I had no plan to even see this but the story greatly intrigued me.
The opening song Queen Iduna sings - "All Is Found" - is going to be overlooked and it's such a shame. It's the best song in the film sung by a character.
(Yep, I like the Panic! At the Disco version of Into The Unknown better)
Ok, I wrote that before seeing the movie, and I'm still kind of right there. The only bad song is the Olaf one and the first one (Home is unused but better). "Lost in The Woods" is great and the weird 80's pop ballad style is hilarious.
As the first movie was very much about Anna, this is about Elsa. Why does she have powers?
In one word - Spite.
In more words, Spoilers Definitely Follow
Yes, children - Spite. Or colonialism.
As in, "The universe got back at her bigoted grandfather who hated magic by giving him a granddaughter with magic powers". Would that have worked if Iduna wasn't from Northumbra?
The movie will tell you 'it's a bridge between the Northumbra and the Arendellians".
Also - Anna nails why Elsa has powers before Elsa even goes to the magical place on the other side of the ocean. She was 100% right. So why bother going, especially since they found out about Iduna prior to that.
A bit of critical thinking - "Oh geeze, our mother came from magical people and hid herself amongst the people of Arendelle, that kind of explains a lot" - would have scuppered this entire thing.
But then, we wouldn't get the best sequence in either of these movies - Elsa fighting a damn water horse in a stormy sea and racing to the island.
I cannot fault this movie for how it looks, because it is gorgeous. The lighting in the forest, the bits with water (There is a very impressive sequence where Elsa is essentially Waterbending), of course the ice.
"Show Yourself" is supposed to be a 'rise to the occasion' ballad but Elsa is already doing that (after about an hour of them just meandering around the forest).
There is great lore here, it just takes its time to get there, and that journey isn't satisfying.
The second part is a ride that's less-not-satisfying than the first half, but it's much better.
You also hear through the lyrics in these songs that all of these people have a terribly codependent mindset toward each other. Kristoff is just shunted to the side, which is a pity because I like him in the first film.
I loved Anna in the first film but my word she is horrendously annoying here. It comes with the territory of being abandoned by Elsa for most of her life but that's not an endearing character trait. That's annoying. And when she essentially is dead weight in the movie...it's really annoying.
Wow, almost like the moral of "Ralph Breaks the Internet". Stop being clingy!
The first part is lackluster. The second part is really interesting, but you can tell that this was made because the first one made a shitton of money. I think there was a place for the story to go, for a way it could continue, but not necessarily about how Elsa got her powers.
Much like my review of "Kung Fu Panda 3", a story about how Elsa got her powers would have been more fitting for a 3rd story after they established the world a bit more.
I don't hate it. I was just whelmed.
In one word - Spite.
In more words, Spoilers Definitely Follow
Yes, children - Spite. Or colonialism.
As in, "The universe got back at her bigoted grandfather who hated magic by giving him a granddaughter with magic powers". Would that have worked if Iduna wasn't from Northumbra?
The movie will tell you 'it's a bridge between the Northumbra and the Arendellians".
Also - Anna nails why Elsa has powers before Elsa even goes to the magical place on the other side of the ocean. She was 100% right. So why bother going, especially since they found out about Iduna prior to that.
A bit of critical thinking - "Oh geeze, our mother came from magical people and hid herself amongst the people of Arendelle, that kind of explains a lot" - would have scuppered this entire thing.
But then, we wouldn't get the best sequence in either of these movies - Elsa fighting a damn water horse in a stormy sea and racing to the island.
I cannot fault this movie for how it looks, because it is gorgeous. The lighting in the forest, the bits with water (There is a very impressive sequence where Elsa is essentially Waterbending), of course the ice.
"Show Yourself" is supposed to be a 'rise to the occasion' ballad but Elsa is already doing that (after about an hour of them just meandering around the forest).
There is great lore here, it just takes its time to get there, and that journey isn't satisfying.
The second part is a ride that's less-not-satisfying than the first half, but it's much better.
You also hear through the lyrics in these songs that all of these people have a terribly codependent mindset toward each other. Kristoff is just shunted to the side, which is a pity because I like him in the first film.
I loved Anna in the first film but my word she is horrendously annoying here. It comes with the territory of being abandoned by Elsa for most of her life but that's not an endearing character trait. That's annoying. And when she essentially is dead weight in the movie...it's really annoying.
Wow, almost like the moral of "Ralph Breaks the Internet". Stop being clingy!
The first part is lackluster. The second part is really interesting, but you can tell that this was made because the first one made a shitton of money. I think there was a place for the story to go, for a way it could continue, but not necessarily about how Elsa got her powers.
Much like my review of "Kung Fu Panda 3", a story about how Elsa got her powers would have been more fitting for a 3rd story after they established the world a bit more.
I don't hate it. I was just whelmed.
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