Disney’s Frozen: the modern Disney princess film that seized the attention of audiences everywhere, along with ensnaring the wallets of parents purchasing Frozen dolls, bed sheets, lunch boxes and Halloween costumes. On November 27th of 2013, the Disney princess movie, Frozen, was released with an unexpected amount of success, but now, six years later, it is highly anticipated sequel has finally been released. While the second installment of the Frozen franchise has had just as much success as the first, the sequel as a movie itself seemed to not capture the hearts of many viewers, unlike the original.

    In a short summary, the main plot of “Frozen 2” is about the main cast of characters– Anna, Elsa, Olaf, Kristoff, and Sven– trying to figure out why the dangerous elemental spirits from an enchanted forest are suddenly attacking their kingdom, Arendelle. While uncovering this mystery, the characters also slowly starts to piece together what actually occurred in the past, and how it connects to them. On paper this can sound like a pretty generic storyline, but with a little Disney magic, this story can turn into a unique and unforgettable story, right? Unfortunately, this was not the case.

    The movie actually starts off quite strong, as it introduces the enchanted forest, and explains how Elsa and Anna’s parents were connected to it. This was probably one of the movie’s strongest additions, as in the first movie, the parents were quickly killed off and never seen again. Later in the film, it is also revealed why the parents went on the voyage that ended up killing them, and also who the mother really was. These were all great inclusions, as it adds to the first movie and continues the plot in the second. However, this is where the positives stop.

    One of Frozen 2’s major problems are the characters. The characters in Frozen 2 are a shallow husk compared to their Frozen counterparts. Elsa’s story was mostly a rehashing of her character development that occurred in the first movie. Both of the movies show her growth in the same way; Elsa is unsure of her power, then eventually gives in and uses her power, thus putting Arendelle in danger, but through the power of sisterly love the day is saved and so is the kingdom.

    The rest of the cast is not much better off either. Kristoff is probably in the movie for about ten minutes, and in that time tries to ask Anna to marry him about fifty times and saves her once. Anna unfortunately gets the same treatment, as nothing really happens with her storyline except when some of the cast ‘dies’ and she sings a song, and then suddenly knows how to save the day. The character done the dirtiest, however, was Olaf. The movie tries to set him up as if he is going to go through some changes and growth as a character, but by the end of the movie this possible development is completely forgotten. At the start of the movie, Olaf is shown to begin to have an interest in the changing world around him, and how it will affect him and the people around him, similar to a child beginning to understand what growing up is about. Later, the movie gives him his own song about this, about how he hopes he will be able to look back and understand everything when he is older. Even with all this setup and a whole entire song, the movie still decides to forget about all of this and show Kristoff singing with a choir of reindeer instead.

    Furthermore, the story did not help Frozen 2’s case either. The movie’s mystery was pretty predictable and cliche, but, with it being a children’s film, this can be somewhat expected. After all the hype, Frozen 2 was just another lazy, forgetful, Disney sequel that features amazing animation and songs, but also includes a disappointing plot and cold characters that most people will be happy to let go.