Frozen II
Frozen II was released to theaters on November 22nd, 2019. The story follows Elsa as she attempts to discover the secrets of her magic, along with some help from Anna, Kristoff, Olaf, and Sven. Like the first film, it is written and directed by Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee, features music written by Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez, and has a score by Christophe Beck. This film did not win any Oscars, but Into the Unknown was nominated for Best Original Song.
Synopsis
The story begins with young Anna and Elsa playing Enchanted Forest in their bedroom. This prompts their father, King Agnarr, to tell them about the enchanted forest he visited when he was young.
He tells them about visiting the forest and meeting the spirits of air, fire, water, and earth. He also tells them about the Northuldra people who live there, the dam his father King Runeard built for them, and how a battle broke out between them and the Arendellian forces, causing the spirits to cover the forest with a mist that prevents anyone from entering or leaving.
Queen Iduna, their mother, sings "All Is Found" to the girls, a lullaby about a river called Ahtohallan that is said to hold every answer about the past.
In the present day, Elsa watches the kingdom from a balcony when she hears a voice in the wind. No one else seems to have heard it, though.
Across the kingdom, Anna joins Olaf in a pumpkin patch. He's more melancholy than usual, concerned about the future and how nothing seems permanent. Anna begins "Some Things Never Change", singing of how even though time might be moving forward, the fact that she cares about him will always stay the same.
In their verse of the song, Kristoff and Sven discuss Kristoff's nerves about proposing to Anna, and in the bridge, Elsa mentions how she doesn't want anything to change because she loves the way things are right now. The whole kingdom joins in for the final verse, celebrating Arendelle.
Back in the castle, the gang is playing charades. During Elsa's turn, she hears the voice again. She decides to turn in for the night, and Kristoff decides it's the right time to propose. Anna somehow doesn't notice what he's trying to do and leaves to make sure Elsa is okay.
Anna finds Elsa in her room wearing their mother's scarf, which means something must be wrong. Elsa almost tells her about the voice, but changes her mind at the last minute. Anna tries to soothe her sister with a reprise of "All Is Found".
The two fall asleep, but Elsa is woken up by the voice calling to her once again. In "Into the Unknown", she talks back to the voice, at first refusing to follow it but eventually giving in to her desire for the answers it might provide her.
At the end of the song, Elsa's magic freezes crystals in the air with the symbols of the elements. As they fall and shatter, the elements in the kingdom go haywire: the wind kicks up, the lanterns go out, the water dries up, and the cobblestones rattle uncontrollably. The whole kingdom evacuates to the cliffs near Arendelle.
The trolls appear, and Grand Pabbie warns Elsa that waking the still-angry spirits at the Enchanted Forest may have been too much to take on. He tells them the past isn't what it seems, and that a wrong needs to be righted. Unless the truth is found, he can't see a future. Elsa decides to go to the forest alone, but relents to the rest of the gang wanting to join her.
Along the journey, Olaf attempts to keep the mood up with trivia, but the rest of the group isn't feeling it. Kristoff attempts again to propose to Anna, but his foot could not be any more in his mouth. Eventually Elsa hears the voice again, and they arrive at the forest.
When Elsa touches the mist, an opening appears. When they enter, they are pulled all the way into the forest and the opening closes behind them. With nowhere else to go, they venture into the woods.
The group quickly gets split up admiring the forest, with Anna and Kristoff finding the dam. Kristoff tries yet again to propose but fails miserably, and Anna goes to find Elsa.
The two sisters reunite and realize Olaf is nowhere to be found. He's off on his own and the spirits mess with him as he sings "When I Am Older", expressing how even though things don't make sense right now, they will eventually so everything is all right.
The wind spirit kicks up a tornado that sucks up Olaf before finding the rest of the group and sucking them up too. Everyone but Elsa is dropped out, and she uses her powers to break up the tornado, but memories start to appear in the fog. As the wind breaks apart, ice sculptures of those memories appear around them.
Olaf explains how water has memory as Gale the wind spirit, now calmed, reappears. Upon closer inspection of the ice sculptures, Anna and Elsa realize the boy being rescued in one of them is their father.
Out of the forest, two groups appear: the Northuldra and the Arendellian soldiers, all trapped in the forest for all these years. Elsa knocks them back with her powers, and Olaf emerges to summarize the events of Frozen for them and explain why they're in the forest.
Anna recognizes one of the soldiers, Lieutenant Mattias, from a portrait in the castle. Elsa tells everyone she just wants to help, and Yelana, the Northuldra leader, tells her they only trust nature. At that moment, the fire spirit appears.
Purple flames spread through the forest as everyone rushes to get to safety. Elsa tries to put out the flames with her powers, and Anna rushes in to try and get her out, but is overcome by the heat. Kristoff comes to her rescue, and Elsa is left to handle the spirit on her own.
Upon putting out the last of the flames, Elsa discovers the fire spirit is a small salamander who quickly becomes enamored with her ice magic. Elsa hears the voice yet again, but so does the spirit. He starts to head north, and she starts to follow, but Anna stops her.
Elsa tells her sister the fire could have killed her, and Anna tells her she's not being careful enough. Elsa pulls out their mother's scarf to comfort her, and the two are told it's a Northuldra scarf. They race back to the ice sculptures and take another look, finally noticing the girl saving their father was their mother.
Elsa announces their mother was Northuldra, and the Northuldra people sing a rendition of "Vuelie" to welcome them. Elsa vows to free the forest and save Arendelle. She says that they have to keep going north and Honeymaren, a Northuldra woman, tells them about the earth giants in the north, and they decide to leave in the morning.
Kristoff and Ryder, a Northuldra boy, head off to work on a proposal plan, and Anna talks with Mattias. Honeymaren tells Elsa of a fifth spirit, one that is meant to be the bridge between humans and the magic of nature. Elsa asks if that's who's calling her and Honeymaren replies "Only Ahtohallan knows." The two sing a short reprise of "All Is Found" together.
Suddenly the earth giants appear! Elsa is about to follow one, determined to calm it, but Anna pulls her back and reminds her of their goal. The two decide to leave right then to lead the giants away from everyone else, but Olaf tells them Kristoff took off with Ryder, so they leave him behind.
In a clearing, Kristoff and Ryder pull off the proposal, but it's just Yelana telling them Anna and Elsa left already. Ryder heads back, and Kristoff sings a reprise of "Reindeer(s) Are Better Than People" with Sven before launching into "Lost in the Woods", expressing how he feels lost without Anna and unsure about where they stand.
Anna, Elsa, and Olaf are heading north when Gale catches their attention and flutters something nearby. It's a flag, but not just any flag; it's an Arendelle flag! They run towards it and discover their parents' ship! They investigate the shipwreck, finding a map to Ahtohallan, and they realize their parents were on a mission to find answers for Elsa.
Since water has memory, Elsa is able to pull a memory of their parents' last moments from the water still in the ship's wood, and she runs off feeling like she's responsible for their deaths. Anna tries to comfort her and tells her that if anyone can fulfill her promise, it's her. Elsa tells her about the fifth spirit, but Elsa is determined to go to Ahtohallan alone.
Elsa creates an ice boat around Anna and Olaf, sending them sailing away. Anna and Olaf try to stop the boat, but end up in a river surrounded by sleeping earth giants. They fall down a waterfall into a cavern and Olaf remarks that Elsa must be doing a whole lot better than they are.
We cut to Elsa on the shore of the Dark Sea. She starts to run across the water, but is swept under. She tries again and gets much farther before catching the attention of the Water Nokk, the water spirit. The two of them battle against each other, but Elsa is eventually able to bridle it and ride it to Ahtohallan.
As Elsa and the Nokk approach the glacier Ahtohallan, Elsa realizes she was meant to come here. She sings "Show Yourself" to the voice as she ventures farther into Ahtohallan, and the voice eventually reveals itself as Iduna's spirit.
As Elsa unleashes her power, moving show sculptures appear all around her of memories that led her to where she is now. She finds one of her grandfather King Runeard, but he's talking about building the dam to weaken the forest in order to make the Northuldra need his help. The memory moves deeper into the glacier, and she follows.
The memory of Runeard continues telling his plan, and Elsa follows it into the deepest part of Ahtohallan where she starts to freeze. She sees Runeard attack the Northuldra leader, and with the last of her strength, she sends the memory to Anna.
Back in the cavern, the memory finds Anna and Olaf. Anna realizes the dam was a trick all along, and that the dam has to fall in order to right the wrong. Breaking the dam would send a wave large enough to destroy Arendelle, and Anna is certain that's why everyone was forced out of the kingdom.
Anna is determined to get out of the cavern and find Elsa, but notices snow around her. It's coming from Olaf! He feels the magic in him disappearing, and tells Anna she'll have to do the rest alone. Anna holds him as he flurries away.
Anna is overcome by her grief and starts singing "The Next Right Thing", at first about her sadness, but then about how she needs to be strong despite it. As she makes her way out of the cavern, the sun rises.
Anna hatches a plan to destroy the dam: get the earth giants to do it. She wakes them up and runs towards the dam, and Mattias watches as they follow her. One almost crushes her, but Kristoff comes to her rescue again! Sven takes them to the dam, where Mattias and the soldiers are waiting for her.
Anna explains that the dam has to fall and that Elsa gave her life for the truth, and they assist in getting the giants' attention. The giants start throwing boulders towards them, and Anna decides to run out onto the dam so they aim in the right place. She nearly falls off, but Mattias catches her.
As the dam crumbles, the mist starts to dissipate and Ahtohallan thaws Elsa out, dropping her into the sea where the Nokk pulls her to the surface. Elsa and the Nokk race along with the wave to Arendelle, and are able to surpass it just in time for Elsa to conjure an ice wall large enough to break the wave.
Back at the forest, everyone celebrates their newfound freedom, but Anna is still grieving. She apologizes to Kristoff for leaving, and he tells her his love is not fragile. Gale appears with a snowflake, and Anna follows it to the shore where she sees something in the distance.
It's Elsa! She reaches the shore, and the two have a tear-filled reunion. Elsa tells Anna that Arendelle wasn't destroyed, and Anna figures out that Elsa is the fifth spirit. Elsa then tells her they did this together.
Kristoff and Sven join them, and Elsa asks Anna a question: "Do you want to build a snowman?" A pile of snow flies around them and reforms into Olaf! Anna takes his sticks, coals, and carrot out of her bag and puts them back on him, and the whole family is back together again.
Kristoff has one more thing to say, though. He gets down on one knee and finally gets his proposal right, and Anna says yes!
Anna tells Mattias that Arendelle is fine, and Elsa tells Yelana and Honeymaren about Ahtohallan. Honeymaren says Elsa belongs in the forest, and Elsa says she has to do what's right for Arendelle but that she knows exactly what it is.
Back in Arendelle, Anna is crowned queen. Sven, Olaf, and Kristoff have dressed up for the occasion. Mattias and Anna unveil a statue of young Agnarr and Iduna, and Gale appears to appreciate it. Anna gives Gale a paper airplane with a note for Elsa, and Gale takes it back to the forest.
In the final scene, Elsa reads the note and decides now is the time to visit Arendelle. She and the Nokk ride through the forest past all her friends and the spirits, and as she crosses the fjord, she can't help but smile.
In the post-credits sequence, Olaf is back at the ice palace and recounts the story from "Show Yourself" onward to Marshmallow and the snowgies.
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