Yeah, so Frozen II was a BIIIIIG let down for me. My biggest issue was the plot, or lack thereof. I found myself excruciatingly bored throughout most of the movie. Yeah, there's a strange voice calling to Elsa, but so what? Why do I care? Why should I care? Give me a dang reason to care about what's happening!
Good plots introduce a conflict and then build upon that conflict, developing the story around that conflict, which often grows in severity, and then ultimately culminates during the climax after which the conflict is resolved. Frozen followed this formula. The initial conflict was introduced right away during the first scene, the tragic incident which separates the sisters. The rest of the movie is Anna trying to reconnect with Elsa. Not only is that an interesting conflict it makes for a compelling plot through the rest of the movie. In a good story we know what the stakes are and we are rooting for the characters to achieve their goal. In this case, Anna wants to reunite with her sister and we desperately want that for her too! We are emotionally invested in what's happening!
Another sign of a good plot is how it builds upon the initial incident (a.k.a. inciting incident). Frozen did this well. The coronation party shows their desire to reconnect but yet another wedge is driven between them. So Anna treks to the north mountain where she encounters more obstacles, seemingly insurmountable ones, to get what she desires. In the end, it looks like all is lost as Hans leaves Anna to die and comes within a hair's breadth of killing Elsa. It's a close call, but with Anna's own sacrifice the conflict is finally resolved and the characters achieve their goal...Anna and Elsa are reunited!
Frozen II has no clear initial incident with which to introduce a primary conflict. This neuters the entire story. The conflict that is there doesn't serve to advance the plot or build on any initial incident. Almost the entire movie is just Elsa wanting to figure out who is calling her and a bunch of random events that happen to her along the way. We as the audience have no idea what the stakes are and we have no real reason to root for the characters. That's because no compelling conflict was ever introduced, and with no compelling conflict the entire movie ends up being kinda boring.
I also think Kristoff's character was wasted in this film. He doesn't do a single thing to contribute to the plot, as meager as it was, and does nothing to further the story. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed his proposal struggles, but characters who don't serve to advance the plot are poorly written, imo. This whole movie was poorly written. That's because they promoted the original writer, Jennifer Lee, to president or something, so she doesn't have time to write scripts anymore. What a tragedy.
Good plots introduce a conflict and then build upon that conflict, developing the story around that conflict, which often grows in severity, and then ultimately culminates during the climax after which the conflict is resolved. Frozen followed this formula. The initial conflict was introduced right away during the first scene, the tragic incident which separates the sisters. The rest of the movie is Anna trying to reconnect with Elsa. Not only is that an interesting conflict it makes for a compelling plot through the rest of the movie. In a good story we know what the stakes are and we are rooting for the characters to achieve their goal. In this case, Anna wants to reunite with her sister and we desperately want that for her too! We are emotionally invested in what's happening!
Another sign of a good plot is how it builds upon the initial incident (a.k.a. inciting incident). Frozen did this well. The coronation party shows their desire to reconnect but yet another wedge is driven between them. So Anna treks to the north mountain where she encounters more obstacles, seemingly insurmountable ones, to get what she desires. In the end, it looks like all is lost as Hans leaves Anna to die and comes within a hair's breadth of killing Elsa. It's a close call, but with Anna's own sacrifice the conflict is finally resolved and the characters achieve their goal...Anna and Elsa are reunited!
Frozen II has no clear initial incident with which to introduce a primary conflict. This neuters the entire story. The conflict that is there doesn't serve to advance the plot or build on any initial incident. Almost the entire movie is just Elsa wanting to figure out who is calling her and a bunch of random events that happen to her along the way. We as the audience have no idea what the stakes are and we have no real reason to root for the characters. That's because no compelling conflict was ever introduced, and with no compelling conflict the entire movie ends up being kinda boring.
I also think Kristoff's character was wasted in this film. He doesn't do a single thing to contribute to the plot, as meager as it was, and does nothing to further the story. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed his proposal struggles, but characters who don't serve to advance the plot are poorly written, imo. This whole movie was poorly written. That's because they promoted the original writer, Jennifer Lee, to president or something, so she doesn't have time to write scripts anymore. What a tragedy.