Frozen 2 |OT| Avatar: The Last Icebender (Open Spoilers)

[Rune Walsh]

I saw it yesterday with my daughter and I thought it was pretty meh. I honestly couldn't hum a single melody from the film today as the music was completely forgettable. I turned to my wife at the end when Anna tells Kristoff she likes him better in leather and we both started laughing in a quiet theater.

 

[BDS]

I don't know why this is making me cry laughing

 

[Particle Physicist]

Just saw this yesterday. It was pretty good. The animation was amazing, awesome visuals. I didn't find any of the songs that memorable though.

 

[Menchi]

I liked/loved it. Show Yourself and the the related scenes were absolutely brilliant, and I loved the follow up song, The Next Right Thing too. Into the Unknown is really good, but I preferred Show Yourself which has become a massive ear worm for me

 

[Leeness]

I liked/loved it. Show Yourself and the the related scenes were absolutely brilliant, and I loved the follow up song, The Next Right Thing too. Into the Unknown is really good, but I preferred Show Yourself which has become a massive ear worm for me

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Same, Show Yourself is my fave Elsa song.

Show yourself!
I'm no longer trembling
Here I am
I've come so far!

 

[NetMapel]

Just watched. I find Show Yourself to be too similar to Let It Go both visually and thematically :|

 

[Ellyshia]

Not going to go into too much detail, but I loved it though it certainly felt like quite a departure from the first film.

 

[Titik]

This was such a better movie compared to the first one. First one had better songs so it's like the writers knew they won't h able to top the songs in it and decided to actually write a great movie instead . At first I was iffy on it but it grew and grew on me as it went along. I was surprised at how much I loved it.

And the ending pretty much sets us up for Frozen 3 no problem. Keep them coming especially with this quality story telling.

 

[Deleted member 45614]

Better than the first even if the soundtrack was weaker. Loved they went with the theme of climate change but the big holy shit moment was finding out Anna and Elsa are mixed race; that shot was wild and hit me in a way I didn't expect to be hit. Kinda got me like how Moana did when I watched that for the first got a little choked up seeing a bit of myself on screen.

Anayway from a plot standpointI loved the different embodiment of the elements and how Avatar The Last Airbender it was, also they handled Olaf very well. Anna and Elsa relationship was fantastic and their performances where so good. Will for sure check this one out again when it comes to Disney+.

 

[werezompire]

The kids really liked it. I didn't care for it much. The plot felt really contrived & disjointed, like they had a few scenes in mind at the start and awkwardly tried to connect the dots. It felt like the whole point of the movie was finding the truth, but the truth was all blatantly easy to guess so the whole thing felt a little pointless. Music was decent, but nothing really stood out like the songs in the first movie. In the first movie, I was surprised that I didn't find Olaf annoying like I expected, but in the second movie, it felt like they gave him way more lines of dialogue and it was just too much. I did like the Elsa cringing at her memory of Let it Go scene and I liked how once again, Anna was more of the actual hero of the piece while Elsa was more of a force of nature McGuffin that put things into action. The Kristoff song was a great parody, although not as great as Chop Away at My Heart from Disney's own Milo Murphy's Law. Visually, some of the scenes were really well done.

All in all, a disappointment, but hey, I'm clearly not the target demographic here. My kids loved the thing and I expect to hear the 5th spirit humming from one of my daughters who is the biggest Frozen fan for the next few years.

 

[Illusion]

The Kristoff song was a great parody, although not as great as Chop Away at My Heart from Disney's own Milo Murphy's Law. Visually, some of the scenes were really well done.

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Chop away at my heart is amazing. But doesnt help that came from the guys behind Phineas and Ferb who are phenomenal in making songs.

 

[Grayson]

Man I loved this. I was sitting there sobbing it was so good.

 

[falcondoc]

I liked the songs, the plot of the film was a absolute nonsense mess.

 

[TheGamingNewsGuy]

For those who have listened to the outtake songs, do you prefer the movie or outtake songs?

 

[deathsaber]

I'd give it 7.5/10. it was decent. I liked, not loved the songs and I guess thats how I felt about the movie too. Some good character development, but at same time ,its like, who was the villain in this?

spoiler

Spoiler

I guess their grandfather was, but he's long dead. Pretty much it was just break the "curse" or whatever and everything was cool. I mean the movie was decent, but when you think on it, not really much of a conflict here, other than solving the mystery of the forest/past I guess. I guess I was hoping for something more epic. It was fun spending more time with the characters but it really felt like a stretch to justify this movie to exist (other than Disney cashing in, obviously)

 

[Deleted member 2761]

I loved it, but the movie could literally have done without the avatar magic bits, and the transition between Anna's depression song and everything being solved was like 5 minutes rather than the 30 minutes it should have been. Also Anna should have gotten magic.

 

[SigmasonicX]

This was... alright. I didn't care much for the story, especially the way Kristoff's story went nowhere, how the kingdom was spared, and how little Anna becoming the new queen was earned. Songs were good, but it's true that nothing's really sticking out in my head right now.

Something that stood out to me is how similar the story beats are to Tangled: the Series. There, Eugene is trying to figure out how to propose to Rapunzel, and Rapunzel gets called by a magical force to travel outside the kingdom. Said magical force is also destroying the kingdom. However, Eugene actually does propose to Rapunzel... and gets rejected, because that isn't what she's looking for right now, and we see their relationship develop from there.

Also, I don't know, I feel like the lore additions to Frozen didn't work as well as they did in Tangled. Like in Tangled, the series made me buy the idea that there were ghosts and sorcerers and sea serpents and giant robots lurking off screen from the first movie. With Frozen 2, all these nature spirits hanging around in a forest not too far from Arendale just didn't seem like something that would come out of the first movie.

 

[mrmickfran]

Just finished it. I liked it, time will tell if I like it more than 1 though

The soundtrack is definitely better in 2. 1 only had one banger (Let it Go) meanwhile 2 had Into the Unknown, Lost in the Woods and fuckin Show Yourself.

Kristen Bell was fantastic in this movie.

 

[Mathieran]

Saw it today. Thought it was pretty great, although they didn't go all in on the ending.
Also

Spoiler: Backstory stuff

It annoys me a little that their mom is white and as far as I could tell, all the people from the forest are all dark people. Also how did no one notice her stow away in the cart and show up in their kingdom? And then on top of that ends up marrying the prince even though she's an unknown commoner?

it's definitely a stretch for sure.

 

[pigeon]

This was... alright. I didn't care much for the story, especially the way Kristoff's story went nowhere, how the kingdom was spared, and how little Anna becoming the new queen was earned. Songs were good, but it's true that nothing's really sticking out in my head right now.

Something that stood out to me is how similar the story beats are to Tangled: the Series. There, Eugene is trying to figure out how to propose to Rapunzel, and Rapunzel gets called by a magical force to travel outside the kingdom. Said magical force is also destroying the kingdom. However, Eugene actually does propose to Rapunzel... and gets rejected, because that isn't what she's looking for right now, and we see their relationship develop from there.

Also, I don't know, I feel like the lore additions to Frozen didn't work as well as they did in Tangled. Like in Tangled, the series made me buy the idea that there were ghosts and sorcerers and sea serpents and giant robots lurking off screen from the first movie. With Frozen 2, all these nature spirits hanging around in a forest not too far from Arendale just didn't seem like something that would come out of the first movie.

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Remember in the first movie when Kristof doing Sven's voice was a bit he was doing and not Sven being human level intelligence and Kristof being an animal telepath?

 

[thecouncil]

The Next Right Thing is a beautiful tune.

 

[TradedHats]

I'll have to watch it again but after the initial viewing I didn't like it as much as the first. Had some great songs. "Show Yourself" is definitely my favorite, though. The music coupled with the animation was just amazing. Film looked great in the Dolby Cinema too. Watching the movie went by really quick. "All Is Found" continues to grow on me, though, and I really like the Kacey Musgraves version too. I just love Elsa as a character. After watching the sequel now, I really think these movies shine when she's on her own.

 

[Deleted member 48434]

"At least they had their parents!"
*Beat*
"Their parents are dead."

Cue the cinema cracking up.
The comedy in this was on point.
My sister was dying during the entire Kristoff song.

 

[TheYanger]

"At least they had their parents!"
*Beat*
"Their parents are dead."

Cue the cinema cracking up.
The comedy in this was on point.
My sister was dying during the entire Kristoff song.

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The olaf summary of the first movie was definitely the funniest scene in the movie, with the leather line being the funniest single line.

 

[mrmoose]

Remember in the first movie when Kristof doing Sven's voice was a bit he was doing and not Sven being human level intelligence and Kristof being an animal telepath?

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He's not an animal telepath, though, he just assumes what Sven is saying and I took it as both he and Jason Ritter's characters were similarly nutty.

I dunno, I just rewatched Olaf's Frozen Adventure with my kids and there's a scene there where Sven is trying to tell him what happened to Olaf (Lassie/Scooby style) and he has no idea what the heck is going on.

I think there was growth in Kristoff not being so insecure but it didn't seem to happen during the song but like in between scenes, which I thought was weird. Reverse gender roles and put that song in, like, Anna's hands and I think there's a lot of outrage, though. But men can be needy and insecure too.

 

[Naijaboy]

Welp, so much or for the Tarzan theory.

On the other hand, Into the Unknown is ballers. It's animation excellence, but the plot was mostly there to wrap up loose ends from the previous film. 7.5/10.

 

[jukeboxhero2396]

Rough year for Disney, all there films this year have been hit or miss (except Marvel). Hopefully there will be no Frozen 3, but with

Spoiler: major spoiler

Anna becoming the queen

It definitely seems likely.

 

[Dyle]

It was ok, my biggest issue is that everything was so on the nose and either self aware or totally telegraphed. I have to imagine a lot of that was inserted to make sure that the audience, particularly the kids, understood what was going on, but I think it could have been done more elegantly. But then again, my family had no idea what I was talking about when I brought up the parallels between the water has memory/digital memory symbolism, even though Olaf basically says it out loud. Overall a much weaker film than the first, though at least Kristof's song was pretty goofy

 

[Kirblar]

There's really no reason for a third. You can't really go anywhere from "ascend to Gandalf-hood" with Elsa's character.

It might happen, but narratively you're running on fumes.

 

[RainbowIslands]

Thought act 2 was weak, and Kristoff's side plot was a bit tacked on (whats up with that 90s music video), but overall pretty great as a sequel. Nice to see Anna grow and move on.
Stellar act 3, as with frozen 1. I feel like they could've trimmed a little more fat or pad the run time a little. I feel like some of the plotlines are too brief, likely b/c they needed some character development story line to every important character from last movie.

 

[Darkmaigle]

Into the unknown is a bangerrrrrr

 

[mrmoose]

There's really no reason for a third. You can't really go anywhere from "ascend to Gandalf-hood" with Elsa's character.

It might happen, but narratively you're running on fumes.

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I actually thought Elsa's comment (I think) at the end about whether this was it, and she said yeah, it is, was an indication that they were done. But money beckons, so who knows?

 

[CopperPuppy]

I preferred this to the first, liked it quite a bit.

 

[Kirblar]

One issue the movie has is that has 4 segments, and the important priming needed in that first section just wasn't well done.

1) Setup at Arrendelle
2) Travel to the North and meet the 2 factions there
3) Journey to the Wilds ending in Elsa's ascension/Anna's Cave
4) Everything after that

In Frozen 1 they do an excellent job of priming the character motivations straight off the bat, and they just don't do that here in any significant manner. In the first "For the First Time in Forever" clearly establishes both lead characters once you're in the present day. In the second there's a bad song, there's a charades game, there's a whisper Elsa's hearing.... and then suddenly Elsa's singing about how she's feeling trapped by the throne with absolutely no buildup.

A song similar to "First Time in Forever" w/ Anna being perfectly content with the status quo happy to keep things the same, loving that they're now having all sorts of diplomatic dinners and festivals all the time with everyone together while Elsa is frustrated by the restrictions of being a Monarch and who loves getting to be done with her job and use her powers to fix things, decorate, make toys for kids, etc.

Kristoff's plot probably would have been improved by having Elsa be in on the fact that he's attempting to propose. Not because you need more for Elsa to do, but because it would allow him to be less isolated in the story and play off someone other than Sven even just a little bit, and also because they basically have zero interaction in Frozen 1 and it gets a fresh character dynamic in the mix. Also, the "Olaf is oblivious to what the grown ups are trying to set up" stuff writes itself.

I'm very curious just how much running time those cut flashbacks to her mother's time in the North actually took up, because some of the films structural issues may simply result from them having invested too much into them before cutting them late in the process.

 

[Joe]

Man, I don't know exactly why, but I just really did not care for the movie. I enjoyed the songs, the jokes were generally pretty good, too. But the plot was just a mess. They were just constantly being pushed along by vague magical things, which we as the audience mostly are just told about by Elsa just talking out loud to herself about what is happening. I was groaning at the misunderstandings between Kristoff and Anna as he was trying to propose, and couldn't believe they just up and abandoned him out of the blue. It just doesn't really feel like any of the characters really grew or changed that much, outside of Elsa getting a new dress. Sure, Anna is married and the Queen now, Elsa lives up north, but like...who cares?

I dunno. Really bums me out that I didn't like it more.

Highlights:
Songs were great
Kristoff's music video ballad was hilarious
Olaf's retelling of Frozen was funny
Water horse was super cool
Kristen Bell is always awesome.

 

[Smoolio]

Finally saw it, didn't get as gay as I would of liked of course but there was enough with Honeymaren to fuel friends to lovers fanfiction for 5 years so that's good. In terms though of themes and allegory, Into the Unknown and especially Show Yourself went far beyond what I hoped for. Show Yourself was transformative and so powerful, very inspiring to me when I put that lens to my own life, just love love loved it! 3 now please.

 

[Surakian]

I can easily imagine a third film with a more classic evil vs good plot. It is weird to me that Elsa is the Avatar essentially but without any central conflict to face that isn't just a metaphysical lesson.

Now that Elsa has come into herself as a true warrior goddess-queen, it is time to give her an actual threat to face.

 

[Smoolio]

I can easily imagine a third film with a more classic evil vs good plot. It is weird to me that Elsa is the Avatar essentially but without any central conflict to face that isn't just a metaphysical lesson.

Now that Elsa has come into herself as a true warrior goddess-queen, it is time to give her an actual threat to face.

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Sounds good, also a girlfriend.

 

[Rendering...]

I liked the themes of accepting change, embracing the unknown, and doing the next right thing. Great messages all around. I really liked Elsa's continued arc as a dauntless uber-powerful ice queen. She's so awesome.

I thought the story was somewhat weaker than the original. I'd like the next one to be simpler and more focused, with an idealogical rival (not necessarily a villainous enemy) for Elsa and maybe themes of family, work-life balance, and negotiating gender roles for Anna and Kristoff.

The world of Frozen still has a lot of untapped potential for good progressive stories.

I kind of missed the memo that Elsa is an LGBT+ icon, but OK. If Valkyrie is going to look for a queen in the next Thor, so can Elsa in the next Frozen. Surely both franchises are too big to be derailed by conservative backlash from busybodies who can't handle the existence of gay people.

 

[dlauv]

I liked it more than the first one despite a few tropey plot points. I knew the dam had to fall pretty much from the first time they showed it and that Elsa was the fifth spirit so I was hoping she wasn't. Didn't predict the mom being native and the reveal was pretty slapdash. That's probably my biggest complaint - it just felt a bit hurried in a few spots.

Music was great and better than the first except Anna's Hello Darkness song was a bit much. Kristoff song was amazing.

Elsa's fight with the water horse was great. Olaf was enjoyable this go round - I really found him awful in the first two entries.

 

[Mistle]

I was open to loving this and wanted to, but damn what a mess. I'm honestly surprised how bad it was .. :(

 

[Menaged]

Vastly prefer this over the first, which I felt was quite weak, especially plot wise.

The plot here isn't amazing, but I really enjoyed the general themes the movie brought up.

On top of that, the songs were top notch, second only to Moana in my opinion.

 

[Kirblar]

I liked the themes of accepting change, embracing the unknown, and doing the next right thing. Great messages all around. I really liked Elsa's continued arc as a dauntless uber-powerful ice queen. She's so awesome.

I thought the story was somewhat weaker than the original. I'd like the next one to be simpler and more focused, with an idealogical rival (not necessarily a villainous enemy) for Elsa and maybe themes of family, work-life balance, and negotiating gender roles for Anna and Kristoff.

The world of Frozen still has a lot of untapped potential for good progressive stories.

I kind of missed the memo that Elsa is an LGBT+ icon, but OK. If Valkyrie is going to look for a queen in the next Thor, so can Elsa in the next Frozen. Surely both franchises are too big to be derailed by conservative backlash from busybodies who can't handle the existence of gay people.

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Elsa's story is a not-very-veiled metaphor for LGBT+ issues in the same way stuff like the X-Men are used as one.
One of the notes they gave the animators for the end of the "Let it Go" sequence was "Drag Queen", and Elsa's part of "For the First Time in Forever" is pretty unsubtle about the authorial intent. I went in blind watching the movie, immediately picked up on the "hold it in" stuff and then definitely had tears partway through "Let it Go."

The thing about Elsa's story (and they quadrupled down on this in the sequel) is that her story is fundamentally in the category of ""man vs himself"/ "woman vs herself." Elsa's story is never about fighting monsters or defeating villains, it's about learning how to have a healthy relationship with herself and the world. Dealing with evil Disney villains, scoring a romantic partner, etc. is Anna's gig.

Writing that out actually made me realize something. In Frozen 1, Anna is the primary progagonist. Elsa is secondary. In the sequel they still were trying to make Anna work as the primary protagonist again, but it doesn't really work with the lack of an active antagonist, as Elsa is actively driving the plot.

 

[Ottaro]

I'm amazed by how quickly this movie vanished from my brain. Only a week later and it's gone.

 

[Lunatic]

Best thing about it was how it completely killed the Tarzan is Elsa and Anna's brother theory

 

[moronica]

So the sisters are basically Metis. I thought Anna looked rather exotic in the first film (ironically enough they dialed it down for the sequel), while Elsa was practically an albino if not for her eye colour.

The soundtrack didn't quite have a killer single on the level of Let It Go, but the overall it was more to my taste, there was a distinct tribute to Chicago (Lost in the Woods), as well as Simon and Garfunkell (All is Found, end credits version). I can't get over how the end notes of Into the Unknown is basically the Duracell jingle.

Also, what happened to the epic version of Vuelie from the trailers? I don't recall hearing it in the theatre.

 

[Tricky I Shadow]

I finally saw this today, and yep, it's comfortably the movie of the year.

This needs to be said: "Show Yourself" is peak Disney and the single most impressive piece of animation ever seen in any movie. Those facial animations! SO. MUCH. EMOTION!

"Where the northwind meets the sea. There's a river full of memory."

"Come my darling, homeward bound."

"I AM FOUND!"

GOOSEBUMPS! Holy shit the feels hit so hard at that very moment. It was sensory overload both visually and musically.

It was a full throttle tour de force of emotion! Just wow! It's easily one of the most stunningly impressive sequences Disney animation has ever done.

I'll post some more impressions later, but I just needed to get that off my chest. I've already got tickets for another viewing tomorrow!

 

[Yerffej]

Really liked it. Into The Unkown is such a bop.

 

[Grayson]

I'm amazed by how quickly this movie vanished from my brain. Only a week later and it's gone.

Click to shrink...

Huh. It's resonating with me.

 

[thecouncil]

why did Elsa freeze solid in that magic cave? seriously.