Inspired by persistent and overwhelming demand, Disney has worked hard to give us a truly worthy theatrically released sequel for an animated classic.

Many of The Walt Disney Company’s sequels had been direct-to-video, and sometimes of extremely poor quality (Atlantis: Milo’s Return comes to mind) – but with the positive results from The Incredibles 2 and Ralph Breaks the Internet, the company has once again gone the theatrical route with Frozen II.

The new film picks up shortly after the events of the first film, with Anna (Kristen Bell), and her sister Elsa (Idina Menzel) watching over their kingdom of Arendelle. Things are going so well that Kristoff (Jonathan Groff) plans to propose to Anna but keeps finding ways to botch things up, much to the dismay of his reindeer Sven.

Their ideal life is uprooted when Elsa continues to hear a call from the North, and soon her powers unleash a new primal force that threatens her kingdom.

Undaunted, Anna, Elsa, Kristoff, Sven, and Olaf (Josh Gad) set off to a distant land to the north that has been isolated due to a deadly conflict with their Grandfather years earlier, the same one from which their father barely escaped as a boy.

Along the way the group discovers challenges, triumphs, and the truth about their past and family as they attempt to set things right.

Frozen II has some amazing animation and some timely humor that really offsets the story well. This is a more evolved and engaging plot than audiences were given with the first movie. While the first film in many ways was a fairy tale, this is more of an epic hero’s journey with fantasy elements and action.

My biggest concern about the film going in was how they would be able to top or even come close to such classics as Let It Go and Do You Want To Build A Snowman. In this regard I was right as I did not hear the epic composition that burst from the screen and screamed “classic”. To their credit, though, audiences were given a variety of songs and styles that really served the story well, and one of which was very moving and likely will be the breakout song, along with the hysterical 80’s video style song by Kristoff.

Frozen 2 delivers the music, characters, humor, and an emotional tale that fans of the original will love as it captures the very best of Disney Animation and storytelling.

[usr 4.5]

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[Reprinted by permission from SKNR.net]