Last week, I received the following text from my mom:
A few minutes later, I heard my phone ring and saw that my sister was calling. Now, my sister rarely calls me. We mostly text or communicate via social media. When she calls me, it is because something is urgent or there is an emergency. So, I was a little concerned when I saw this call come through. I answered the phone, and this is what I heard:
“I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU HAVEN’T WATCHED FROZEN II YET!!!!!”
For the next 4 minutes, my sister gave me a stern talking to and told me that I had to watch the movie IMMEDIATELY. I couldn’t help but laugh. Especially when I could hear my mom in the background saying: “Is that Stephanie on the phone? Tell her I love her.” To which my sister responded: “NO! SHE DOESN’T DESERVE YOUR LOVE RIGHT NOW!”
Essentially, I was disowned until I watched Frozen II. My sister even texted my fiancé to tell him that he had to watch it with me. So, this past week, I made it my mission to watch Frozen II as well as Into the Unknown so that I could redeem myself.
Frozen II Directed by Jennifer Lee and Chris Buck – Animation, Adventure, Comedy, Family: The gang from the original film returns to solve the mystery of an enchanted forest. As Elsa works to save both her kingdom and the inhabitants of the forest, she also embarks on a journey of self discovery to uncover the secrets behind the source of her power.
Pros: The story is lots of fun and I found that it was much stronger than that of the first film. And compared to Frozen I, I feel like the animation also improved quite a bit (given the amount of time that’s passed between the two films, that doesn’t surprise me). The costumes are gorgeous and I appreciate that Anna and Elsa got to wear pants/leggings on their adventure this time around. Kristoff finally got a real musical number that was inspired by 80s power ballads, and it was easily one of the best parts of the film. And, of course, Olaf was hilarious. But, I think one of my favourite parts of that whole film has got to be that adorable salamander!
Cons: At first, I had some issues with some of the songs. At times, the notes and melodies sounded a little too similar to songs from the first film. However, my sister said that the music gets better the more you listen to it. And after watching the behind the scenes documentary, not only could I appreciate the work that went into the songs, but after hearing them more and more they did start to grow on me. The film was also very heavy handed with the recurring themes and messages. Given that this is a children’s film, that is understandable, and some of those themes did help with elements of the plot. I just found it a little too much at times.
Final Thoughts: Although I enjoyed it more than the first film, it did take a little while to really grow on me. And watching the documentary certainly helped. Ever since watching the film, I have had a number of the songs stuck in my head and I am ok with that.
Into the Unknown: Making Frozen II – Documentary: Whether or not you enjoyed Frozen II, I highly recommend watching this mini series. It’s a in-depth look into the kind of work that goes in to a Disney animated film. I already knew animators did a lot of hard work for these kinds of movies, but I had no idea just how intense it really is. The amount of work put in to this film between animation, music, and everything in between was astounding. It gave me a new appreciation for the movie. And once I saw this behind the scenes work, I also gained respect for aspects of the film I wasn’t necessarily fond of when I first watched Frozen II. It was entertaining and informative, and I would really love it if Disney would make similar documentaries for other upcoming animated films. Both my mom and my sister said that after watching this documentary series, they wanted to go back and re-watch Frozen II. Mark and I had a similar experience, and we both wouldn’t mind re-watching the film at some point now that we’ve seen all of the work that’s gone into it.
