Frozen 2's Music Makes Me Cold,but Plot Warms More

"Frozen II" ’s Music Makes Me Cold, but Plot Warms More Than First

By: Ron Baxley, Jr.

Four (****) out of Five Stars 

I finally have been able to see “Frozen II” on Disney +, where it was said to have been added because of the recent pandemic so that viewers could see it earlier.

The plot definitely warms more than the first because it has more complications and sub-plots (no spoilers).

The music, however, leaves me colder than the first film. Nothing will probably beat Idina Menzel’s “Let it Go” anthem which was played everywhere the year the first film came out. However, Frozen II’s “All Is Found” is a suitable folk ballad which doubles as a lullaby and also explains a legend and backstory about a mysterious river. The sequel’s “Some Things Never Change” is sing-songey in the sense that a “Sesame Street” song is but it more forgettable. One saving grace of it is Kristoff doing his ever-charming voice for his reindeer partner Sven. “Aurora – Into the Unknown” is the icy stalagmite-covered crown among the sequel’s songs with its soprano or treble cry of “Ah-ah-ah-ah” from some force or spirit calling Elsa (Idina Menzel) into the unknown away from her home. Gad as Olaf’s silly songs were never my favorite but probably appeal to the children in the audience. Kristoff has a reprise of “Reindeers Are Better than People” but with different lyrics as he heads toward even more toward romantic love with Anna. In fact, his “Lost in the Woods” starts as a solo with electric guitar riffs and then builds with a duo with reindeer, and I found it more amusing than touching because all I kept thinking was, “This is like a Hal and Oates song from the 80s!” Kristoff is figuratively and musically Hal, and the reindeer is basically symbolically and musically Oates. Yet that may have been the intent. It was entertaining, to say the least. The rest of the songs, again, were just not as memorable.

 

By the way, not to get bogged down into fantasy tropes that this film has as my latest fantasy book, O.Z. Diggs Himself Out has (like I did in my last review), but "Frozen II" has the tropes of the elementals of earth, fire, water, and air. I had a descendant of O.Z. Diggs basically have to wield these within my book. Characters within “Frozen II” encounter these in different ways that I do not want to reveal too much and spoil too much. Interesting to me is the air spirit called Gale who tends to summon to the other world. As an Oz fan, I am always fascinated by the use of Gale which has to do with winds and also because it is the last name of Dorothy who travels via tornado to Oz. That is perhaps intentional as Gale is the summoner in this film. Another one I will mention is the salamander-like spirit for fire. I was so happy as an outdoor education educator with 15 years of teaching experience that they brought that into the film. This helps introduce history and ancient ideas about science (sometimes flawed and illogical) and also creative legends into children’s minds. As we all know, people once thought that salamanders came from fire because when people would put logs into campfires, salamanders who were already in them would crawl out. What a wonderful teachable moment happens with the introduction of this character. These spirits and this other world the characters are being summoned to will just have to be seen, and the explanation behind them further explored with a viewing. I was riveted by the plot of this one because of these facets – perhaps even more so that the first film. 

Because of some flaws in the music, I dock the film a star, but given that some of its music is great and the plot and characterization exceeds the first film, I give it four out of five stars. 

**** out of 5 stars