Festive Forays - Frozen II (U)

You don't want me following you into fire? Then don't run into fire.

Whether the song 'Let It Go' thrills you to your core or sends you fleeing with hands clamped resolutely to your ears, there's no denying that Disney's 2013 animated fantasy Frozen got something very right. There was a crystalline beauty to their adaptation of 'The Snow Queen', along with a batch of memorable characters (human and otherwise), that earwormy song and a classic fairytale structure. It even ended on a note of 'love conquers all', only the love in question - in a modern twist - was between sisters rather than romantic partners. Elsa and Anna's sibling bond conquered the global box office too, making the sequel a Jumanji kind of inevitable. Be thankful then that the creative team waited over half a decade to do it - when they had a 'Frozen-universe' story worth telling. Relax, parents of small children everywhere - it really is good.

Picking up a short time after the first film's conclusion, we find life in Arendelle moving along placidly. Kristoff is working up to a proposal of marriage to Anna, Olaf the sentient snowman is puzzling over the great questions of existence (not unlike Forky in Toy Story 4) and Elsa is adapting to quietly ruling her kingdom. Or trying to. For haunting voices are calling her on the night air and strange otherworldly rumblings are threatening Arendelle to its foundations. The answers lie, it seems, in an enchanted forest the sisters' father told them of in their childhood and in a historical wrong that needs to be righted. So once more the girls (with Olaf, Kristoff and Sven the reindeer as backup) must square up to life's responsibilities and venture back into the unknown.

There's lots I can say about Frozen II that you've already guessed. The characters are well-drawn (in more ways than one), the music has Broadway-standard credentials and the animation is consumately good throughout. This is the sequel to a legitimate cultural phenomenon and Disney's highest-grossing animation to date (at least in pure dollar terms), so it's not going to be anything less than technically masterful. What surprises is the nature of the choices made, both artistic and narrative. 

The 'frozen fractals' of the first movie are in short supply, at least intially. It's all earthy autumnal colours and rose-purple tinged skies, hinting at the forthcoming winter and lit up by occasional blasts of Elsa's icy magic. The whole look of the film is restrained, beautifully so, even the pink flames of a cute fire salamander are ethereally pale rather than classic Disney garish. And then there are the moments when Queen's brand of arctic splendour comes rushing back - always glorious and at points bewitchingly abstract. Frame by frame this film is sheer visual rapture.

The story springs surprises of its own. Even less concerned than its predecessor with a conventional antagonist, Frozen II is all about digging deep into the magical lore of the kingdom and beyond. The characters' quest, while truly epic in scope, is less about battles with trollish villains than wrestling with the most powerful forces of nature. Its central conundrum is of how best to atone for a dreadful historic crime, with the repercussions threatening to engulf all our heroes - human, quadruped and snow-based magical life-form alike.

This is intricate stuff in terms of plot and theme and might make you wonder - in the way Martin Scorsese's Hugo did - at which generation the movie is really aimed. But children will be awed by how it looks, entertained by Olaf's slapstick antics and chatter (Josh Gad clearly has a blast voicing him) and made soppy by Kristoff and Sven's endearing double-act. And yes, they will love the determined, feisty sisters as much as before, no doubt fearing for them in moments of jeopardy.

As for the songs - they're sometimes moving, sometimes funny. Olaf's mid-forest meaning-of-life number had a sting that made me laugh out loud, while Kristoff delivers a Peter Cetera-style '80s power ballad that is damned hilarous throughout. Anna (Kristen Bell) croons a couple that are pretty, touching and in keeping with her down-to-earth character, while Elsa (Idina Menzel) delivers two ice-shattering belters to compensate for the fact that she's not doing 'Let It Go' this time around.

I may be as far from Frozen II's intended demographic as it's possible to be, but I'm also a sucker for a well-crafted movie, whatever the genre. Likewise I admire a sequel that retains the convictions of its original, which this one totally does - holding to the key theme of sisterhood, while expanding into those of community and cross-cultural understanding. The new story also deepens the first film's mysticism in the most ravishing way possible, while the dialogue and the lyrics remain sharp. All of which confirms what fans have hoped since the follow-up was announced - Frozen hasn't lost its sparkle.

Gut Reaction: The animation popped my eyes, Olaf made me giggle and Elsa's songs gave me - ahem - chills.

Memerable Moment: Olaf enacts all of Frozen I in sixty seconds.

Ed's Verdict: 8/10. If it doesn't have the dramatic impact of the first, this Frozen follow-up compensates with lustrous design, complex storytelling and heart. Any doubt that this film should have been made... let it go.