Frozen 2 Review: 5 Ups & 5 Downs

4. The Darker, More Mature Tone

Despite the aforementioned stakes issues, Frozen 2 deserves credit for taking a less fanciful and more mature, grounded approach to its story and characters.

The film dabbles with some genuinely dark themes, and death is frequently on the lips of all the movie's characters, even Olaf (Josh Gad), such that it's disappointing the actual spine of the story didn't reflect this more grown-up approach.

Nobody was asking for Frozen 2 to be a gritty, grimdark sequel, but the starker mood feels like an appropriate expansion of the first film's tone, accentuated by some of the more poignant and relatable songs.

And on the lighter side of mature, there are also a few hilariously demented adult one-liners that'll fly clean over the heads of any kids watching, thankfully.