Ty Watches "Frozen 2"
/This past weekend my wife and I took our kids to see “Frozen 2”. This was more for our daughter, who loves Anna and Elsa, but our son loved the original “Frozen”, my wife LOVES the music and I think the animation and imagery is very beautiful. We bought tickets to an early-ish evening show on Friday, and the theater was filled with kids and parents. That’s usually a good sign.
I want to get the cynical stuff out of the way first, I did not really care for this movie. It felt like an unnecessary sequel. I think the people behind it had such a big hit with the original one, they just assumed everyone would want a sequel. And while I think the fans may have wanted it, I don’t think the average movie goer, or parent that takes their kids to see this, necessarily needed, or wanted it. I didn’t think the story was totally thought out. The sad stuff that Disney does so well was undone in this movie. The animation, while still pretty, wasn’t updated or made to look sleeker. The songs do not have the staying power of the original. There is nothing close to “Let it Go” in this one. And it just felt kind of long and boring, to me. Again, this is the critical side of me. I’m writing on this site to review movies, and this is my honest review. I’d much, much rather watch a movie like “Moana” 10 times out of 10 over “Frozen 2”. It’s a far superior movie.
When I take off my critic hat, and put on my dad and husband hat, I can see the draw of this movie. My wife, as I said, loves the whole ethos of “Frozen”. She’s bought into the whole created universe, loves the music and digs the story. And I can see why. She likes movies like this. “Frozen 2” is, at its core, a musical. There is much, much more singing in the sequel than was in the original. The dialogue is there to set up songs, and she adores that stuff in movies. And she really likes the songs. We listened to the soundtrack right after the movie, I gave my opinion, and she couldn’t have disagreed more. She’s now almost memorized all the songs, and I can hear her humming them around the house. This was exactly what she wanted to see out of this movie.
As for my kids, putting the dad hat on now, they both liked it fit different reasons. My son loves him some Olaf, and boy oh boy, was he heavily involved and goofy as ever. He also likes Christoph, and he has moments solely given to his character, so much so that he does a weird, 90’s esque music video song. It was weird and seemed out of place, and my son loved it. He was cracking up the whole time. My daughter loves loves loves Elsa, and she is front and center in this one. This “story” is all hers, and she is all over this movie. When she was on screen at the very beginning, my daughter screamed, “yeah!!!!! There’s Elsa!!!!”. That was worth it. She was so amped and invested whenever she was on screen. She fell in an ocean at one point and my daughter screamed with terror, as did most of the kids in the theater. Whenever Elsa would sing, my daughter sat as quiet and focused as I’ve seen her in her four years on Earth. She was more in than my wife. It was pretty cool to see. I wonder if this is how they see me when I watch Michigan football games.
So, when I get my critical mind out of the gutter, the movie was worth the price. The three other people i was with, my family, all enjoyed the hell out of themselves. This was what they wanted, and they had an absolute blast.
While I wasn’t much of a fan, I’d still recommend this movie because 75 percent of my family loved it, and are still talking about it and singing the songs. Oh, and we now have to buy some merchandise for the holidays. So, Disney truly accomplished what they wanted out of this movie, good for them. If you’re on the fence, take your whole family to see “Frozen 2”. Their joy will make it more than worth the time and money.
Ty
Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. In Ty’s world, if you want to make a sequal to a beloved kids movie, make “Babe 2: Pig in the City”. Do that and you will never have to make another film in the series. (BTW - Babe 2 rules)
Follow Ty on instagram and twitter.
SeedSing is funded by a group of awesome people. Join them by donating to SeedSing.