By Blake Hodges
When we think back to the Disney sequels of the decade, there are some real gems. Ralph Breaks the Internet is criminally underrated. Monsters University was really fun. And Finding Dory…well that was mostly a rerun of the original. Alice and Wonderland Through the Looking Glass…was a movie. Oh there was Cars 2…which took a weird turn. Okay so the competition for “Best Disney Sequel of the Decade” isn’t the highest bar. However, Frozen 2 soars over that bar like the Patriots playing the Jets each year.
Olaf’s purpose in the original was a simple one two punch: elicit laughter and create “aww” moments. He did his job well and by the end of it you wrote him off as another adorable Disney creation. In Frozen 2, Olaf gets something to do. Olaf continuously grapples with the concept of aging and what that means for how he views the world around him. With the original Frozen coming out in 2013, that means a ten-year-old watching Frozen could now drive themselves to see Frozen 2. Pick your jaw up off the floor and ponder with me how Olaf has now gone from our adorability machine to a character questioning his place in the world and if life will start to make more sense eventually. How neat that he can serve as a stand in for many of the viewers giving this a watch with some years behind their wide eyes.
How often do we see a sequel take all the fresh, fun ideas from the original, pack them up and resell them to us as a “new” movie? Oh that’s right. Finding Dory! Frozen 2 doesn’t do that. Instead, this story takes risks, expands the scope of the universe and brings in a myriad of other characters. There are so many things going on that I actually left thinking this merited a re-watch. For Disney to pack this much story in a kid’s movie is impressive and startling. I can count on one hand the amount of movies I’ve walked out of this year that I was ready to walk right back in.
One of the best things about Frozen 2 that is going to be overlooked is how great the villain is. I’m going to phrase this in a careful, non-spoiler way. Frozen 2’s villain is unlike anything I’ve ever seen. This villain isn’t in front of you. This villain isn’t on the edges. This isn’t the typical Disney villain taunting the protagonist. There isn’t much more to say without going into spoilers but I couldn’t breeze past what I think is one of the smartest story moves I’ve seen in a while.
Every director wants to make the best movie of the year. Every studio wants to make the most profitable movie of the year. When you can get those two goals aligned, you are making Hollywood magic. Frozen 2 isn’t the pinnacle movie of the year, but this sits very high on the intersection of good and profitable. As mentioned in the “this story is ambitious” point, Frozen 2packs in a lot of plot and there might be more there for the adult audience than there is for the kids even. Giving the adults something to think on and visuals/songs for kids to enjoy is a powerful combo. Frozen 2 has content for the whole family, is getting released in the Thanksgiving season, and even has a lot of Thanksgiving elements like fall leaves, a feast and family games. I’d like to start the campaign now that Frozen 2 is the Thanksgiving movie we’ve all been waiting for. Of all the reasons I loved it, this items weighs the least but having an awesome Thanksgiving movie for a change merits mentioning.
A movie with a dynamic duo is an entertaining flick. A movie with a cast of characters that can all work together regardless of who is paired with who is near magic. Again, this is an element that may get overlooked but this might be the underlining glue that holds Frozen 2 together as it makes all of its story moves. Time has passed in the real world as well as theirs and you feel that. Between the way everyone interacts at the beginning game night down to how they all converse at the end, you feel the history between these characters. I can’t believe I feel this connected and bought in to an entire cast of animated characters.