Frozen II

"The worldwide phenomenon returns."

- Tagline

Frozen II is an animated musical drama/fantasy film produced at Walt Disney Animation Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. The sequel to the studio's 2013 animated feature film, Frozen, it is the 58th animated feature in the Disney Animated Canon.

Taking place three years after the events of the previous film, Frozen II follows Elsa, Anna, Olaf, Kristoff, and Sven as they journey to an enchanted forest to save their kingdom from a curse involving the elemental spirits of water, wind, fire, and earth.

Co-directors Jennifer Lee and Chris Buck returned to helm the project, alongside producer Peter Del Vecho. While still retaining much of the humor of its predecessor, the film is notably darker in tone with a heavier focus on action, death, and intense imagery. This was a deliberate move by the filmmakers, who likened the tone of Frozen II to earlier Walt Disney-era fairytales such as Pinocchio.

Upon release, Frozen II received generally positive reviews from critics for its animation, voice performances, and music by songwriting duo Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez. On its opening weekend, the film grossed $127 million domestically, and $350 million worldwide, making it the highest-opening of all time for an animated film.

Synopsis
Why was Elsa born with magical powers? The answer is calling her and threatening her kingdom. Together with Anna, Kristoff, Olaf, and Sven, she'll set out on a dangerous but remarkable journey to save a trapped civilization deep in the woods.

Plot
King Runeard, founder and first king of Arendelle, establishes a treaty with the tribe of Northuldra by building a dam in the Northuldra's homeland, the Enchanted Forest. However, a fight occurs and enrages the spirits of earth, fire, air, and water who inhabit the forest. The spirits disappear and a wall of mist encases everyone in the forest. Runeard’s son Prince Agnarr barely escapes with the help of an unknown savior.

Three years after her coronation, Queen Elsa of Arendelle celebrates autumn in the kingdom with her younger sister Princess Anna, Olaf the snowman, Kristoff the kingdom’s ice harvester, and Kristoff’s reindeer Sven. Elsa has been hearing a mysterious voice calling out to her. Unable to ignore it one night, Elsa follows the voice and unintentionally awakens the elemental spirits. The spirits force everyone in the kingdom to evacuate. Grand Pabbie and the Trolls colony, aware of the situation, arrive to Arendelle and Pabbie informs them that they must set things right by discovering the truth about the kingdom's past. Elsa deduces that they must follow the voice she has been hearing.

Elsa, Anna, Olaf, Kristoff, and Sven embark to the Enchanted Forest. They encounter the impenetrable wall of mist, but it parts open as Elsa uses her magic before closing back. The wind spirit, in the form of a tornado, appears and sweeps everyone in its vortex. Elsa stops it by firing streams of snow, forming a set of ice sculptures. They discover the sculptures are images from their father’s past and that their mother, Iduna, was a Northuldra who saved Agnarr. They encounter the Northuldra and a troop of Arendellian soldiers who are still at conflict with one another. The fire spirit appears and Elsa attempts to stop its fire from spreading. Elsa discovers that the spirit is an agitated magical salamander and calms it down, stopping all the fires. Elsa and Anna form a truce between the soldiers and the Northuldra by explaining that their mother was Northuldran and their father was Arendellian. Elsa later learns the existence of a fifth spirit who will unite people and the magic of nature.

Elsa continues to head north with Anna and Olaf. They find their parents’ shipwreck and a map with a route to Ahtohallan, a mythical river said to have explanations of the past. Feeling guilty her parents were lost at sea in search of answers of her magic powers, Elsa decides to travel alone and sends Anna and Olaf away in an ice boat for their safety. Anna and Olaf are then stranded in a cavern.

Elsa encounters the Nokk, the water spirit who guards the ocean on her way to Ahtohallan. Elsa tames the Nokk and reaches Ahtohallan. There, Elsa discovers that the voice was the call of Iduna from memories of the past, and that her power was a gift from the magic of nature because of Iduna's selfless act of saving Agnarr, making her the fifth spirit who unites differences. Elsa wields her mother's mantle of the fifth spirit. Elsa also learns that the dam was built as a ruse to reduce the Northuldra’s resources because of Runeard’s dislike of the tribe’s connection with magic and that Runeard was the one who initiated the conflict. Elsa sends this information to Anna, but as she had ventured into the most dangerous part of Ahtohallan, Elsa becomes frozen which causes Olaf to fade away and turn into a pile of snow, leaving Anna devastated.

Anna receives Elsa’s message and concludes that the dam must be destroyed for peace to be restored. Anna gets out from the cavern and awakens the sleeping gigantic earth spirits. Anna lures them towards the dam and the dam is destroyed by boulders hurled by the giants. Elsa thaws out and returns to Arendelle, stopping a flood from the destroyed dam. As the wall of mist disappears, Elsa reunites with Anna and revives Olaf. Kristoff proposes to Anna, who accepts. Elsa points out that she and Anna are now the bridge between the people and the magical spirits. Anna becomes the queen of Arendelle and Elsa becomes the protector of the Enchanted Forest who regularly visits Arendelle as peace is restored in all the lands.

In a post-credit scene, Olaf tells what happened at the end of the movie to Marshmallow and the snowgies.

Cast

 * Kristen Bell as Anna
 * Hadley Gannaway as Young Anna
 * Livvy Stubenrauch as Young Anna (Ahtohallan/archive recording)
 * Idina Menzel as Elsa
 * Mattea Conforti as Young Elsa
 * Eva Bella as Young Elsa (Ahtohallan/archive recording)
 * Jonathan Groff as Kristoff
 * Josh Gad as Olaf
 * Sterling K. Brown as Lieutenant Mattias
 * Evan Rachel Wood as Queen Iduna
 * Delaney Rose Stein as Young Iduna
 * Aurora as The Voice
 * Alfred Molina as King Agnarr
 * Jackson Stein as Young Agnarr
 * Martha Plimpton as Yelana
 * Rachel Matthews as Honeymaren
 * Jason Ritter as Ryder Nattura
 * Jeremy Sisto as King Runeard
 * Ciarán Hinds as Grand Pabbie
 * Alan Tudyk as Duke of Weselton (Ahtohallan/archive recording), Guard, Northuldra Leader, and Arendellian Soldier
 * Santino Fontana as Hans (Ahtohallan/archive recording)
 * Paul Briggs as Marshmallow
 * Maia Wilson as Bulda
 * Stephen J. Anderson as Kai
 * Halima V. Hudson as Halima

Additional Voices

 * Isabella Acres
 * Nick Fisher
 * Arthur Ortiz
 * Stephen Apostolina
 * Jackie Gonneau
 * Paul Pape
 * Kimberly Bailey
 * Franck Gourlat
 * Michael Ralph
 * Dave Boat
 * Daniel Kaz
 * Akai Robinson
 * June Christopher
 * Phil LaMarr
 * Lynwood Robinson
 * Antonio Corbo
 * Arnaud Leónard
 * Maddix Robinson
 * David Cowgill
 * Mimi Maynard
 * Kaitlyn Robrock
 * Wendy Cutler
 * Scott Menville
 * Violet Schaffer
 * Hudson D'Andrea
 * Melanie Minichino
 * Pepper Sweeney
 * Grey DeLisle-Griffin
 * Max Mittelman
 * Fred Tatasciore
 * Jessica DiCicco
 * Matt Nolan
 * Jean-Alain Velardo
 * Terri Douglas
 * Capri Oliver
 * Kari Wahlgren
 * Robin Atkin Downes
 * Matthew Wood

Development
Development on a theatrical Frozen sequel was officially announced at a Disney Shareholder meeting, alongside being confirmed by Jennifer Lee on her Twitter account. Co-directors of the original film, Jennifer Lee and Chris Buck, as well as producer, Peter Del Vecho, all returned to helm the project. The filmmakers had not originally considered making a sequel to Frozen at all and the road to its creation was bumpy. Co-director Chris Buck began by considering that what would be next for Elsa, having been in hiding for so long and finally being accepted by her people. One question the filmmakers were repeatedly asked was the question of why Elsa has her powers, which led them to explore this question for the sequel. As part of the production process, the filmmakers took part in a four hour psychological personality test, assuming the roles of the characters and answering questions posed by an actual psychologist. In doing so, they discovered that Anna was a "fairy tale" character, optimistic, and human, while Elsa was a "mythic" character, with the weight of the world on her shoulders and special powers. The film's visual developers worked on special finishing touches to the characters' outfits, including lining inside the fabric of every character's clothes. Both Elsa and Anna wear pants when traveling into the Enchanted Forest, Jennifer Lee stating that they wear what's right for the situation and she loves that they can wear anything. The film is said to be "darker" than the original Frozen and Kristen Bell stated of this that "'...we don’t give kids enough credit — because they’re projections of us and we want them to be happy because we want ourselves to be happy all the time. We don’t give them enough credit for their ability to digest complex situations and trauma and struggle."

Following concerns about cultural appropriation regarding the original Frozen, Disney signed a contract with the Sámi people to respectfully portray Sámi culture. As the culture was to feature in an even greater role in Frozen II, the Sámi parliaments of Norway, Sweden, and Finland, along with the Saami Council reached out to collaborate with the film's producers. The contract also included an agreement that Disney would produce a dubbed version of Frozen II in one Sámi language and participate in cross-learning initiatives that contribute to Indigenous communities in Scandinavia. The Sámi people and those worked with by the filmmakers appear in the film's credits.

On April 25, 2017, the official release date for the Frozen sequel was announced by Disney. On September 28, Josh Gad and Disney announced on social media that recording for the film had officially begun.

In 2018, Jennifer Lee was the appointed replacement for John Lasseter following his discharge from The Walt Disney Company. With her attention now focused on several facets of the studio, writer Allison Schroeder was brought on to cowrite the script for Frozen 2. On November 1, it was announced that the Frozen sequel had been pushed up a few days from November 27, 2019 to November 22, 2019. On February 13, 2019, the film was retitled as Frozen II.

The film's soundtrack was released on November 15, 2019 in CD, digital, and vinyl formats.

Reception
Advance ticket sales for Frozen II set a first day record for an animated film for both Fandango and Atom Tickets. The film outpaced sales of Toy Story 4 to set the new record. Based on early sales, the film was predicted to open with at least $100 million over its opening weekend, with more optimistic predictions setting it at $125 million. Globally, the film was predicted to shatter the previous Toy Story 4 record with a $242 million global opening weekend. The film in fact shattered the record, with an estimated domestic opening weekend of $127 million and $350.2 million worldwide. The film also set a record in China with $55 million. The film's spectacular opening weekend was followed by an equally stellar Thanksgiving weekend. The film made $123.7 million domestically over the five day holiday weekend, breaking the 2013 record of $109 million by The Hunger Games: Catching Fire in 2013. Globally, the film's take rose to $753.4 million dollars over 12 days.

The film's first reviews appeared on November 14, 2019. As of December 23, 2019, the film holds a score of 77% fresh with 300 reviews on the review aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes, with the site's consensus stating that "Frozen II can't quite recapture the showstopping feel of its predecessor, but it remains a dazzling adventure into the unknown." Mara Reinstein of U.S. Weekly stated that while the film was not as spectacular as the original, it was "still a beautifully designed, sharply written, and toe-tapping piece of family entertainment." Nicholas Barber of BBC was one of those who was critical of the film, stating that the film "takes an ice age" to get going and describing it as "an avalanche of half-formed ideas." On November 19, 2019, the film was certified Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes.

Releases
The film's red carpet world premiere was held on Thursday, November 7, 2019 in Hollywood, California, with members of the cast and crew in attendance. Although the film's official U.S. release was November 22, 2019, a number of theaters offered multiple showings as early as 6 P.M. on November 21, 2019.

International premieres

 * November 20, 2019 (Belgium, Germany, France, Indonesia, Netherlands, Philippines, Turkey)
 * November 21, 2019 (Colombia, Croatia, Hungary, Israel, South Korea, Kuwait, Malaysia, Peru, Portugal, Singapore, Slovakia, Thailand, Taiwan)
 * November 22, 2019 (Albania, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Spain, Ireland, India, Iceland, Japan, Mexico, Poland, Romania, United Kingdom, Vietnam)
 * November 27, 2019 (Italy)
 * November 28, 2019 (Australia, Chile, Greece, Kazakhstan, New Zealand, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Ukraine)
 * November 29, 2019 (Lebanon)
 * December 7, 2019 (Premiere - Comic Con Experience - São Paulo, SP, Brazil)
 * December 25, 2019 (Denmark, Finland, Lithuania, Latvia, Norway, Sweden)
 * December 27, 2019 (Estonia)
 * January 2, 2020 (Argentina, Brazil)

Trivia

 * This is the first Walt Disney Animation Studios sequel to focus on the secondary character (in this case being Elsa) rather than the protagonist of the original film, thus promoting Elsa as the primary character.
 * This is the sixth sequel in the Disney Animated Features canon, after The Three Caballeros, The Rescuers Down Under, Fantasia 2000, Winnie the Pooh, and Ralph Breaks the Internet.
 * This is the last Walt Disney Animation Studios film to use the 1967 MPAA logo.
 * This is the fifth Disney animated sequel to be rated PG by the MPAA, after Planes: Fire & Rescue, Finding Dory, Incredibles 2, and Ralph Breaks the Internet.
 * This is the second Walt Disney Animation Studios film to feature the full 2011 logo as a closing logo, after Moana.
 * This is the last Walt Disney Animation Studios film with John Lasseter's involvment before he left his position from Disney and Pixar animation at the end of 2018 and therefore making it the first to be released under Jennifer Lee's supervision.
 * This is the seventh Disney animated film to feature the full 2011 logo as a closing logo, after Finding Dory, Moana, Cars 3, Coco, Incredibles 2, and Toy Story 4.
 * This is the eighth Walt Disney Animation Studios film to include a post-credits scene after The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Brother Bear, Winnie the Pooh, Frozen, Big Hero 6, Moana, and Ralph Breaks the Internet.
 * The film takes place three years after the events of Frozen.
 * Elsa is 24 years old now, and Anna is 21 years old.
 * Frozen II was originally set to be released sometime after the film Gigantic, which was later cancelled.
 * The teaser trailer became the most viewed animation trailer of all time, with a record-breaking 116.4 million views in 24 hours.
 * Anna's voice actress - Kristen Bell - spoiled the entire plot of the film to her two daughters, only realizing afterwards that it placed her in breach of contract and she could potentially be sued by Disney. She then told her girls that if they revealed any information, their teeth would fall out.
 * People magazine released a special Frozen II issue filled with secrets from the film, including the signing a contract with real-life Norwegians.
 * When Olaf recounts the events of Frozen, several of Christophe Beck’s musical cues from the film were reprised.
 * The scenery and color schemes in Frozen II were greatly inspired by the traditional hand-drawn animated classic, Sleeping Beauty. There are some parallels between the Enchanted Forest in this film and the ethereal backgrounds that artist Eyvind Earle painted for the 1959 animated classic. According to animator Justin Sklar, the filmmakers were drawn by the organization and graphics of the imagery in Sleeping Beauty.
 * During a flashback into Agnarr and Iduna's childhood, Agnarr is reading a book that he states is from a "new Danish author". This is a reference to Hans Christian Andersen, the writer of The Snow Queen, the fairy tale that Frozen was inspired by.

Cameos and other Disney references

 * In the beginning of the movie, Dumbo and Baymax from Big Hero 6 cameo as two of Elsa's snow dolls.
 * During the charades game, Olaf shapes into Mickey Mouse.