'Frozen 2': Plot holes, hollow characters and all the reasons why the sequel failed to shine in Oscar nominations
'Frozen 2' received the royal snub when it was not featured in the Academy Award nominations announced on January 14. However, the first film was a phenomenal success and had triumphantly walked away with Best Animated Feature Oscar in 2014, with glowing praise for the song 'Let It Go' which became an earworm for every Disney fan.
Apart from receiving one nomination for the song 'Into The Unknown', Frozen 2 did not feature in the Oscar nominations. Meanwhile, Netflix animations like 'Klaus' and 'I Lost My Body' easily made the cut, along with Dreamworx 'How To Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World,' Laika's 'Missing Link' and Disney/ Pixar's 'Toy Story 4'.
Frozen 2 had made a whopping 1 billion dollars worldwide, so why did it not make it to the royal list of the Oscars this time?
Here are a couple of reasons that *could* be why.
Messy and overly-complicated plot
'Frozen' had a straightforward plot. Two sisters raised by their parents in a castle, where one has the power of ice. However, an accident almost injures her sister Anna, and Elsa, with a little help from her parents, shuts herself off from everyone. Her parents die at sea, and Elsa is to reclaim the throne. After a mishap at the coronation, Elsa flees for her freedom to the North, away from everyone. Anna is determined to find her, and this journey involves love and heartache. In the end, all's well that ends well, the sisters are back at the castle. You know it.
'Frozen 2' was brave enough to take on the concept of colonialism, which happens to tie into the parent's mysterious past. But, there has been an excessive exposition from the go, and Elsa begins to hear a mysterious voice beckoning her to come forth to the North. We learn about a tale told to the girls when they were young, of how their grandfather tried to build a dam for the tribal Northuldra people. That story takes an ugly twist, and the forest is put under a dark spell. Elsa, Anna, Kristoff, and Olaf set off to uncover the truth, only to realize that Elsa is the fifth primal element. They also learn that Elsa and Anna's grandfather was the villain, as he built the dam to make the Northuldra cower to his power, and then killed their leader. This brings about the curse. The strangest part is that Elsa sends this memory to Anna, as she's supposedly freezing to death. The only way to end the curse is to break the dam.
Confusing? Yeah, well. In the middle, you also get to know why the parents were at sea. That revelation turns up as a convenient plot device as well.
Conclusively, Frozen 2 had an interesting premise, but inadvertently tried doing too much and lost the thread, altogether.
Out of character?
The Kristoff-Anna storyline was painful to watch in this film, to put it politely. In the first film, Kristoff was a street-smart, brave and caring soul, who got reduced to just being a lovesick puppy for Anna in the second film. Anna's one defining characteristic in the second film is her constant proclamation for her love for Elsa, and that's that. In the first film, she was warm and compassionate, and that's what made her a relatable Disney princess.
Throughout Frozen 2, Kristoff's desperate attempts to propose to Anna backfire. The strangest part of it all is when he tries to be romantic in the enchanted forest by saying, "Under other circumstances, this would be pretty romantic.." implying that the forest would have made for a romantic setting if they didn't have to get rid of the curse. Anna snaps by saying, "You mean with someone else?"
That seems completely out of character for Anna.
But this isn't the worst part. Kristoff seeks advice from a Northuldra fellow, who tells him about a special place where he can propose to Anna. In the middle of the night, Kristoff sets off, hoping that Anna finds him there. How do you expect someone to understand you when you haven't even told them when and where to come? Anna does another weird thing: she decides to continue on her journey without him. She doesn't even check where he is, or whether he is okay, or anything.
Kristoff soon after bursts into a rather woeful ballad, which is more forgettable than the trolls song in the first film.
Anna seems to have been stripped off any depth of character in Frozen 2 and her relationship with a rather silly Kristoff was just so tacked-on and contrived. And here we say, why ruin two characters like that?
Easily forgettable songs
Idina Menzel's soulful 'Let It Go' got stuck in everyone's heads. Yes, it might have gotten annoying for a few after a point, but it was catchy, melodious and had a great ring to it. On the other hand, 'Frozen 2' decided to have a barrage of music being paraded through the film, which seems like a desperate way to qualify musically, just like the first film. However, 'Into The Unknown' had its virtues, were nowhere as powerful as 'Let It Go', or even catchy. The other songs were quite forgettable.
Conclusively, 'Frozen' deserved a better sequel and maybe that could have helped in salvaging its Oscar destiny as well.