Disney Era Analysis – Frozen II
As mentioned in the first blog post in this series, I’ll be writing analysis content on all 60+ Disney animated feature films and their film making eras.
The seventh era is the Revival Era, which ran from 2009 to 2019 and started with The Princess and the Frog. As mentioned in a previous blog post, the Revival Era is known for: its return to the “old formula” (storytelling similar to the Renaissance Era), improved and advanced computer-generated (CG) animation, evolution in its storytelling by adapting stories from sources other than old books, and well thought-out stories paired with improved animation.
So how well did Frozen II measure up to these famous features, and was it the right film to end the Era?
Return to the “old formula” (storytelling similar to the Renaissance Era):
This film returned to the “old formula” in the following ways:
- This film, like its predecessor, has a Broadway music style.
- This film revolves around two princesses-turned-queens. They are still not official Disney Princesses though.
- Elsa is an underdog on a journey to self-discovery after hearing a voice calling her to the enchanted forest, and discovering she is the fifth spirit.
Improved and advanced computer-generated (CG) animation:
According to the film’s Wikipedia page, Frozen II made use of advancements in technology, artistic performance and skeletal animation in the six years since its predecessor was released. This included but was not limited to: putting a permafrost coating on Olaf (something referenced in the film by Anna to Olaf), and having Elsa’s graceful movements modelled on Frozen and modern dance.
The film’s Wikipedia page also states that Anna’s hair was animated with Quicksilver, technology developed for Moana to deal with wind, whereas with Elsa’s hair, software program, Beast was used.
In regards to the film’s setting and climate, two internally developed applications, Vegetation Asset and Fire Tree, were used to enhance the film’s vegetation and fire animation. Lightning and special effects were applied to glacial ice, spirit magic, and memory.
My favourite animation moments in the film included: the memories recreated in snow via Elsa’s powers, Elsa in the sea fighting the water spirit (Nøkk), and the animation of the Earth spirit (Jötunn) as they headed towards the dam.
Evolution in its storytelling by adapting stories from sources other than old books:
As this film is a sequel, its story is based on and a continuation of its predecessor film, Frozen.
Frozen was loosely inspired by The Snow Queen, an 1844 fairy tale by Hans Christian Anderson.
Well thought-out stories paired with improved animation:
According to the film’s Wikipedia page, due to Disney’s preference for a different style for each film, and the directors’ and production designer’s artistic vision, the multi-departmental animation team were instructed to reconstruct the characters so that they were slightly different in tone and style from its predecessor film. They differed in “very subtle ways”, with a “through line from the first movie to the second”.
I could notice these differences, especially with Olaf, however they weren’t bad differences, in fact I felt it showed the evolution of Disney’s animation and that it was a wise choice, considering this film was a sequel and switched the protagonist from Anna to Elsa.
My overall thoughts:
The film’s Wikipedia page stated that the film received generally positive reviews from critics, but it was considered inferior to its predecessor. I agree with this assessment, however I did enjoy the film.
I agree with the assessment as whilst I appreciated the switch from Anna to Elsa as protagonist, and Elsa finding herself and embracing her magic in this film, there were some obvious weaknesses. The obvious weaknesses – the exposition provided by Anna and Olaf, Olaf’s retelling of events, the soundtrack being too similar to the soundtrack of its predecessor, and the predictability of the film’s plot and outcome – didn’t damper the film’s quality completely, but they did make it a little less enjoyable than it could have been.
As Frozen II was the sequel (or you could say, revival) of a film (Frozen) that was considered the best animated feature film since the Renaissance Era, I felt it was ultimately the right film to end the Revival Era.
The next part of the Disney Era Analysis series will focus on the Streaming Era and the first film within that Era, Raya and the Last Dragon.
Fun Facts and Trivia (according to the film’s IMDb page):
- Olaf’s lines about the non-existent character, “Samantha”, were improvised by Josh Gad.
- Young Iduna asks young Agnarr what he’s reading, and he replies “some Danish author”. His book shows the silhouette of Ariel from The Little Mermaid, originally written by Danish author, Hans Christian Anderson. Anderson also wrote The Snow Queen, the story on which the Frozen films are loosely based.
- Since Elsa was never barefoot in Frozen, the animators didn’t bother giving her toes then. They had to remodel her feet with toes for this film.
- Elsa travels through snow recreations of the past, including several scenes from Frozen. One of these is herself singing the song, “Let It Go”. Elsa seems to cringe slightly when she hears it.
- On the top of the map the sisters find when searching the remains of their parent’s ship are the Roman numerals “MDCCCXL” (1840). The Snow Queen was published in 1844, and the fact that it’s stated in the film that they were shipwrecked six years ago, this places the film’s setting in 1846.
- Filming the part where Olaf fades away, Anna tells him she loves him, and where Anna reunites with Elsa, Kristen Bell was actually in tears.
- The purple fire spirit/salamander who befriends Elsa after almost burning down the Northuldra village is a reworking of Rapunzel’s pet chameleon, Pascal, from Tangled.
- There was an online campaign for Elsa to have a same-sex love interest, but the production team eventually decided that any kind of love interest wasn’t appropriate for the character at the time.
- Despite playing Elsa’s mother, Evan Rachel Wood is younger than Idina Menzel.
- Elsa freezes similarly to how Anna froze in the predecessor film.
- Kristoff’s song “Lost in the Woods” is done in the style of a 1980s power ballad. The sequence even recreates scenes from well-known videos of that era, including those from the bands, Whitesnake and Queen.
References:
Loveday Writing 