Frozen / Frozen II

FROZEN (PG)

D: Chris Buck & Jennifer Lee

Disney (Peter Del Vocho)

USA 🇺🇸 2013

98 mins

Animated

W: Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee & Shane Morris [based on the story "The Snow Queen" by Hans Christian Andersen]

Mus: Christophe Beck; Robert Lopez & Kristen Anderson-Lopez

voices of: Kristen Bell (Anna), Idina Menzel (Elsa), Jonathan Groff (Kristoff), Josh Gan (Olaf), Santino Fontana (Hans)

Am I missing something?

I just didn't seem to enjoy this as much as the rest of the world. Sure it's great animation in the usual Disney style with the studio's twist on a fairytale with the usual princesses, hulking heroes, dastardly villains and talking animals (well, snowmen in this case) but what makes this the most successful Disney film ever exactly???

The teaser trailer had a walking, talking snowman named Olaf and a reindeer fighting over a carrot (Olaf's nose), but none of this comedy was in the film, instead it's a loose adaptation of a Hans Christian Anderson fairytale where a newly coronated queen with magical powers hides in a fortress of solitude and makes her kingdom perennial winter while her sister is on a quest to break the curse.

It was entertaining, but completely without the comedy I was expecting (I could have quite happily watched a whole film of two characters having a tug-of-war over a carrot).

The songs (and there are many of them) are grating and enchanting in equal measure. 'Let It Go' is a truly great Disney song, but some of the others are simply too twee.

Overall, I'd say it's a fine family film, but it's so incredibly overrated.

6/10

FROZEN II (U)

D: Chris Buck & Jennifer Lee

Disney (Peter Del Vecho)

USA 🇺🇸 2019

103 mins

Animated

W: Jennifer Lee, Chris Buck, Marc E. Smith, Robert Lopez & Kristen Anderson-Lopez

Mus: Christophe Beck; Robert Lopez & Kristen Anderson-Lopez

Idina Menzel (Elsa), Kristen Bell (Anna), Josh Gad (Olaf), Jonathan Groff (Kristoff), Sterling K. Brown (Mattias), Evan Rachel Wood (Iduna), Alfred Molina (Agnarr)

I'll be the first to admit that I didn't really enjoy the first Frozen movie, mostly because it wasn't really aimed at my demographic, but I watched it at the peak of its hype, when the marketing was everywhere and impossible to escape. However, this 2019 sequel I found to be far more entertaining, with a much better story than the first film.

With the characters and their backgrounds already set up, this follow up to the 2013 film sees sisters Elsa & Anna travel to an enchanted forest when their home comes under threat from a magical force that lives within the mist that surrounds it.

Once again, it's the relationship of the two sisters that provides the backbone of the story, but there's a little more adventure here as they become separated as they search for the mysterious truth.

The animation and vocal cast are all fantastic, and though I think this sequel has a better story, I also have to yield that the songs in this film are nowhere near as memorable as the first film. Although, considering how many times I've heard "Let It Go" massacred at karaoke nights, this might not be a terrible thing.

6/10