Disney's Frozen II (2019) (1 Viewer)

[steve jaros]

Saw this today in 3D as an A-List selection.

Not as good as "Frozen", mainly because the songs and the story drag for the first hour. The songs just aren't as good, especially the obviously hit-targeted "unknown" song, and the story drags because the male characters really have nothing interesting to do and are boring.

"Frozen 2" comes from behind the clouds and begins to shine when the focus shifts decisively to the "reparations" story line and Anna and Elsa begin to dominate the scenery. The last half hour in particular has a large measure of the spirit and dash of the first movie.

 

[Sam Favate]

We saw this today and everyone loved it. I thought it was visually stunning and I love that Disney had a big story, one that expanded the universe and invited real change. I’ll say more later but Frozen II was always going to be a difficult film to craft due to the immense popularity of the first. That they did it with artistic integrity is a credit to them. My wife said “Who else makes animated movies like this?” No one.

 

[benbess]

Liked it in 3D! "B+"
Wonderful animation, good songs, and a complicated and multi-layered plot.

 

[Wayne_j]

I just got back from this and thought it was OK, not nearly as good as the first one.

Also, even though I saw it on a premium screen the sound was way too soft. People with small children probably complained over the weekend that it was too loud and they way overcompensated. It was quitter than I would ever play a musical at home which might have compromised my enjoyment of the film.

 

[Patrick Sun]

Maybe I'm going deaf, but I thought the vocals were mixed too low during the songs.

 

[Traveling Matt]

Also, even though I saw it on a premium screen the sound was way too soft. People with small children probably complained over the weekend that it was too loud and they way overcompensated. It was quitter than I would ever play a musical at home which might have compromised my enjoyment of the film.

Soon enough they're going to have to delineate screenings by volume level. I had the same issue with The Irishman this past weekend, and for me it's a growing problem.

 

[Wayne_j]

Soon enough they're going to have to delineate screenings by volume level. I had the same issue with The Irishman this past weekend, and for me it's a growing problem.

Sign me up for the reference level screenings. You would think that the premium screens would always be at reference and people concerned by high volumes would go to the cheaper screens.

 

[MatthewA]

Sign me up for the reference level screenings. You would think that the premium screens would always be at reference and people concerned by high volumes would go to the cheaper screens.

Maybe we need to bring back THX certification for movie theaters.

 

[Jake Lipson]

Maybe we need to bring back THX certification for movie theaters.

Funny you should mention that because there's a sign outside the Cinemark XD auditorium at my local theater saying that it is a THX certified cinema.

 

[benbess]

If you have Amazon's music unlimited program, or whatever it's called, the complete soundtrack for Frozen II is now available.

 

[Jeff Adkins]

I was pretty disappointed by this. I thought the story was uninteresting, the songs mostly forgettable and the lines of comedy mostly fell flat. I'm a huge fan of the first film and knew this probably wouldn't live up to that. Still, I found this to be much worse than I expected.

I'm clearly in the minority. I took my 23 year-old daughter and she thought it was better than the original. Go figure .

 

[MatthewA]

We're in for a bumpy sleigh ride with this one. I knew this would be divisive. Discussions about any movie, book, play, or TV show with women at the center of its plot sometimes end up revolving around whether they are a good or bad influence for little girls and not whether the movie is worth the time and effort to sit through, and quite often in an acrimonious manner. But as for the actual real-world quality, I've been let down by non-Pixar sequels before. For this one, I heard "Into the Unknown" and forgot about it soon after. It sounds like a B-side to "Let it Go," but not as much as a comedown as some the instantly forgettable (or worse) songs as those 1990s/2000s DTV fiascos.* This at least looks like less of a cash grab than those, and it is certainly better animated judging from the few parts of which I actually caught a glimpse. Meanwhile, six years after the original, I still remember some of its songs. Then again, I haven't been watching it over and over and over and over and over and over again like some of its younger fans have been doing.

*In that case, you can blame AIDS for taking Howard Ashman away before his work on Earth was truly done, not to mention countless others. You can also blame Frank Wells' death and Jeffrey Katzenberg's departure for Michael Eisner's worst instincts kicking in around that time without them to rein them in.

 

[Chris Will]

I was pretty disappointed by this. I thought the story was uninteresting, the songs mostly forgettable and the lines of comedy mostly fell flat. I'm a huge fan of the first film and knew this probably wouldn't live up to that. Still, I found this to be much worse than I expected.

I'm clearly in the minority. I took my 23 year-old daughter and she thought it was better than the original. Go figure .

My thoughts are similar to yours. I didn’t not like it at all. That the story was boring, not funny and too long. The songs in the first movie where fun broadway style songs, outside of Let It Go. None of the songs in this one brought the fun back. The Olaf and Christophe songs tried and were the best in the movie but, didn’t seem to fit this movie. The rest of the songs just felt like they were all trying to be the next Let It Go. The opening song, Elsa’s song and Anna’s song all had the power ballad, please be a hit, feel. It’s a day later and I can’t remember the tune to any of the them. That wasn’t a problem with the first movie. Really disappointed with Frozen 2.

My daughters like it though (12 and 9), so that’s something I guess.

 

[Jake Lipson]

 

[Jake Lipson]

For anyone who cares: this weekend will be the last for Frozen II in premium screens. (IMAX, Cinemark XD, etc.) Jumanji has them for a week beginning next Thursday afternoon, and then of course Star Wars has them beginning on the evening of December 19. Frozen II will be around for a long time to come in standard auditoriums, but I'm going to go one more time this weekend on the largest screen available.

I think the movie is absolutely tremendous. It gives us more of everyone that we love from the original while expanding the world and deepening the characters by challenging them significantly in new ways. I love that the filmmakers took a creative risk with this film rather than just resting on their laurels and creating a carbon copy of the first film. I think this one is better, but it's not better in a vacuum; it's better because it builds upon what came before, and it wouldn't be able to be this effective if this were the first story in the series. In terms of the complexity of the storytelling, the emotions that the characters are going through, and visually the ambition and scope of the larger world and more complex visual environment, it's a big step up from the first film. It is easily one of my favorite movies this year.

I can't wait to see it again this weekend.

In other news, the Deluxe Edition soundtrack is now available for MP3 purchase. Originally, as was the subject of discussion between @Jason_V and myself a couple of weeks ago, it appeared to be exclusive to streaming services. But now you can buy it...only on MP3. There does not appear to be a CD release of it. It's possible that they could do one later, although the last 2-disc deluxe soundtrack for a new film that Disney released to CD was for Beauty and the Beast in 2017. Mary Poppins Returns, Aladdin and The Lion King could easily have gotten multi-disc sets and didn't. Meanwhile, the digital release of Avengers Endgame is 38 minutes longer than the CD release; not even being the #1 film of all time could gt that soundtrack a complete release. And Disney is also keeping the instrumental score for Black Panther exclusive to digital, even though it won the Oscar. So my confidence is not significant enough that Disney will do a CD version of the deluxe set to wait for it.

Even though I already bought the CD with the songs on it and am annoyed at the double dipping, I couldn't help myself and just downloaded the deluxe edition, mainly to get Christophe Beck's score for the film. There are also early recordings of songs that were cut from the film or greatly refashioned into the ones that made it in.

I really have to compliment Christophe Beck's beautiful job he did with this score. I knew that from watching the movie, but hearing it on its own via the soundtrack just reinforced that. It's a thrilling score and the film would not be nearly as good without it. I really hope he gets an Oscar nomination for this. I fear that because Let It Go won Best Song last time, and Into the Unknown is likely to win that award for the Frozen franchise again, some voters might feel that that is "enough," especially because Frozen music is so widely associated with the songs. But those are written by Kristin Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez, and unlike Alan Menken, they do not compose the underscore as well. Therefore, awarding them is not the same as awarding Christophe Beck for his contribution, and his is equally significant and wonderful as theirs. So it would be really nice if he got recognized. I suspect both Alan Silvestri (Endgame) and John Williams (Rise of Skywalker) will provide formidable competition in the score category this year, so Beck might not be able to win for this. But if he can't, he should at least be nominated.

 

[Tino]

I suspect both Alan Silvestri (Endgame) and John Williams (Rise of Skywalker) will provide formidable competition

Imo no chance for Silvestri but Williams is a lock.

 

[Jake Lipson]

Sidebar:

Imo no chance for Silvestri but Williams is a lock.

Oh, I absolutely think Silvestri will be nominated. Although it seems crazy to me to say this, Silvestri has never won an Oscar and is way overdue for one. He did awesome, sweeping work on Endgame and -- unlike in some other categories where being film #22 in a long-running series may be a disadvantage for it in terms of connecting with the Academy members who don't follow the MCU -- you don't have to understand what's going on in Endgame in order to appreciate that the music is good. Plus, Black Panther won Best Score this past March, so the Academy has demonstrated their willingness to honor Marvel in this category. Plus, Score would be a nice place to honor the film even if certain members of the Academy are more reluctant to vote for it in above-the-line categories. That being said, if I were a betting man I would think that the allure of giving John Williams one more Oscar for completing a 42-year series of iconic scores with The Rise of Skywalker is too tempting to pass up. So I think that award is all his.

But I hope that Silvestri and Christophe Beck are both nominated alongside him.

Now, to bring this thread back more specifically to Frozen II, I saw it again today for the second time before it cedes the premium auditoriums to Jumanji next week. I again loved it and this viewing reinforced its status as one of my favorite movies of the year. I loved how richly it expanded the canvas of the Frozen universe and deepened the characters and their relationships. However, I was a bit surprised that for a Saturday afternoon showing of the #1 movie in the world, I was the only person in the whole auditorium. Of course, my theater still has it on four screens simultaneously, so it's possible that other people simply chose a different showtime and didn't pay the premium format upcharge. But I still thought it was rather odd to be literally the only person in the room. This has happened to me a few times before, but usually it's when I'm seeing something that has been out for several weeks (like when I saw Slumdog Millionaire for the sixth time on its final day of play at my theater a couple weeks after the Blu-ray had already been released, or for late weeknight showings of very small arthouse titles, like The Diary of a Teenage Girl.) But this has never happened to me for a major release when it's still the #1 movie in the world. This did not affect my enjoyment of the movie at all, but it would have probably been even more fun with a responsive crowd.

 

[Tino]

if I were a betting man I would think that the allure of giving John Williams one more Oscar for completing a 42-year series of iconic scores with The Rise of Skywalker is too tempting to pass up. So I think that award is all his.

No chance of that either.

 

[Jake Lipson]

No chance of that either.

Okay, then what movie do you think is going to win Best Score?

 

[Tino]

Okay, then what movie do you think is going to win Best Score?

Dunno yet. But I’m sure it won’t be either of those two...if they’re even nominated. Call it a gut feeling.