Voices of Idina Menzel, Kristen Bell, Josh Gad, and Jonathan Graff
Music by Robert Lopez; Lyrics by Kristen Anderson-Lopez
Directed by Jennifer Lee and Chris Buck
Our first review of 2021 returns us to the world of Arendelle from the smash 2013 hit Frozen. Aware of their track record with animated sequels, Disney spent years developing the script, songs, and animation. Was all that work worth it, or is this one trip "Into the Unknown" not worth taking? To find out, we begin at Arendele in the past, as Elsa (Menzel) and Anna's (Bell) father King Agnarr (Alfred Molina) tells them a story of the Enchanted Forest and the people who live there...
The Story: When Agnarr was a boy (Jackson Stein), his father King Runeard (Jeremy Sisto) made a treaty with the Northuldra tribe by building a dam in their area. The autumn celebration ended in fighting, enraging the Elemental Spirits of the Forest. A great mist flew up, obscuring the trees and the armies. Runeard is killed in the fighting, but Agnarr is rescued.
Three years after the first film, Elsa is looking forward to celebrating autumn with her sister Anna and her new friends when she hears a voice calling her. Following it awakens the Elemental Spirits, who unleash gale-force winds and cold on Arendelle. After they evacuate the citizens, the trolls tell Elsa that she must go into the Enchanted Forest to discover the truth about the past.
With the help of Anna, Olaf the snowman (Gad), Kristoff the ice harvester (Groff), and his reindeer Svenn, Elsa ventures into the woods to discover that there's often more to the story than we know, and that living a life based on fear often ends up doing more harm than good.
The Animation: Wow. All that work Disney did really shows onscreen. There's some truly incredible sequences in this. I especially love Elsa's attempts to cross the ocean and make it to that island. They rendered the ice so well, you really do feel the cold. The fall colors are lovely, the movement of the characters exquisite.
The Song and Dance: I didn't expect Disney to go this dark. This rumination on the past, where we come from, and how it effects us in the present is almost as touching as the first movie, and a lot more complicated. There's no easy answers here, and no flat-out villains as in the first film, either. Everyone puts in excellent performances, from Bell and Menzel as the sisters who think they're better off doing things themselves to Gad as the snowman who wonders what it's like to grow. I also like that the parents are used a bit more - we barely see them outside of the opening minutes in the first film.
Favorite Number: The movie opens with "All Is Found," a sweet lullaby that Queen Iduna (Evan Rachel Wood) sings to her daughters to explain about the sacred place where the spirits converge. Menzel and Norwegian singer Aurora perform the driving "Into the Unknown" as Elsa tries to resist the voices calling her to the forest. Gad's "When I am Older" shows how Olaf hopes he'll learn more about life when he finally grows into...well, whatever a snowman grows into. Frightened at first, Anna finally reveals how she intends to do "The Next Right Thing" and save Arendelle from destruction...even if she has to flood their home to do it.
What I Don't Like: Maybe they went a little too dark. This misses the sweet simplicity that made the first film such an overwhelming hit...and the fact that the sisters were learning to trust one another and work together. While the music is good, I don't think it's quite as memorable as the songs in the first film, either. It's also a bit more violent, with those battles and the rock creatures and spirits.
The Big Finale: I didn't love this one quite as much as the first movie, but I still enjoyed it a lot. I'm not the only one, either. This surpassed the first film to become the biggest hit animated movie of all time. If you or your older elementary school or tween daughter loved the first movie, you'll want to take a chance and leap "Into the Unknown" with Elsa, Anna, and their new friends. It may be one of the few times I'm glad Disney dove back into one of their signature franchises.
Home Media: As one of the biggest hits of 2019 and the most popular animated film of all time, this is easy to find in pretty much any format of your choosing.
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