Frozen II (2019)
★★ — Frozen II (2019)
Sequels to animated blockbusters are, by now, a well-established part of the Disney playbook, and few of the studio's properties had quite the cultural footprint of Frozen. Released in 2013, that film became a genuine phenomenon, the sort that lodged itself in the minds of a generation of children and refused to leave. A sequel, then, was never really a question of "if" but "when." The answer turned out to be six years, and Frozen II arrived in cinemas in November 2019, directed once again by the same pairing behind the original: Jennifer Lee and Chris Buck. Lee had also co-written the screenplay for the first film (you can read thoughts on that one here), and returns to the script for this outing alongside Allison Schroeder. The premise takes Elsa, Anna, Kristoff and Olaf north into an enchanted forest, drawn there by a mysterious voice only Elsa can hear, in search of answers about the origins of her powers and the history of Arendelle itself. It is, on paper, a more ambitious and mythologically weighted story than its predecessor, trading the cosy warmth of the original for something broader and more elemental.
Walt Disney Animation Studios backed the production with all the technical muscle the studio can bring to bear, and the results, on a purely visual level, were widely noted on release. The film earned considerable praise from critics and audiences for the quality of its animation, and performed handsomely at the box office, becoming one of the highest-grossing animated films of its year. The returning cast is the same core quartet that made the first film work so well: Idina Menzel as Elsa, Kristen Bell as Anna, Josh Gad as Olaf and Jonathan Groff as Kristoff. Joining them is Evan Rachel Wood as Iduna, a new character who carries a good deal of the film's backstory on her shoulders. The songs were again handled by Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez, the songwriting team responsible for "Let It Go," a track that, for better or worse, became inescapable in the years between the two films. Whether they could replicate that kind of cultural lightning in a bottle a second time was always going to be the question hanging over the soundtrack. For a sense of how other family animations of this era fared, it is worth comparing notes with something like Trolls or the animated The Hunchback of Notre Dame, both polished but unremarkable efforts in their own right that similarly had big shoes to fill in the family entertainment space.
It’s hard to deny that Frozen 2 looks impressive, the animation is stunning, a clear leap forward from the first film. The forests are lush and mystical, the elemental spirits beautifully realised, and the sequence with water horses galloping through the tide is pure visual magic. On a technical level, it’s Disney at its most polished, with rich colours, intricate detail, and effects work that borders on photorealistic. But beneath the gloss, the film is hollow. The story meanders through myth and memory without ever finding a clear purpose. “Go East” isn’t a plot, it’s a placeholder, and much of the film feels like characters walking (sometimes literally) from one vague revelation to the next. The mystery of Elsa’s powers is finally addressed, but the answers are underwhelming, wrapped in half-baked lore about enchanted woods and colonial guilt that’s introduced and dropped without real depth. The songs, while competently sung, lack the spark of the original. “Into the Unknown” has one good hook and little else, and none of the new tracks come close to matching “Let It Go” or even “For the First Time in Forever.” The humour falls flat, the emotional segments feel manufactured, and the characters spend most of the film reacting rather than growing. Even Anna and Elsa, once compelling in their differences, are reduced to archetypes, the fearless sister, the mystical loner. It’s not offensive, not badly made, just entirely forgettable. A film that mistakes scale for substance, spectacle for soul. The first Frozen had heart, charm, and a genuine emotional core. This one has wind, fire, water, earth… and very little else. A step forward in animation, but two steps back in storytelling. Soulless, uninspired, and ultimately pointless.
And that, for me, is what makes Frozen II a genuinely frustrating watch rather than simply a disappointing one. There is real craft on screen, and you can see where the effort went. But effort and heart are not the same thing, and the film never manages to close that gap. I keep coming back to how confidently the first film trusted its audience, including its younger viewers, to feel something real. This one seems to have decided that noise and motion are sufficient substitutes. They are not. If you want animation from this period that actually earns its ambitions, you are probably better off elsewhere. Frozen II will dazzle your eyes and leave your memory without so much as knocking.
Rating: ★★ | Year: 2019 | Watched: 2025-07-31
Trailer
▶ Watch the official trailer for Frozen II (2019) on YouTube
Where to watch
Watch in the UK
Stream: Disney Plus
Rent: Apple TV Store · Rakuten TV · Amazon Video · Sky Store
Buy: Apple TV Store · Rakuten TV · Amazon Video · Google Play Movies
Physical: Amazon UK · Zavvi
Watch in the US
Stream: Disney Plus · fuboTV
Rent: Amazon Video · Apple TV Store · Google Play Movies · YouTube
Buy: Amazon Video · Apple TV Store · Google Play Movies · YouTube
Physical: Amazon US
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Related on Movies With Macca
More from Jennifer Lee: Frozen (2013)
More with Idina Menzel: Frozen (2013)
More from the 2010s: Wonder (2017) · Beautiful Boy (2018) · The Witch (2015) · What We Do in the Shadows (2014)
More family: Alice in Wonderland (1951) · Wonder (2017) · Kirikou and the Wild Beasts (2005) · Anastasia (1997)
More animation: Fantastic Planet (1973) · Alice in Wonderland (1951) · Mononoke the Movie: The Phantom in the Rain (2024) · Mononoke the Movie: Chapter II - The Ashes of Rage (2025)
