Elsa goes Into the Unknown

Laughter poured from the theater on Nov. 22 as children and parents sat down to watch the sequel to Frozen on opening night. Frozen II is a movie that anyone could sit down to watch and still laugh.

The 7:10 p.m. show at the Lycoming Mall Theater that night was packed with children, their parents and some young adults.

The movie may have been directed to audiences of children ages 4-12, but it had the parents and other young adults laughing. The full theater erupted with laughter when Olaf, a favorite from the first movie, would make his funny remarks. The movie played to everybody’s sense of humor, from funny dialogue to animations and the actions of the characters.

Frozen II is a good movie to watch because there’s comedy, but people can also relate to the characters. With Elsa, voiced by Idina Menzel, people can relate with wanting to find themselves; Anna, voiced by Kristen Bell, the desire to help those close to them; Kristoff, voiced by Jonathan Groff, the struggle with performing in challenging circumstances; and Olaf, voiced by Josh Gad, the feelings felt as people get older and become more sentimental. Each character went through self-discovery, which nearly every person goes through at some point.

Viewers can also enjoy the music. Each song represents a powerful feeling as one moves through life. Not all the songs were sad, but some were happy and entertaining to listen to. One particular song that was entertaining was the song Kristoff sang with Sven in the enchanted forest, “Lost in the Woods.” With the help of the animation editor, Jeff Draheim, the graphics contributed to the overall idea of each song as well. The animations help to prove how Kristoff missed everything he used to have with Anna.

I thought the music itself was better vocally than the original movie. I found myself downloading the whole album, even the end credit songs, because they just replayed over and over in my head. I never found myself downloading the original movie’s album. Frozen II’s soundtrack was heart-felt and overall fantastic. The song “Into the Unknown” had the best melody, and the song “Some Things Never Change” had the most meaningful lyrics.

The directors from both Frozen and Frozen II, Jennifer Lee and Chris Buck, even remembered to keep the information parallel between the two movies. It was nice to see that information from the first movie was not lost because people could still make connections from the first movie. An example would be how the new movie elaborates on Elsa and Anna’s parents’ death.  Elsa also continues to find herself, as she did in the first movie. The new movie allows for Elsa to yet again go on another adventure to reveal her life’s purpose.