Back in 2013, Disney released what has arguably become their most successful animated musical film in recent history, Frozen. It delivered stunning box-office returns, received the Acadamy Award for Best Animated Feature, and continues to wow viewers in many different ways. Except for me. I cannot deny that I have never really liked this film, and while I have changed my attitude towards expressing my feelings about it in recent years, I still stand by my criticisms about its execution. The best way I can describe my take on Frozen is that it is a film that has lots of great ideas but doesn't know what to do with them. It gives the impression that it wants to be about sisterhood, breaking down old fairy tale tropes, and the power of love (all of which are great things to tackle in a movie), but it all just doesn't come together very well. At least not in my opinion. While I can understand and appreciate what the movie wanted to accomplish, in my humble opinion, it didn't succeed. Even so, there is at least one thing about the film the I genuinely and wholeheartedly love. No, it's not the song, it's this awesome lady!
Elsa is, by far, the most interesting, likable, and relatable character in the whole film, and I love everything about her. I love her personality, her back story, her powers, her design, and yes, even her song. As a character, Elsa is one of Disney's most fabulous creations. She is the embodiment of true love, strength, courage in the face of trauma, selflessness, and empathy. In other words, Disney's equivalent to Starfire. Which makes me dislike the movie she came from even more when you realize that she only has, at most, fifteen minutes of screentime out of a ninety-minute feature film. Sure, Elsa has still become an icon of sorts (rightfully so I might add), and she got to play a more prominent role in some of the short films Disney has released over the years, but that still doesn't change the fact that Disney almost messed up her full introduction. Come to think of it; it might be fair to look upon the first film as an introduction to new characters rather than as an actual movie. Because I desire to see Elsa again, but in a more compelling story. As it turns out, that might be just around the corner.
Not too long ago Disney released the first teaser trailer for the sequel. While I am still not sure of the potential quality of the film, as many of the people who were in charge of the first film have returned thus causing me to be concerned that they may repeat the same mistakes they made last time, the trailer, rather delightfully, and very surprisingly, gives me some hope for this upcoming movie.
For one thing, the trailer gives the impression that Elsa is going to be much more active in the story. Which, again, was part of the problem I had with the first film. The first half of the teaser shows Elsa trapped on a rocky island and is determined, for some reason yet to be explained, to make her way across the aggressive waves of the Ocean. Since we already know what kind of person Elsa is, we can easily speculate that she's most likely trying to escape her confinement to help someone she loves. Thereby instantly establishing a sense of tension and relatable steaks. In other words, a damn good introduction.
Secondly, we can see from most of the images presented in the trailer that this story is likely going to be darker than expected. Not just in presentation, but also likely in tone. While I did just a moment ago complain about the potential lack of quality in this film, given that some of the people involved in the first production have returned, it would be unfair for me to forget that one of them, Jennifer Lee, also worked on Zootopia. Which is not only one of my favorite movies, but is also one of the few Disney animated films to take on a darker and more mature story. It is very possible that the risks which were taken to make Zootopia so universally appreciated will also be present in Frozen 2. Again, this is only speculation, but it seems very likely based on what we have seen so far.
Thirdly, the story, as listed in the movies IMDB page, says that our heroes are venturing into an unknown part of the land to uncover an ancient mystery. Many possibilities abound for sure, but in any case, it already sounds like a much bigger adventure and is likely to provide some incredible action and visual storytelling. The world presented in Frozen has always suggested that it was full of all kinds of magical and mythological stuff that could be ripe for fantastical stories. While we may not know precisely what that is at the moment, I can say with confidence that I am very excited to see what it turns out to be.
I would encourage you to check out the trailer yourself and see what you think. You can find a link to it below this article. While I still have my doubts as to whether this upcoming sequel can deliver the goods or not, I am happy to say that this trailer has made more excited for this film than I ever thought I would be. Here's hoping that Elsa gets her chance to shine like the bad-ass that she is this November.
Ladies & gentlemen, I am TheNorm, thank you for reading.
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