Review: Frozen II – should we have just “Let It Go” after the first film?

Frozen II: Review by Emily Barker

With Jenifer Lee and Chris Buck directing once again, Disney are back with Frozen II six years after the original movie was released, and boy are they back with a bang.

Anna, Elsa, Olaf, Kristoff and Sven the reindeer (voiced by the originals from the first film) all return to our screens throughout the UK, this time to find out the origin of Elsa’s snow powers in order to save the kingdom of Arendelle.

This film opens with a flashback of the girls’ Mum singing a lullaby to All is Found, singing “can you face what the river knows?” in which we first hear the soprano, whistle-like noise that will become all the more apparent and more substantial throughout the rest of the film.

The sequel follows Elsa on her journey to follow this sound, leading her through the ancient, permanently-autumn Enchanted Forest to the Ahtohallan River to get the answers she so desires, even touching briefly on climate change issues, a big issue in today’s society, keeping the film current and up-to-date.

A battle between the Northuldra soldiers and the soldiers of Arendelle however, means that the forest has been sealed off for decades by some form of magical fog. Elsa and her clan discover those people who are trapped within, the Northuldra soldiers and the Arendelle soldiers.

This time not featuring Let It Go in any form, the song in every child and parent’s head for a solid year or so (never actually reaching number one in the charts), but Into the Unknown, which is a more mature song about Elsa and her struggles, showing that the audience has in fact grown up with the characters themselves. Kristoff also gets a ballad in this film, Lost In The Woods about his struggle with finding himself and what to do about the one he loves. The cute snowman Olaf also gets a number about growing older, simply called When I Am Older. Anna sings about the first step for change in The Next Right Thing.

Frozen II was everything I expected it to be, and more, and it’s nice to see the directors have realised that the audience have grown up with the film by putting in mild adult humour whilst still keeping it family friendly, and that the songs are a lot more mature than in the original. I love that it has kept its family-friendly appeal.

Frozen II is in cinemas throughout the UK now, and you can watch the trailer below.