Disney has blessed us with the second official trailer for the highly anticipated “Frozen 2” and it looks truly wonderful. There’s so much going on, from a journey into an enchanted forest, to exciting new magic, to a cute, little ice lizard. While the first teaser trailer left most people confused, as it didn’t really seem to address any major plot points, this one got straight to the point; we’re going to find out where Elsa’s powers came from.
Way back in 2013 when the original “Frozen” came out, one of the biggest complaints among viewers was that we never learned exactly how Elsa came to possess her magical ice powers. Sure, the songs were catchy and the action was fun, but avid Disney fans want backstory and they want everything to make sense (as much as a movie with a talking snowman can make sense). So when we were told that Elsa was simply born with her powers, it felt like a huge piece of the puzzle was missing. We were let down big time, but we don’t have to wait any longer.
We now know that the focus of “Frozen 2” will be on the origin of all the weird, magical things going on in Arendelle. The trailer shows us that Elsa begins hearing voices, as well as seeing horses made of water. These voices tell her that she needs to develop her powers and make them even stronger because something is coming and she needs to be ready for it.
After consulting with the ever strange, tough-as-rock trolls from the first movie, Elsa and Anna learn that a story their father used to tell them as children, a tale about an enchanted forest full of magic and wonder, was actually true. In the story, however, when people began to fight with one another, the enchanted forest was sealed off with a cloud of impenetrable mist, leaving some people trapped behind it, never to see each other again. Or so they thought.
According to the trolls, Elsa must go north to the mist and reunite Arendelle with the forest to save both the lands. Then, in true Elsa fashion, the impassable mist parts for her, leaving the people from the forest astonished. They are even more astonished though by Elsa’s ability to do magic, as the forest itself — and presumably some of the people in it — performs its own magic — sweeping leaves and people up in bursts of wind, throwing around dancing, pink fire and rolling giant boulders without any force applied. If my hunch is correct, Elsa must have gotten her powers from something that happened to her father when he visited the enchanted forest as a child.
The trailer really picks up from there, with Elsa getting further and further sucked into the allure of magic and slowly losing herself, all while the magic itself begins to turn against the main characters. Officers from both Arandelle and the forest appear to reopen old wounds and start fighting again, the pink fire becomes more powerful, taking over the forest and endangering everyone (oh, the real-world parallels), small tornadoes form and chase people and, in the most “what the heck?” moment of the entire trailer, gigantic rock-like people show up to wreak havoc.
Needless to say, the trailer did not disappoint, which is very important considering the lackluster nature of the first trailer, which had very little substance. The first teaser was mostly just a clip of Elsa running at the storming ocean over and over again, trying to turn the waves into ice and run across them before they broke. That’s pretty much it. After that, we only get a few landscape shots. The only slightly interesting thing that happens is our introduction to the aforementioned water horse at the end. This first trailer showed us the film’s new autumnal theme (every “Frozen” film or short seems to follow a strict seasonal theme), a little bit of the new magic and some very pretty outfits and landscapes, but there was very little story content.
In this second trailer, however, we find out what the story will be in detail, and it’s all based around the most sought after question of the entire franchise, “Why was Elsa born with magical powers?” This question is quite literally posted in the description of the trailer, so I think it’s fair to assume that we will finally learn the answer, and it all revolves around an enchanted forest. How cool is that?
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I know that there is some very valid criticism of “Frozen” and “Frozen 2” for their never-ending advertisements, insertion into every Disney space there is (people just wanted to watch “Coco”) and general lack of representation (“Frozen 2” will have the franchise’s first characters of color), but I just can’t not be super excited. When the first movie came out, I was obsessed. I saw it in theaters like eight times (including the singalong edition twice), memorized all the words, bought all kinds of merchandise and begged my parents to take me to the Frozen Ever After ride in Walt Disney World. I was definitely not the only person to do this either. There is no denying that “Frozen” is a cultural force and “Frozen 2” looks to add to that ten times over.
So get ready, folks. It’s coming, it looks great, and it’s going to take over the cultural narrative for a while, probably picking up a few Oscars along the way. I, for one, cannot wait. You can see “Frozen 2” in theaters everywhere starting Nov. 22.
