Teen Volunteer Review: Frozen II

Boston Public Library's teen volunteer program has gone remote! As part of this program, local high schoolers will be sharing their thoughts on books, movies, and more on our blog. In today's post, Boston Latin School student Elizabeth Choi is sharing her opinions on the Disney blockbuster Frozen II.

Frozen II had stunning animation and some catchy songs. Other than that, it was a wreck. Instead of eliciting laughter or tears, I was rolling my eyes. I had so many questions. Besides the Snow Queen being the “fifth spirit” while one of the elements is already water, why didn’t King Agnarr and Queen Iduna try to make amends with the Northuldra? Why didn’t Iduna look anything like her people? Why didn’t Anna get powers? Why didn’t the spirits stop the construction of the dam? Why would Elsa and Anna’s grandfather kill the Northuldra leader in such a direct way? I don’t think a man cunning enough to “gift” the Northuldra with a dam would want to get his hands dirty by stabbing someone in the back. I would imagine he would resort to poison or some other underhanded scheme.

Elsa seemed to have forgotten the lesson she learned in the previous movie -- namely, that she should do things with her sister. It was disappointing to see her development unravel in that sense. As for Anna, she acted jealous and unintelligent when Kristoff tried to pop the question. I understand that it was meant to be comic, but simply disregarding her personality to make jokes (that weren’t even funny) was unnecessary. I was sympathetic toward Kristoff’s first proposal attempt, but his later ones were either glaringly inopportune or idiotic. He didn’t have the patience to wait until after the quest and after Anna stopped worrying about her sister to propose. And how could he expect Anna to find him waiting on the rocks with the reindeer? He didn’t even tell her that he was leaving the camp. As he broke out into his cringe-worthy solo, I couldn’t bear looking at the screen anymore.

While Olaf and Sven were less problematic than the main three characters, Olaf lacked his charm from the first film. My older sister laughed at his antics, but I didn’t find him amusing at all. Neither his calls for “Samantha” nor his song “When I am Older” were entertaining. The only character I liked was Sven.

The plot should have built upon the original rather than introducing an entirely new storyline with the Enchanted Forest and the Northuldra. With a better-developed plot and more imagination, Frozen II had the potential to be an enjoyable family film. Unfortunately, I found it to be poorly executed and painfully predictable. Don’t waste your time on this movie.