‘We’ve done right by this world’
‘Frozen 2’ star Kristen Bell promises Disney sequel will surprise, delight fans of all ages
Almost immediately after the first Frozen film hit theatres in 2013, Disney fans were left asking themselves the same question: when’s the sequel?
But bounding into a suite in a downtown Toronto hotel, Kristen Bell — who voices Princess Anna of Arendelle in the animated feature — says Frozen II, which opens Friday, was never a guarantee.
“Of course, in order to come back for anything, you have to have an audience that desires to see more, which we had. But the second component to that is you have to have a story that is worth telling. Our team is so careful about this property and they wanted to make sure that even though the fans were wanting more we weren’t just writing episode two of Frozen: Elsa loses her shoes. That it wasn’t meaningless,” she says in a recent interview.
So along with executive producer Peter Del Vecho, co-directors and writers Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee travelled to Iceland, Norway and Finland, descending into caves, touring volcanoes, forests and glaciers, mapping new terrain for plot inspiration.
If they were going to continue the Frozen story, they wanted its heroes to venture outside Arendelle to give the film a distinct look and a fresh purpose.
Lee also journalled as the original’s main characters — Anna and Elsa (Idina Menzel) — to figure out where they would be several years on.
“She took her sweet introverted time to get to a plot line that was worthy of having each character have a great arc and journey and have meaning,” Bell, 39, says.
It’s hard to believe, but Frozen II is only the fourth theatrical sequel Disney Animation has ever produced — the other three being The Rescuers Down Under (1990), Fantasia 2000 (1999), and Ralph Breaks the Internet (2018).
The new film finds Anna, Kristoff (Jonathan Groff), Sven (Frank Welker) and Olaf (Josh Gad) venturing outside Arendelle as Elsa attempts to learn more about her magical ice powers.
We also get further insight into Anna and Elsa’s family history, with Evan Rachel Wood voicing the girls’ mother, Queen Iduna, in a flashback scene.
“She has a song she sings called North Wind that’s one of the best lullabies I’ve ever heard in my life. It’s haunting and it’s just beautiful,” Bell says.
Frozen II will also feature new characters, including This Is Us star Sterling K. Brown voicing Lieutenant Matthias and Jason Ritter as Ryder.
With the Oscar-winning first film home to one of Disney’s most iconic songs, Let It Go , the sequel looks to craft a soundtrack that’s equally as memorable with songwriters Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez back to write new music, including Into the Unknown .
“Idina’s Into the Unknown song has been in my head for six months,” Bell says, chuckling. “The new songs are interwoven with the script and every track elevates the character’s story arc. I don’t know how they do it, but those two can write like no one else.”
Six years on from the first movie, Bell, who also stars on NBC’s The Good Place and Disney+’s Encore!, is confident Frozen II will deliver — both for fans of the original and youngsters who have only recently discovered the animated Disney classic.
“They really allowed this second movie to mature with its audience. So the little girls and little boys that saw Frozen, who are a little more grown up now, are going to sink right into this one.”
During a whirlwind day of press ahead of a recent s neak peek in Toronto, Bell spoke more about taking the franchise in a new direction and revealed what happens to all those songs that don’t make it into the film.
Outside of Star Wars: Episode IX , I don’t know that there was a more anticipated sequel this year. Did that pressure weigh on you?
I’m not sure if this is just my optimism, but I’m not feeling too much of the pressure because I’m a firm believer in that philosophy that if you bake a cake with great ingredients it will come out awesome. And, if you bake it again tomorrow, the chances are it’ll come out great again. You want people to love it but I have confidence that we have done right by this world.
Early reaction to the trailer has teased Frozen II as being a darker, more grownup movie. How is this movie different?
It’s much more action-adventure oriented than the first one. The first film was a big story about intimate problems. It was about being vulnerable with your family members. It broke boundaries and smashed some old tropes by exploring familial love as opposed to romantic love, and making familial love as important as romantic love. This movie, it’s as if all the characters turn outward and they’re looking to the world to say, “Who am I and what am I doing here?”
It begins with everyone happy in Arendelle with a song called Some Things Never Change . But then Elsa begins to hear this voice that’s calling out to her and she truly believes in her gut that it’s going to tell her why she is the way she is. So the entire family — Elsa, Anna, Kristoff, Sven and Olaf — decide to go on this pretty epic, pretty dangerous adventure outside the walls of Arendelle. And, as they try to find this voice for Elsa, they discover some facts about their family history that affect the future of their kingdom; and they have to decide what they’re going to do about it. So it’s also this beautiful story that asks: How do you rectify mistakes of the past? How do you evolve? What if it’s not your mistake? What if it’s your parents’ mistake? I think those are beautiful things to explore.