I’M NOT SURE WHO IS MORE EXCITED ABOUT ‘FROZEN 2’: ME OR MY 6-YEAR-OLD
Parents with daughters under the age of 12 all likely share one thing in common – Frozen will have played a major part in their lives since its 2013 release. Unlike any other animated film before or since, the tale of sisters Elsa (voiced by Idina Menzel) and Anna (Kristen Bell) captured the imaginations of young girls. From bellowing out ‘Let It Go’ at the tops of their voices to wearing those awful, highly flammable dress-up costumes to watching the movie on an endless loop, Frozen was, well, impossible to let go.
As the father of a 6-year-old girl, I’ll freely admit to doing the harmonies on ‘Love Is an Open Door’, shelling out for merchandise that ranges from a Frozen kickboard to a fake Elsa plait and even sitting through Frozen on Ice. Thanks to Marshmallow, the scary snow monster that features in the movie, I was spared having to watch the DVD too many times, but despite her reluctance to watch the actual film, my daughter was all-in on Frozen. She even had a Frozen cake for her 3rd birthday. Literally – it was an ice-cream cake with character figurines on top.
And whether it’s the animated movie equivalent of Stockholm syndrome where prisoners begin to form a bond with their captors, I came to be as much of a Frozen fan as my daughter and her peers. So much so that as the arrival of the sequel, Frozen 2 (out now), drew close in recent months, I began to get kind of excited. When each trailer dropped, I’d call my daughter so we could watch it together. And when I got tickets to a preview screening a few days out from release, I assumed I’d be the best dad ever.
But here’s the thing: it felt like I was more thrilled about the sequel than she was. It could be that there is footage of a scary rock monster in one of the trailers and she was having Marshmallow PTSD flashbacks or it could be that she’s moved on from Frozen in the past couple of years. (She has graduated from watching ABC Kids to ABC ME, so that’s possible.) Either way, there was a definite thawing of her Frozen frenzy.
That’s the thing with kids – they move on to the next craze so quickly, so a six-year gap between films is like a lifetime. Nevertheless, my daughter duly escorted me to see Frozen 2 and there might even have been a glimmer of excitement on the way there, although I can’t be sure that wasn’t just due to the prospect of a ridiculously sized portion of popcorn.
So what did we make of the actual film? Well, for me, I thought the songs weren’t quite as good – although I did love Kristoff’s (Jonathan Gr off) power ball ad ,‘ Lost in the Woods’ – and all that backstory about the sisters’ parents and the clash between Arendelle and the Northuldra was a bit convoluted. But Olaf (Jonathan Gad) did make me laugh.
And my daughter? She spent half the movie clinging to me during the scary bits, so maybe some things don’t change after all. •