Disney leaps right into the unknown with their latest animated adventure and delivers a worthy successor to Frozen. Dazzling visuals, fresh wardrobes, delightful new songs, and a slightly darker story make Frozen II a heck of a good time at the movies this holiday season. Its sense of place is perhaps its greatest asset (after its vocal talent), and the russet hues of an autumnal forest bring the landscape gorgeously to life in unexpected ways for such an iconic wintry franchise. But despite its overstuffed, convoluted narrative, the film's themes are even more complex and mature this time around.
We begin with a flashback to Elsa and Anna's childhood as their father narrates a story: their grandfather the king brokered a treaty with the nearby forest tribe Northuldra by building a dam. Back in the present, three years after the first film, the sisters celebrate autumn in Arendelle before Elsa, following a mysterious voice "into the unknown" unintentionally awakens elemental spirits. Apparently their presence reveals a secret past that needs resolution in order for the kingdom to find peace, so of course Elsa and Anna embark to the Enchanted Forest with Kristoff, Olaf, and Sven.
Elsa is tested several times as the elemental spirits threaten to hinder her quest; though she triumphs each time, we continually learn more about the troubled history of her family and her kingdom. She is eventually drawn to a mystical river that reveals the knowledge of the world, and Elsa finally discovers the terrible secret and gives the ultimate sacrifice. Anna must muster her strength and, in a clever role reversal for a sequel, rush to her sister's aid and the aid of the kingdom. It's a move that puts both sisters on slightly more equal hero-status and will surely help Disney's merchandising the franchise for a few more years until the next installment.
As relentlessly feminist as the first one, Frozen II manages to get a few other things wonderfully right as well. While Elsa still doesn't have a girlfriend, there are still arguably queer themes here, especially in the discussions of nature and secret truth, not to mention the reindeer-friendly Ryder who gets close to Kristoff and Sven and the indigenous Honeymaren who shares one pretty flirty scene with Elsa. More explicitly, however, Disney here continues its environmentalist messaging and strongly advocates in favor of reconciliation with nature and with indigenous peoples, denouncing capitalist interference with a powerful river and imbuing the forest and its inhabitants with pure magic. On an emotional level, it deals headfirst with loss, change, and of course the sins of the past. To think that a Disney movie could so directly address the process of rediscovering history to fix problems in the present and pave the way to healing and a better future. It might be buried under a needlessly complex plot structure, but it's there, baby. And, as the song tells us, even if we don't know all the answers, we can just try to do the next right thing. We'll get there eventually.
P.S. I hope the twist of Elsa and Anna being the grandchildren who right the wrongs of their grandfather returns in Disney's next major release, Episode IX of Star Wars. Yes, I'm praying Palpatine is Rey's ancestor, or at least her creator. Fight me.
**Edit in January 2020**
Having seen this movie several times since this initial post, I must make an addendum. Each subsequent viewing has endeared this movie to me more. The new mythology and convoluted plot make so much more sense now, and in fact feel profoundly deep. I wasn't ready for it going in the first time. Elsa's "Show Yourself" is the queer anthem the world needs and a miracle of animated cinema. Kristoff's "Lost in the Woods" is a perfect pleasure of movie music.
This movie is a solid 5 / 5 for me now. I might even like it more than the first.
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