It’s easier to think about Frozen II as a product than as a film because a product is all that it feels like. Photo: Disney Elsa does not get a girlfriend in Frozen II, with condolences to the fans who pleaded to Disney for one, like supplicants petitioning an indifferent corporate god. The frosty former princess does, however, get a magical horse, and it’s pretty sick.
Frozen II is, like its predecessor, a kids’ movie, but it’s also, like its predecessor, an official Walt Disney Animation Studios release, which means it’s a vector for merchandise, music, theme-park rides, eventual remakes, and a young generation’s pop cultural pressure points.
It’s easier to think about Frozen II as a product than as a film because a product is all that it feels like. It was directed by Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee, the team behind the first film, from a script that Lee wrote, and that never really pretends that it exists because the story, rather than the market, demanded more.
The group hauls off to the north in order to save Arendelle from a plot device, finding their way to an enchanted forest that’s home to the Sámi-inspired Northuldra tribe. The Northuldra, led by Yelana , have a fraught history with Arendelle, once approached as allies until something went wrong and the area was sealed off by mist.
It’s hard not to feel jaded about Frozen II, while also understanding that those feelings don’t matter at all, and that the film is going to go on to draw huge audiences heavy on children and accompanying parents who’ll appreciate being thrown a bone by way of Kristoff’s amusingly ’80s-rock-inflected number. The film comes from a tradition that has spawned both incredible classics of animated artistry and overtly calculating entertainments, and it happens to skew more toward the latter.