Disney's Frozen

[Randall]

FIII will happen, and Iger will insist on doing the story right this time. There's too much to wrap up to just ignore it all.

[Ben]

Xactly!

[EricJ]

Still hanging on to the theory that F2 was an abandoned Brave 2 storyline, "Doing it right" I would interpret as something like Cars 3 going back-to-formula:

I happened to LIKE the idea of an F2 that seemed to have absolutely nothing to do with the misandric, Broadway-fangirled F1, but to true believers, that seems to be the movie's "problem".
Which will soon be "fixed" back to plot threads from the first movie.

[Ben]

The best Frozen follow-up so far has been the Olaf Frozen Christmas special. Really great songs too.

[Farerb]

I really love that in Olaf's Frozen Adventure, Elsa sings:

"Cause when we're together
I'll forever feel at home
And when we're together
We'll be safe and warm
Doesn't matter where we are
If you're there with me
Cause when we're together
That's my favorite place
To be"

But then she feels alienated and decides to leave in Frozen II.

[Ben]

It’s also one of the few times I can actually stomach Olaf outside the original film. Especially the end of that song where he takes the last few lines and it all resolves nice and sweetly.

[Daniel]

I love the special dearly. The sequence right before of Anna sliding presents under the door is incredibly touching.

[Ben]

Actually, it’s possibly the "best" piece of Frozen media in the whole franchise!? The original film loses it in its second half, that first short, Frozen Fever, was just awful, and Frozen II, well, we know about that. In terms of actual narrative content outside the jokey shorts, I actually thing Olaf's Frozen Christmas is a pretty decent and solid offering, much more so than the other short they did more recently. They need to make FIII, make it "good" and get it over with, and then put it to bed. Let Olaf melt at last.

[Evergreen]

I'd rank the franchise as:

1. Frozen ~ Still the best original film of the Revival, imo. Although I love TP&TF and Raya, too, and enjoy Encanto and Zootopia a great deal.
2. Frozen II ~ Weaker than the first, but I still enjoyed it. I don't think franchises naturally suit fairytales, so it was much better than I expected, tbh. The best theatrical sequel Disney's made, imo, though The Rescuers Down Under is its only real competitor to me.
3. Olaf's Frozen Adventure ~ Depends mostly on how much you like Olaf, he dominates it. I like him, but prefer the other characters. But it's more substantial than "Frozen Fever."
4. "Frozen Fever" ~ Kristoff's proposal, "drunk" Elsa, and the snowgies are all adorable.

I'm so looking forward to Frozen III. For the longest time, I thought the third would be the last, but I don't know. Menzel's enthusiasm makes me think the franchise could go farther than III perhaps. They still have some ideas they could explore for sequels. Perhaps Anna could have dormant fire powers, a magical villain could emerge for Elsa to defeat (allowing for lots of flashy magic scenes), Hans comes back for revenge down the line, Elsa becomes "possessed" by something somehow and becomes the Snow Queen temporarily for Anna to stop, etc.

[EricJ]

They still have some ideas they could explore for sequels. Perhaps Anna could have dormant fire powers,

You can always tell a self-inserting female fan, who's never read Andersen: "Why doesn't Anna get magic powers TOO?"

(And yes, the Anna's fire power "Wonder Twin powers, Activate!" joke dates back to the first time fans all tried to think up the exact same sequel idea to the first movie.)

2. Frozen II ~ Weaker than the first, but I still enjoyed it. I don't think franchises naturally suit fairytales, so it was much better than I expected, tbh. The best theatrical sequel Disney's made, imo, though The Rescuers Down Under is its only real competitor to me.

Depending on whether you consider Fantasia 2000 a "sequel".

[EricJ]

Elsa becomes "possessed" by something somehow and becomes the Snow Queen temporarily for Anna to stop, etc.

We didn't realize it at the time, but the first movie's story deciding to switcheroo and make Hans the actual villain out of nowhere at the last minute--instead of Elsa being the danger and Anna showing her all she needed was a hug--almost gave us the female-driven Moana "No villain" era, that fangirls have tried to persuade us is the "new Normal" for Moana, Raya, Encanto, and just about every Marvel movie since Endgame.

And while Elsa discovering she can't Let It Go would have been a more satisfying ending, and not alienated half of its potential mainstream audience, it would have been too risky letting the non-genie out of the bottle, especially as the 10s Renaissance was just hitting its peak.
Better to let Moana take the historical blame.

(And since we don't have a Delete button, I've discovered that if you accidentally double-post by hitting Quote instead of Edit, it's easier to fix just by saying something else. )

[Evergreen]

You can always tell a self-inserting female fan, who's never read Andersen: "Why doesn't Anna get magic powers TOO?"

I'm neither female nor self-inserting. I've always thought it would be an interesting idea that Anna had powers that were dormant.

I think Frozen is one of the only films where I can see the whole twist villain formula having devolved from an organic place, because they were attempting to replicate Menzel as the Wicked Witch of the West from Wicked. Zootopia is another one, with it being a "mystery" film. Unfortunately, Bellwether leaves less impact than Hans.

Depending on whether you consider Fantasia 2000 a "sequel".

I do, and it and Winnie the Pooh are better than Ralph Breaks the Internet, but not as good as Frozen II and TRDU.

[Farerb]

‘Kill the Snowman’: ‘Frozen’ Director Admits She Wanted to Axe Olaf
https://variety.com/2022/film/news/froz ... 235449969/

[EricJ]

Usually, it's John Lasseter who wanted to axe irritatingly unnecessary characters--

First day at work, he wanted to axe the Bowler Hat Guy completely out of Meet the Robinsons, until they rebooted the movie and found a third act.
And later, wanted to drop Heihei the chicken from Moana, unless Story could come up with a convincing excuse for why that freakish-looking thing was in the plot.

[Bill1978]

I think I need to rewatch Moana cause for the life of me I cannot recall any significant moment HeiHei played in the plot, apart for random laughs.

It's always interesting to hear behind the scenes moment of storytelling and what disasters were avoided because stronger heads prevailed. Not saying Olaf is a favourite character of mine, especially post-first movie. But removing him would have caused things like Do You Want To Build A Snowman? to be cut or at least lose some major importance. And even though I don't agree with the climax, you still needed him to advance certain moments with ease.

I think removing Olaf would have been right up there as a contender for the #1 potential stupid decision with the thought of deleting Part of Your World from The Little Mermaid.