Thankfully, I was never around people that constantly had the songs on all of the time. Therefore, I never became sick of hearing 'Let It Go' and it's many other instant classics.
A couple of shorts later, we now have a sequel. Trying to even match the most successful Disney animation in a generation must be quite a task to accomplish.
But with their record of live-action re-makes being a mixed bag in my opinion, I was going into this with some caution.
The one bit of faith that kept me going was that it certainly was not a forced sequel. Much like the Toy Story sequels, they wanted to make sure that they found the right story to prevent tarnishing the franchise.
I felt quite relieved more than anything else after seeing this, as I felt this to be a worthy sequel. However, I would not be surprised if some people didn't like it purely that it's not as good as its predecessor, which if that's case would be rather unfair in my opinion.
What I liked about it the most was how much they expanded the world outside of Arendelle and of its mythology and magical elements.
Also, the visuals continue to be very eye-catching, especially when the magical elements of the story are contributing.
In terms of the characters, it's playing to most of its strengths. The films most important cog from the first film is the sequels most important part of its machine, and that is the dynamic between our main characters Anna and Elsa. Their sisterhood chemistry is what makes the Frozen films great and without that, it would end up being rather hollow.
Olaf continues to get the biggest laughs be one of the films strongest aspects. Sadly, it felt it was lacking Kristoff. I didn't feel his story arch was interesting and he seems to be absent for a fair amount of the film that made no sense for him to be off-screen.
Another main ingredient to not just a Frozen film, but a Disney animation, is the songs. While new ones might not quite be on that instantly catching level, there are still pretty strong ones that I would happily listen too again. There was a song that looked to be intentionally identical to the style of a Michael Bolton video which was very funny. There is a big song that they are trying to push as hard as they did with 'Let It Go'. It's worth it of being the films biggest song and I would happily champion it to win Best Original Song at the Oscars.
The only negative that I feel was worth mentioning was that there is actually no villain. There is something we feel is a threat. But when you actually think about it, there is not real antagonist. As many people know for the art of story-telling, that for every strong hero you need a strong villain.
So while it might have the same level of emotional involvement or pure Disney magic, I was still really enjoying the story and it had me constantly engaged and invested throughout.
I will be interested in how I feel about this film on multiple viewings. Maybe I'm kidding myself, or I'm being soft on it and clouded by its flaws? Guess we'll have to see.
There is a post credits scene and it certainly is one that made me happy and continued my favourite gag from the film.
Rating: 8/10
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