Wednesday, 29 April 2020

Magic is alluring. Without you, she may lose herself to it (Frozen 2 2020)




257.
Frozen 2



5/10

It's safe to say the first Frozen movie was a complete phenomenon and to get into the mood for writing my opinion on the sequel, I'm going to stick the first one back on the TV thanks to Disney+. Six years the world has had to wait for this sequel and as soon as the news dropped, everyone was in wait and that goes for all ages. The original gang is back, such as Kristen Bell, Idina Menzel and Josh Gad, added to with a few other voice actors and actresses for the new characters of course in events that take place 3 years after the first movie was set. From what the trailer is showing us, we are about to venture outside of their home of Arendelle to discover the source of Elsa's powers. Let's get into the unknown.
The movie begins many years ago with a young Anna and Elsa being told a bedtime story by their father and mother.


He explains how his father created a treaty with the nearing tribe by building them a dam at their Enchanted Forest. However, at the twelfth hour, a fight starts and the King at the time is killed. This then enrages the elemental spirits of Earth, Fire, Water and Air. They block off the forest with a magical mist and the girl's father escapes with his life with the help of an unknown stranger.
Now we switch to three years after the first movie and although things seem to be going well at home, Elsa hears a mysterious voice calling out to her and after following it, she unintentionally wakes up the elemental spirits which forces the kingdom to evacuate. The trolls are the next characters to return and Pabbie, leader of the trolls, know that they must discover the history of the kingdom to save it.


The usual gang set off into the mist and tackle the elements one by one, each one revealing something else about the fight that once happened and why everyone was trapped behind the mist. They even encounter the soldiers and tribesmen who have not aged a day since being trapped. It turns out that the little tribe's girl who saved their father was their future mother and this would be a common body that would help with this new truth. As for saving their kingdom, it turns out that there is indeed a fifth spirit that can unite people and magic. From here on out, Elsa, Anna and Olaf journey on alone until they find their parents crashed ship and a map of where the next important location is, which Elsa ends up travelling alone for safety reasons. Finding a glacier which holds images of the past, the voice calling her was a young version of her mother, leading her to this place so that she can find out that she was given her powers by nature. This was down the selfless act of her mother all those years ago when she put her life on the line to save Elsa's father. Elsa is the fifth spirit.


Then we see the dark side of the story. Her Grandfather built the dam to decrease the tribe's sources. He wasn't best pleased with the tribe's relationship with magic. He started this conflict by cutting down their unarmed leader. Elsa sends this information to Anna before becoming Frozen in the most dangerous part of the glacier. Olaf, in turn, fades away. It is now up to Anna to actually save the day. She awakens some giants, pisses them off and gets them to launch some rocks in her direction, smashing open the dam and causing Elsa to thaw out. Elsa heads to Arendelle just in time to stop the tidal wave from destroying the kingdom.


Watching the closing scenes, I'm pretty sure the older audience can tell what's coming. Other than Kristoff asking Anna about marriage, Elsa explains that the sisters are now the bridge between magic and people. Elsa can no longer stay in Arendelle and will protect the Enchanted Forest as Anna takes the role of Queen. The will obviously stay in touch and visit each other as much as possible so this isn't a goodbye in any way, it's more of a see you later. We do get an after credits for the movie, not that it leads on to anything else. It is just Olaf reciting the experiences with some of the other snow characters.
This movie was six years after the first and it seemed to mature with its audience. This can be seen as a good or bad thing, depending on who you would ask. For myself, I wasn't blown away by the movie. The dialogue and storyline fell a little short with me at times, either being very predictable or a bit of a mish-mish, as things would always be explained by the characters, just so they would make sense. There wasn't the fun aspect that the first brought and therefore, it was a lot more serious, which ties up the case for the movie being a little more mature.
The characters that we would usually talk about are already well-known for anyone that sits down to watch this. Kristoff has become a bit more of a nervous fella, wanting to get the proposal of marriage out of the way and we follow this until the end, even with a song along the way. Elsa once again gets some 'cold feet' and Olaf is along for the slapstick comedy for the youngsters who may have been lost in the storyline. As for the songs, absolutely nothing stuck in my mind with the same effect as the first movie. I maybe need to rewatch the movie but I still think that would be the case compared to the songs of movies like Frozen and Moana. Into the Unknown is arguably the biggest song from the movie and that's been easily forgotten too. Once again, the graphics and visual effects were smashed out of the park, especially the scenes that would include water. The took a step up from the first movie, with time passing between the two movies and techniques improving, this was always going to happen but it making the movie a little darker was a nice turn of pace.
After this movie falling flat for me, I'm not sure whether thinking a third would be in motion, would actually set the fires burning. A few scenes from the movie could have been cut out and it would have been at the same level but a little shorter. The ending was too quick and the movie was made off the back of the success from the first, but that would just be my opinion. The animators should be commended but I wouldn't say the same for the writers. 

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