Frozen II

Or: Avatar, the Last Ice Bender

A light dusting of spoilers.

We last left the Kingdom of Arendelle, Elsa (Idina Manzelle) the sorceress-queen was happily and content on her thrown, using her powers (in number of cheesy shorts) to make life a little cooler and whimsical. Her sister Anna (Kristin Bell), was in a loveing maturing relationship til Reindeer herder Kristof (Jonathan Groff), and Olaf (Josh Gad) the enchanted snowman was … Olaf. But now, with autumn in the air, all is not well. The Queen is distracted by a eldritch voice only she can hear calling her northwards, towards the lands of the Northulda, an indigenous people long separated from the Arendellians by fear, suspicion, a magic mist. When a host of elemental spirits drive the people from their homes, the sisters and their sidekicks head north to assuage the angry spirits and bring a mystery shrouded by the deaths of their parents to light.

Sequels, particularly sequels of popular franchises, are tricky things. Sometimes they crumble into a saccharine sugar sculpture easily crumbling under a touch: ruining something good just so you can have more of it. But sometimes they allow their subjects, their characters and their audience to grow up. I enjoyed Frozen’s majesty of animation and sisterly devotion, but found it too easy to keep it at arms reach. But I love it’s sequel. It’s depiction of magic from Elsa’s sorcerers to the fiery salamander Bruni, to the thrillingly beautiful water spirit of the Nokk, to wonder of the river of memory, Ahtohallan, it goes above and beyond the wonder and artistry of its predecessor. The music … is good, not quite as catchy as the original soundtrack (with the possible accretion of Elsa’s thawing in “Into the Unknown” (Covered in a darker vein by Panic!! At the Disco! in the end credits). But it is less likely to be warm in the mouths of five year olds the nation over, so that too is a win.

It also ticks a lot of boxes: feminist credentials, multi-ethnic cast (in the introduction of the lost Lieutenant Destin Mattias (Sterling K. Brown, in a performance both touching and hilarious), dealing with the unkillable monsters of adulthood, and a heck of a lot of reference to climate change. It’s all simplistic and Disnified, of course, and I wonder what threads a master story keeper like Rebecca Solnit could pull form it, if she were so inclined, but then again some stories need to be sugarcoated if only so they might be better ingest them.

One particularly pointed piece is the introduction of the Northulda, a stand in for the Sami peoples, historically as appropriated, steroytifped, oppressed and hunted as other indigenous cultures the world over. In a behind the scenes spread, the Disney corporation has entered into a treaty of sorts with the Sami respectfully asking their help and permission in portraying traditional dress, music, and myths. Not bad for a global mega corporation. We don’t see all that much of the Northulda (comedian Ryder (Jason Ritter), gentle guide Honeymarin (Rachel Matthews) and the wonderful dry and stern Yelena (Martha Plimpton), unfortunately, but what we do see: especially the reprise of Vuelie no longer a lovely set dressing but an anthem set to a people.

It’s also not a film that takes itself too seriously. Strolling through a hall of memories, Elsa winces at her former self singing and strutting on the mountains side. Kristof gets a long, Reindeer backed 80’s power ballad “Lost in the Woods” complete with all the dramatic lighting, strong fades, and vigorous posing of the genera (while still selling it, a harder feat). And Olaf, not my favorite snow-golem in all of literature, redeems himself by going through a one minute recap of the original movie complete with costume and commentary, while Mattias goes through the same reactions we all did the first time around.

It’s a dark film; death and loss (especially regarding the royal’s parents the lovely but misguided King Agnarr and Queen Iduna (Alfred Molina and Evan Rachel Wood), summoned by the “memory of water” a lovely and scientifically accurate metaphor raised by Olaf and nuanced over the course of the film. The idea of racist and xenophobic actions echoed and reviving across generation, the burial of cultures and of lives, the distancing of the natural world for supposed conveyance (the minute they mention that dam, you know its up to no good). And of course lots and lots and lots of death and displacement and ruin by climate change. But its a film that ends with things in their rightful place, the world in balance, wrongs righted and displaced restored. It’s a film I’ve needed, and it’s one I hope will stand in my memory and estimation, a fairytale that will give delight and comfort and wonder in the years to come.