In 2013, Disney’s Frozen economically eclipsed all previous Disney Princess films. For those who are new visitors to Arendelle, Frozen is the tale of Elsa the Snow Queen who is gifted with an affinity for ice. After she is cast into the mountains by terrified villagers, her brave sister Anna sets out on a journey to bring her back and show her that she is not the monster everyone thinks she is. Pursued by an evil prince, Anna is cursed into everlasting ice. However, Elsa’s love warms her frozen heart and brings her back to life, and the two live happily ever after as sister and sister (and a prince with a black eye).
Frozen 2 is nowhere near the quality of its predecessor, but just because opal isn’t as valuable as diamond doesn’t mean it should be discarded. The sequel succeeds in its stunning visuals, especially when seen in 3D. Most of these visuals occur in a forsaken place known as the Enchanted Forest (Once Upon A Time fans might feel at home), which Elsa and her friends must traverse if they are to find the source of Elsa’s magic. In the forest, they discover two factions that have been trapped for thirty-four years – Arendelle’s soldiers, who once served the sisters’ grandfather, and a Siberian/Eskimo-like tribe thought to have started a war that closed the Enchanted Forest off from the rest of the world.
At first, when the characters brought up the four primary elements of nature – fire, water, earth, and air – I feared they would turn the story into another typical Greek myth spinoff. I was delightfully surprised when writer/director Jennifer Lee (who also wrote and directed Frozen) reinterpreted these elements in a perspective few had thought of before. For example, the flames in the Enchanted Forest are pink rather than the mundane orange flames seen in Lord of the Rings. Water is reimagined in the form of a horse spirit that can traipse across the sea’s surface, sporting glamorous sparkling/dripping hair. This creature has the refined delicateness of a Da Vinci painting revised by the surreality of Salvador Dali. Elsa’s icy affinity is also implemented in highly creative designs, some of which are superior to those in the first film.
The story structure is impaired by a lack of focus. The multitude of minor uninteresting characters resurrects sour memories of Disney’s 2013 film, Oz the Great and Powerful (regretfully, Frozen 2 has a character named “Gale”). Nevertheless, the structureless story prevents it from being predictable. There is far less combat in the film than one would expect from the trailer, which is great for the specific reason that it separates Frozen 2 from your average superhero movie. Elsa does tap into her magic, but it is for self-discovery only, not for kicking butt and saving the universe, because that’s already been done by Iron-Ant-Bat-Super-Man. This demonstrates director Jennifer Lee’s imagination in that she did not want this to be an action movie, nor even a typical fairy tale. Frozen 2 is a completely new fairy tale separate and apart from even Hans Christian Andersen’s original manuscript (Sorry, Andersen, but you only get credit for inventing the concept of the Snow Queen herself).
The sequel certainly does not forget its predecessor. In fact, it is distracting how many times the first Frozen is referenced, in flashbacks and inside jokes. However, the film also does not forget all the Disney Princesses that came before. Anyone who has seen the trailer knows that Elsa dashes barefoot across a raging ocean and encounters an equine water spirit. The scene is reminiscent of The Little Mermaid (1989), where Ariel rescues Prince Eric from a stormy sea. When one compares these scenes, it seems like Lee is trying to demonstrate how Elsa and Ariel are different. Elsa is structured and reserved like ice, whereas the Little Mermaid is carefree and fluid like water. Elsa and Ariel’s journeys are also polar opposites – Ariel’s quest takes her from the three-dimensional space of the ocean to the two-dimensional landscape of humans; Elsa’s quest takes her from the two-dimensional realm of her human life to the perilous 3D space of the oceans, where she nearly drowns in this extra degree of freedom. This is because the latter is trying to fight for what she desires, while the former is content to surrender her free-flowing fins in favor of a restrictive human body. Furthermore, there may be a hidden Disney Princess Universe clue in the second act when they encounter a strange ship thought to have belonged to their parents. The climactic battle in The Little Mermaid had Ursula dredging up a fleet of decaying sunken ships (Arendelle ships?), some of which may have coasted for miles across the sea surface. One wonders about the timeline, since the sisters’ parents have been lost for six years at the opening of Frozen 2, allowing enough time for Ariel to explore what might be the resting place of Anna and Elsa’s parents before it was cast up from the seafloor. By the way, this isn’t a spoiler because Disney will probably never confirm one way or another, so we are free to imagine that the ship Prince Eric used to slay Ursula was the one commanded by the King and Queen of Arendelle. Another thing that isn’t a spoiler is a quirky similarity between The Little Mermaid and The Snow Queen – they both have a strange habit of being monosyllabic (one more willingly silent than the other). Frozen 2, like its predecessor, respects the Princess Universe it exists in, and what better way to show that respect than by conjuring memories of the first film in the Disney Renaissance?
Frozen 2 also references Disney’s 2010 animated film Tangled, which was the technological predecessor to the first Frozen. Those with long memories will recall that in Tangled, Rapunzel is gifted with magical golden hair touched by a drop that fell from the sun. Whereas Rapunzel’s luminous locks have the ability to heal the sick at the command of her song, Elsa’s ice magic is mostly a weapon – or at the very least, an active advantage that can solve problems through brute force – and she does not have the luxury of controlling it with a lullaby, rendering the snow an element more chaotic than the sun’s fire. This irony is probably intentional if one examines Frozen 2 closely. In one scene, there is an ice sculpture of a flame frozen in time, symbolizing the “cool fire” of Rapunzel’s hair. The chameleon in Tangled is also referenced in the form of a new reptilian character that shows up in the second act of Frozen 2, playing a similar role alongside Elsa that the chameleon had alongside Rapunzel. It is also ironic that Rapunzel’s benevolent magic results in her imprisonment in a tower, yet Elsa’s magic is so potent that she is banished from her towers and forced to create a castle to prevent herself from harming anyone. She is the only Mouse House Princess who is that dangerous. This theme is further explored in this sequel because Elsa’s uniqueness causes her to delve even deeper into the concept of isolation; one remarkable snowflake separated from a blizzard of other snowflakes, making her question if it is really such a bad thing to be alone. Again, this showcases Jennifer Lee’s skill in surprising the audience. Whereas most films show ice as a slow, passive element, Lee has recreated it into something far more energetic – and at the same time made Rapunzel’s sun-sparked magic seem almost childish by comparison. (Also, Frozen fans will remember that Tangled’s star made a cameo in the first Frozen.)
Those who saw the first Frozen a hundred times (such as this author) probably realized that Elsa’s ice changes color in accordance with her mood – red when she’s frustrated, yellow when she’s afraid, green when she’s sick, black when she’s mourning, blue when she’s normal, and white when she realizes a new element in her magic. Frozen 2 veers away from creative hues in favor of creative shapes and dynamics. When characters recall past events, they manifest in the form of “ice holograms.” Toward the third act, this trick starts to become repetitious, but the first few times, the effect is quite striking. For action fans, the centerpiece would be the Ice-Fu that Elsa executes when fighting the horse spirit in the ocean. The Snow Queen is a quick-thinker, able to summon snowflake-shields and other ice weapons in the heat (or cold) of battle. To see her galloping an icy water horse over the surface of a vast ocean is truly feminist beyond anything The Little Mermaid conveyed. Ariel was borne of the sea, yet Elsa, borne of land, conquered the waves. When watching this battle, I wondered why Alice didn’t use Dream-Fu against the Queen of Hearts, or why Jack Skellington didn’t implement Bone-Fu against Oogey. I just assumed that Jack Skellington was smarter than everyone else in Disney’s Realm, but maybe Elsa was in a more terrified fight-or-flight mode.
Anna is not to be ignored either. She commanded most of the first film without throwing a single punch (except at the very end), and she commands the sequel in the same fashion. Once more, this exhibits originality in the face of other feminist films. Anna doesn’t need to swing a morningstar at someone’s face or throw fireballs at an enemy army to win the day. The strategy that she implements to conclude the conflict is surprising yet inevitable. No one’s eye gets bruised this time around.
The only complaint I have is actually something that should have been done six years ago – the film’s title should be The Snow Queen instead of Frozen. It was a well-known controversy that began with Tangled, which even veterans of Disney’s animation department took offense at. It seemed pointless to create a gender-neutral title for a beloved fairy tale when the story, character designs, and music spoke for themselves. I hope one day Disney’s executives will rectify this by restoring both Tangled and Frozen to the fairy tale titles they were supposed to have; thus, Frozen 2 should be renamed as well. Anna and the Snow Queen was the release title of the film in various European countries, and sounds a lot more natural.
Frozen 2 is not a perfect film, but there is no such thing as perfection, so I would say it is worth the time, especially since Elsa is an infinitely more interesting Snow Queen than the one that appeared in 2005’s Chronicles of Narnia. Featuring snow as the primary visual concept and focusing the story on such well-designed characters as Anna and Elsa led this film series to massive artistic and economic success. The incredibly composed theme songs also elevated it above all other Disney films, even if they weren’t as memorable as “For the First Time in Forever.” Children love snow, and so do a lot of adults. It’s hard to tell if the filmmakers were intentionally strategizing this, but when they focus an entire children’s cartoon on the one thing almost all children love – SNOW – then box office success is logical.
Author Biography
Larry Chan is a semifinalist in the 2019 Page Screenwriting Awards for writing The Black Knight’s Squire. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in film and TV production, and is interested in furthering his education in film production and screenwriting. He has also been an actor featured on GOTHAM, and attempted stunts on John Wick Chapter 3: Parabellum. He was a production assistant on Quantico, The First Wives Club, Madam Secretary and other upcoming shows. He likes making costume designs and drawing character designs.
Film Details
Frozen 2 (2019)
USA
Directors Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee
Runtime 103 minutes
