“Let it go, let it go,” children -and even adults- all over America religiously sang. Frozen, the magical Disney movie produced in 2013, allowed Disney to assert its dominance over the movie industry. Elsa, being this powerful queen who has uncontrollable ice powers, froze anything that she touched. Anna, the sister of Elsa, tried to rebuild sisterhood by going on an adventure to find Elsa after she abruptly left Arendelle. With blue and pink sparkles filling up this unique adventure, the movie was empowering.

As a sequel, Disney released Frozen 2 on Nov. 22, 2019. Frozen 2 is an undeniable success for Disney, becoming another addition to everyone’s princess movie collection.
However, the are many questions: Are the songs better? Is the plot better? And is it more enjoyable than Frozen 1? My answer to all three questions is no.

Let’s start with the soundtracks. “Into the Unknown” is definitely not a “Let It Go,” and it will never reach anything on that level. In fact, none of the songs in Frozen 2 surpass any of those presented in the original Frozen.

Frozen’s scores were bangers. Starting with Anna and Prince Hans’ “Love is an Open Door” to Olaf’s cute and funny “Into the Summer,” every song held a great hook alongside a zealous message about love, passion and family. While it could be argued that some other Disney movies, such as Tangled or Aladdin, had some better music, overall, Frozen still made a lasting impact.

But Frozen 2’s? A big let down.

The songs in Frozen 2 came every other minute during the movie, and they were just too difficult to follow. However, the biggest problem was not the constant relay; it was the lack of impact. After watching the movie, I did not remember a single song, except for the main one: “Into the Unknown.” When going back to iTunes to play each one, I constantly asked myself: Wait this was in the movie? In a nutshell, the songs were forgettable, and especially for Disney, a company that puts a large emphasis on the soundtrack of each animation, this is not good.

Onto the plot.

The original Frozen had a perfectly understandable plot. From Elsa leaving Arendelle to stop hurting her beloved sister to Anna following Elsa’s path to bring her back to Prince Hans being the antagonist who approached Anna with a plan to take Elsa, everything made sense. There was an even balance between protagonists and antagonists and a simple but meaningful romance between Anna and Kristoff.

On the other hand, Frozen 2 was just a big mess.

First of all, where is the antagonist? Those of you answering King Runeard, I would like to disagree. Not to mention that he was in the movie for at most 5 minutes, he also lacked stories to back up his actions. I did not understand why he abruptly stabbed the leader of Northuldra, and why the Sami people needed a dam connecting to Arendelle in the first place. And that’s it. No other “bad guy.” The only other characters contributing to the conflicts in the film were the stone monsters, and all they did was follow Anna through the forest. Very tedious.

Not only that, the romance scenes were also a problem. Anna and Kristoff’s love in Frozen was very austere - I’m sure everyone was satisfied with their slowly progressing love for one another and the ending, which was very exciting and joyful. But in Frozen 2, I thought the excuses for Kristoff’s delayed proposal was far too forced. After first entering the enchanted forest, Kristoff, ready to propose to Anna, tries to say something romantic to set the mood. However, Anna totally misinterprets and rages at Kristoff’s comment. If it was a comprehensible situation, it would not have been a problem. But it simply was pushing it.

Disney, really?

Although I forget most -going back to my “forgettable” point - I can recall even more scenes where Anna made up some random excuses to escape Kristoff’s proposals. Not only did they not make sense, but they also seemed plainly immature and not Disney quality.

Did I enjoy Frozen 2? I guess. Did it meet the expectation I built up during the six-year-period? No. Frozen 2 most definitely was a way for Disney to attract fans, poking at the nostalgia they would feel seeing the iconic Elsa and Anna duo once again. It was clear to see that this movie solely focused on the younger audience, but I hope they broaden their targeted audience with the following animation films.

My last comment to you is this: if you watched the trailer and saw Elsa’s new astonishing dress as well as the well-trained water horse, that is the only new thing added to this sequel, so do not expect something new.

<Daniel Kang Arnold O. Beckman HS 11th Grade>