It’s been 6 years since the original Frozen was released and a lot can change in 6 years. The first time you saw this movie you were probably in middle school, a time in our lives which most of us want to forget. Something unforgettable from those years was most definitely Frozen.

The catchy tunes and the subversion of Disney’s stereotypical romance plots captivated audiences. Frozen gave us “Let It Go”, an anthem that everyone ages seven and up loved to belt. Then there was “Love is an Open Door”, a somewhat sweeter tune that humanizes the main villain of the movie, Hans. Overall, Frozen was a memorable movie and its sequel, Frozen 2, would have a hard time living up to it.

Frozen 2 had a more mature plot compared to the original. It focuses on the importance of change even if though it may be hard to start something new. However, this plot was a letdown. I won’t complain much because this is a children’s movie and obviously plot holes and nitpicky comments aren’t important to a child. The plot had a simple premise, though it got surprisingly convoluted with all the different revelations about the past. I was glad that they didn’t retcon the death of the sister’s parents, but there was a whole side story of their mom’s voice essentially traveling through time. This was never explained, only thrown at the audience as secondary information to the plot.

The first movie had some simple character arcs, but at least they were present in the movie. The whole point of a sequel is to expand the world and learn more about the characters, but there was hardly any of either when it came to this movie. 

Throughout the film, the audience is treated to animation that is tantamount to watching a movie filmed with an IMAX camera and the magical forest setting is the best example of it. The precise details and realism of the trees and the water showcase fully make up for why the movie took so long to create. However, the forest itself is barely involved in the plot for any purpose other than the beauty of it and when it is involved it’s a plot hole. How could all these people just forget about a whole group of people that were left in the forest for decades? 

Even beloved characters from the first movie became mindless plotlines in the sequel. Kristoff’s only personality trait in the entire movie was worrying about proposing to Anna. He was an interesting character in the first movie, but in his one, his entire character is turned into a proposal and nothing else. Throughout the entire movie, Anna dealt with being overprotective of Elsa and learning to trust her, but the story never really focused on her perspective and Elsa continuously brushed her off instead of working through it.

The writers tried to give Elsa an arc built around not wanting to be the queen and focusing on her magic, but it was hardly addressed before receiving a rushed ending. Elsa also discovers that she’s similar to the avatar from “Avatar: The Last Airbender” but that she is also the bridge between humans and magic. They tried to explain the reason behind her powers, but it fell flat and was too convoluted to be really powerful. Expand more on Elsa’s powers or her mom’s backstory would have been a more interesting and exciting storyline to focus on. 

While the first installation had really strong themes of sisterhood and coming to terms with your inner demons, the sequel paled in comparison. The harsh comparison made it painfully obvious that this movie didn’t have any of the clear, heartfelt themes that made the original movie loved by so many people. They did manage to balance the idea of respecting natives and their culture while portraying them in an exciting way, which is something I did enjoy Disney acknowledging, especially considering their past of intolerance towards different cultures. I also really liked how Anna and Elsa tried to right the wrongs of their ancestors without shying away from the fact that they were wrong. 

I did love Olaf’s whole self-aware personality and the attempt at teenage dark and existential humor. I was humored by his whole idea of “I’ll understand when I’m older” because it’s exactly what I thought when I was a kid. Olaf’s segments made me flashback to my middle school self and my thoughts of how I would figure everything out by the time I was a senior in high school.  

This movie definitely did not live up to the hype created around it, but that was probably my fault for having such high expectations for the movie. It was a fun watch, the music was pretty good, and the animation was amazing. I’m sure that the movie will still make a lot of money and Disney’s going to get even richer by selling a ton of merchandise. If you’re looking for a shallow movie that looks beautiful much thought I would recommend watching this. It doesn’t go anywhere near the emotional intensity of a movie like Inside Out, but it’s still better than most Disney sequels.