This article continues my series where I review Disney classics. I reviewed Frozen last time so I figured it would only be fitting if I continued with the sequel, Frozen 2. Frozen 2 is also one of my absolute favourite movies made by Disney, or anyone for that matter. I honestly don’t know which one I prefer, Frozen or Frozen 2. Both are great. I expected to be disappointed when I went to see Frozen 2 because usually sequels are worse than the original movie but I was definitely positively surprised.
Frozen 2 follows the same characters as in the previous movie: the sisters Elsa and Anna and their sidekicks Olaf, Kristoff and Sven, Kristoff’s reindeer. Elsa hears this mysterious call that no one else seems to hear and before she knows it, the spirits of fire, earth, air and water are attacking their kingdom, Arendelle. Elsa remembers a story about a magical forest told to the sisters by their father. Some thirty years ago, their father and his father visited the forest to meet the Northuldra, their neighbouring tribe. However, the Northuldra suddenly attacked them. The fighting caused the nature spirits to anger and they covered the forest in a mist that separated it from the rest of the world. Elsa decides to find the forest to find out why the spirits are still angry and takes all the main characters with her. They enter the forest, meet the Northuldra and befriend some of the spirits. They continue their journey to the North when they suddenly find an Arendellian shipwreck; turns out that Elsa and Anna’s parents died trying to find the source of Elsa’s powers.
Elsa leaves everyone else behind and finds the voice that has been calling to her. She realizes that she is the fifth nature spirit who connects people and the magic of nature. However, she also finds out that thirty years ago it was not the Northuldra who attacked first but the Arendellians. They had given the Northuldra a dam as a sign for friendship but in reality it was meant to weaken their lands. Elsa tells this to Anna and kind of dies which causes Anna to break down. However, she gets up and comes up with a plan to break the dam. When that is done, Elsa comes back to life and the spirits aren’t angry anymore so they lift the mist. Elsa takes her place as the fifth spirit, Anna becomes queen of Arendelle and she and Kristoff get engaged.
I love how this movie focuses more on Elsa since she is my favourite character. Elsa is very capable and independent but she still needs help, mainly the help of her sister. So, the theme of sisterly love is continued which I think is great. Elsa is still quite introverted and that is still completely okay. In fact, in the end she gets to stay in the woods where she is happy rather than having to go back to being queen when she didn’t really want to. She was a great queen, though. Anna, on the other hand, gets to be surrounded by people which is what she loves. In the movie, being an extrovert is not the standard but rather everyone gets to be the way they are.
This movie deals with some pretty dark themes. The Next Right Thing is a song Anna sings when she thinks Elsa is dead and it really hits hard. Though Elsa ends up being fine in the end (this is a children’s movie, after all), Anna has to go through hours of thinking all is lost. And the song gives pretty good advice: when everything seems hopeless, you should take it one little step at a time and you will make it through. When my grandpa died, I almost immediately put on Frozen 2 and this song actually gave me so much comfort.
Another heavy theme that the movie deals with is colonialism. The Northuldra are supposed to be a native people modeled after the Sámi people of Northern Europe. The Arendellians just blatantly trick the Nothuldra to make them more dependent on themselves and when that does not work, they full on attack them. However, thirty years later, Anna and Elsa recognize what their people have done and try to make it right. Unfortunately, this is seldom the case in the real world where for example the Sámi are still not treated too great. I live in Finland where the Sámi also live so I would know. In any case, Frozen 2 sets a great example for kids about what colonialism looks like and why it is not okay. To my understanding, actual Sámi people were also consulted to develop the Northuldra in a way that is as respectful as possible, which is great. I know many people are unhappy about Arendelle not getting flooded in the end because it means that colonialism did not have any lasting negative impacts for the colonizers. To counter that, I would again like to remind everyone that this movie is meant for children.
Many people do not like Kristoff’s role in the movie and I can see why. He is kind of a comic relief with his attempts to propose to Anna. However, the movie is not about him. And it does not have to be. We have enough movies where women are nothing more than romantic interests. This movie focuses on two strong women and their sisterly bond and in my opinion, it is okay that Kristoff is only there for comedy. I am very happy, though, that they get their happy ending in the end. And it’s not marriage! They build a healthy long-term relationship first and take things slow, which is something we seldom see in Disney movies.
All in all, I think this movie is great. Sure, it’s not perfect but then again, no movie is. Frozen 2 is fun, sad, thought-provoking and light all at the same time. I usually really don’t support big corporations making sequels just because they want more money, but if we get Frozen 3, I will watch it. And who knows, maybe I’ll review it if it’s ever released!