Frozen 2 creators on the songs, story and sisterhood in Disney sequel set to be another billion-dollar movie
- Despite the magical themes at play in the movie, Frozen 2’s writers and directors worked hard to ensure the tale of two princess sisters was relatable
- For fans of Let It Go looking for the next big anthem to belt out at karaoke, Into The Unknown delves into Elsa’s inner turmoil and self-denial
Six years of secrecy and intrigue have finally melted away: the follow-up to Disney’s smash-hit 2013 animated musical Frozen opens in cinemas this weekend, returning ice princess sisters Elsa and Anna to the big screen.
Set three years after the first film, the plot of Frozen 2 begins with older sister Elsa, who has magical powers, hearing a mysterious sound from the north beckoning her. With Anna, iceman Kristoff, snowman Olaf and Sven the reindeer, she sets off on another adventure to discover the origin of her powers.
The movie’s success is all but guaranteed after the Oscar-winning original grossed US$1.3 billion worldwide, making it the 15th highest-grossing film of all time. An instant classic for Disney, Frozen came packed with singalong earworms, such as Do You Want to Build a Snowman? and defining set piece Let It Go, which earned the makers another Academy Award.
“We knew that the movie was great. We just didn’t know how phenomenal it would be,” says Frozen 2’s head of story Normand Lemay.
Ahead of the film’s release, Lemay spoke about the care that went into ensuring Frozen 2 wouldn’t be a throwaway sequel, how it still felt relatable despite the magic spells and talking snowmen, and how, at its core, it is a story about relationships and growing up.
“Elsa and Anna are in their early 20s – it puts them at a place in time where most people are faced with big decisions they have to make in life and feeling the pressure of them,” Lemay says. “Questions like: where am I in my life? Who am I supposed to be? Where am I supposed to go? And my love life? How is it going? Have I found the right person? One of the themes is this idea of maturity, and how these big questions will challenge our two sisters.”
The idea for Frozen stemmed from the prolific fairy tale author Hans Christian Andersen’s T he Snow Queen, a dark tale involving siblings that informed the mystery and slightly ominous undertones to Disney’s creation.
“I loved the idea of telling a story that focused on the love of family, and not romantic love,” says Frozen 2 co-director Chris Buck, via email.
Jennifer Lee, Frozen 2’s other co-director and also co-writer, adds: “The first film was about love conquering fear. We explore love versus fear in Frozen 2, looking at [this concept] through the lens of change.”
While Anna’s romantic relationship with Kristoff is a feature of the film’s plot, the complicated bond between the sisters takes precedence: while Elsa is painted as frosty, distant and complex, Anna is depicted as the embodiment of sunshine and optimism.
The gulf between the siblings brought about by Elsa’s powers and Anna’s lack of magic in the first film is explored more widely in the second.
“We have two sisters who kind of represent someone who’s very introspective and mysterious in Elsa and that’s why so many people are drawn to her, because she conceals or doesn’t want to hurt others,” Lemay says. “But also Anna is so interesting because she’s the one that’s not born with powers, but has this conviction and optimism and this sort of force of nature inside that makes her do anything for the people she loves.”
For fans of Let It Go looking for the next big anthem to belt out at karaoke, Into The Unknown delves into Elsa’s inner turmoil and self-denial with a ghostly melody, provided by Norwegian singer Aurora, as well as the original soundtrack’s singer Idina Menzel.
The track perhaps doesn’t stand apart from the film as well as Let It Go, but serves to kick-start the plot’s main adventure.
When storyboarding the sequence, Lemay drew from his own life experiences and memories of his early adulthood to make the scenes as emotionally stirring as possible.
“[Into The Unknown] is such an important song to launch our characters into adventure because it may sound abstract, but I think everyone goes through these big moments of choice, and that song represents the doubts but also the lingering conviction behind what Elsa believes deep inside or what Elsa believes in that moment is worth taking a risk for,” he says.
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Disney is banking heavily on nostalgia in its filmmaking. With more remakes and sequels planned for next year and a monster opening weekend for Frozen 2 practically in the bag, the studio has perfected a formula that shows no sign of thawing out any time soon.
