Frozen 2 Review: 5 Ups & 5 Downs

Downs...

5. The Messy, Convoluted Script

By far the most problematic element of Frozen 2 is its script, with returning screenwriter-director Jennifer Lee clearly struggling to live up to the enormous hype following the first film's meteoric success.

Despite the marketing suggesting a sequel which would expand this world in imaginative and emotionally gratifying ways, the film as a whole is propelled forward by overly expository dialogue and convoluted storytelling that allows events to unfold just a little too neatly.

Furthermore, a number of the big, grandstanding reveals are so obvious (to adult viewers, at least) that they're robbed of much of their power. Again, a problem with ladling out so much of the plot through ham-fisted, tell-us-a-story dialogue.

The decision to separate many of the principal characters into their own distinct subplots for so much of the movie also feels like a big mistake, not to mention the fact that some of these subplots - especially Kristoff's (Jonathan Groff) - aren't particularly fresh or interesting.

Compared to the charming simplicity of the first film, Frozen 2 aims for greater complexity but just ends up feeling like a more manufactured and contrived tale, and one which may leave fans more bemused than dazzled.