flat and the meaning was convoluted. However, Olaf was again, the stand-out for comedy in this movie, and did end up having a serious and touching moment that almost brought me to tears.
Now - onto my biggest issue of this movie. (Spoilers in this paragraph!) The storyline focuses on Elsa having come to terms with the presence of her powers, but still not understanding why she has them. Enter a singing voice that pops into her head from time to time - "calling" out to her to come find where it's coming from. The team goes on a mission to figure out what this woman/spirit is and find out why she keeps reaching out to Elsa. The trolls come in for about half a minute and tell Elsa that there is a "wrong that needs to be righted" involving their kingdom (nation? Town?) of Arendelle. Well - we see where this is going, as Elsa begins to be visited by the "spirits" of the earth, wind, fire and water. They go to the forest where they find soldiers in the king's army trapped, as well as a tribe of what is clearly supposed to be indigenous people called the Northuldra. We learn that the wrong that was committed was that their grandfather, who was king at the time, had built a dam as a gift to this tribe. The leader of the Northuldra when their grandfather was king tried to get him to understand that the dam actually cut off their water supply and asked the king to take it down so it didn't, you know, cut off vegetation and all life to the world outside of this small kingdom? Town? (I still don't know what Arrendelle is supposed to be). But the king selfishly put up the dam to prevent water from submerging his kingdom and then killed the tribe's leader when he attempted to get it taken down. We also learn that his son, Elsa and Anna's father, actually married a woman from this tribe, who turned out to be their mother. Somehow, a few soldiers and this tribe became trapped 34 years ago in a mysterious fog in this forest that no one could get into or out of (except Elsa, because she's magical, of course). What is more mysterious to me is that the head of these soldiers is an African-American man called Mattias, played by Sterling K. Brown. You see- to my recollection, there hasn't been one African-American in this Icelandic/Norweigian kingdom of Arrendelle in either movie. Maybe because the population of any Scandinavian country is majority white, so why there would be an African-American character added in this movie, one who would randomly be the head of the king's army, no less - made absolutely no sense. But at least he was voiced by an actor of color. The tribe of Northuldra, which was clearly supposed to represent Native Americans, and who looked like people of color - were of course voiced by all-white actors.
Now hear me out - I have no problem with an African-American character being in the movie. He was definitely fine and had a few great moments. My issue is with Disney and their ineptitude to grasp the concept of being culturally diverse and culturally sensitive. They clearly tacked in this character, not because it was authentic and realistic to think he would actually have lived in this community and served in this community where no other African-Americans live, but because it's their pitiful way of showing people of color in their movies. THEN, they show the insensitivity of this white king (obviously symbolic of our past history of a country) and his entitlement - BUT THEN DON'T BOTHER TO FIND ONE SINGLE ACTOR OF COLOR TO VOICE ANY OF THE CHARACTERS. This is the same issue I had with the movie Small Foot - an animated movie set in Tokyo with an all-white voice cast. The characters didn't even speak with accents - like I was supposed to believe that these people who lived in Japan spoke completely perfect English - well, all but the stereotypical Asian grandmother, who had an accent. It was the same in this movie - all white actors voicing characters of color, while in a movie that is commentating on how white people control people of color. Disney, seriously - get it together. Not only that - but with the introduction of the storyline that supposedly tells us that the girls are a product of an interracial relationship and with a heritage that comes from this tribe, which is actually the first I've seen that happen in any Disney movie thus far - of course, there's not one indication of that in the way their characters look.
There are so many ways this movie could have been written differently. I don't know why Disney felt the need to even address cultural issues in this movie in the first place, if they were going to do it so poorly. I'm just kind of tired of them "not getting it." The only movie I've seen get it right - and "getting it right" is straight from the Latino reviewers who gave it great reviews for it's cultural authenticity - was Coco. I don't know much about Mexican culture, but I listened as Mexican movie reviewers said how much it reminded them of their childhood. How it mixed languages together, in the exact way that their families did, blending English and Spanish in an authentically messy mix of words. We didn't have to have subtitles as English speakers to understand those times they used Spanish words - that's how good the writing was in that movie. The movie wasn't patronizing, it wasn't a commentary on how white people felt about those of Mexican origin - it was simply a movie, set in Mexico, about a Mexican family coming to terms with their origin on Day of the Dead. It was an all-Latin cast, voicing all-Latin characters. Is this really so hard to repeat with other movies? I know Disney thinks it's trying to make an effort on diversity and cultural issues - but my goodness, it's lack of self-awareness in how it does it (especially in 2019) is ridiculous to me. This is a company who has released movies as far back as the 30's with disclaimers but still will not release The Song of the South and it's history with race in any type of meaningful way. This is a company who has existed since prior to segregation and for whom race insensitivity were major plot-points in those early decades, but it still will not provide commentary on how it's learned it's lessons over the years and how it intends to mature from it. If they have learned their lessons, they wouldn't keep making the same mistakes when it comes to these movies. If I have to go watch another animated movie where people of color are characters of significance, but voiced by an all-white cast - I'm just tired of it. It's 2019 and there are too many talented actors in this world to act like the only pool there is to pick from is still only white talent. These characters in Frozen II weren't even singing parts, so it's not like they have to find actors who could talk AND sing.
So, the focus they put on this part of the story-line was the exact same story we've seen a million times over. We find out that Elsa is actually not a person at all, but the 5th element that "bridges the two cultures together." She comes in, saves the day, frees the people from the foggy forest, and all is well. It was really unnecessary and there are so many better ways they could have found to bring this movie back, but all-in-all, it was cute. Avery liked it, I liked it, but I'll probably forget most of it within the week. It's definitely worth a trip to the theater, especially with kids. Just don't expect too much and you'll enjoy the experience.
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