Frozen 2. It says something about the elusive nature of art that the entire might of the Disney hegemony couldn't rustle up a few decent songs in 5 long years. While not entirely devoid of interest (Olaf is consistently funny, there are some visually strong Elemental scenes and the conclusion is pretty satisfying), it's a fairly shocking mess of a film all the same. Miring itself in flashback within flashback and lengthy VO exposition from the very start, before moving on to deathly dull domestic scenes and then a series of vague and ever-shifting goals (magical lands beyond magical lands beyond magical lands) it struggles to get going for about half its runtime. Even when it finally finds its feet it keeps pausing to insert snippets of songs, dialogue and designs from the original, only serving to remind you how much tighter and more cohesive Frozen was than this hodge-podge of underdeveloped characters and weak tunes
Perhaps most disappointing of all it dispenses with the intricate costumes and early-modern architecture in favour of sticking Elsa in a generic Grade 1 Dance Recital leotard and setting much of the action in a noble-savage version of a Suomi reindeer herder camp.
Not enough trolls, no Alan Tudyk, inexplicable geography, dull songs, snails-pace opening act and a generally overcomplicated plot. Anna and Elsa's relationship is still a good focus, as is the Christof and Sven double act. On balance, a full-on Olaf movie would have worked better - certainly the only time the kids in our cinema shut up was when he was on the screen.
