It always happens when you’re not looking for it. You’re going about your day, working, running errands, organizing your collection of Disney vinylmation figurines, and it’s nowhere on your mind. And then, out of nowhere, you see the thing you didn’t know you were looking for.
The new teaser trailer for Frozen 2, that is. The one that Disney just dropped on us like a ton of newly minted Elsa-in-a-pantsuit dolls. This wasn’t some expected Comic-Con or Super Bowl trailer shit. This was a fucking Wednesday. Day before Valentine’s Day. Popped outta the snow like mother fucking daisies.
(X)
(X) Yeah there was definitely a Knope fan on the PR team.
But we didn’t get some goofy nonsense short where Olaf and Sven fight over a carrot nose or Cartoon Rock makes faces or Rapunzel weaponizes her hair OH NO. THIS TRAILER AIN’T PLAYING.
DO YOU HEAR THAT MUSIC!? AND THE VISUALS??
I MEAN LOOK AT IT.
LOOK AT IT!!!!
LOOK
AT
IT
This was not what I was expecting from Frozen 2’s teaser trailer. There was no whimsy or goofy faces or smirking animals. It was a full on pitch for an epic fantasy-adventure. When was the last time Disney made a princess film with this color palate? When’s the last time they released any animated teaser trailer with this dark of a color palate? And movies they bought from Tim Burton retroactively do not count.
That #Frozen2 trailer has a strange Game of Thrones-level of intensity and honestly I don’t hate it.
— Jason Carlos (@jaarlos) February 13, 2019
Elsa has gone full on superhero now. She’s basically Frozone in better clothes.
She even listened to Edna and took off her cape!
Girl put her hair back and got to work!
There is some serious danger in Arendelle, and Elsa, Anna, and Kristoff are here to fight it. Also Sven?
Can Sven be badass? Is that gonna work? Cuz it looks like it might.
Who’s that new chick and is she controlling Autumn the way Elsa controls Winter? I mean that could be predictable but it could also be awesome.
Are she and Elsa gonna fight? Are they gonna fall in love? Are both things gonna happen? Are they gonna battle using blustery winds and ice daggers? Cuz that would be super cool. I mean, Elsa would have the clear advantage there – not all that much leaves can do beyond maybe obscuring vision or starting environmentally hazardous fires…like the kind of fire Elsa seems to be putting out in the trailer…
Are they gonna go climate-change-allegory with this? It is Game of Thrones!
And what is Anna up to? Is she okay? Looks kinda dire. Maybe she’s on some important quest or she’s been stranded somewhere. Is she on her own? Is she gonna have some big character growth where she learns to be more independent as well as have her usual loving heart and strong relationships? Is she gonna run into Merida?
And who is Anna swinging a weapon at?? Is this a full on war we’re dealing with!? She grabbed that sword way too decisively for someone in peace time. Is Elsa’s ability to sneeze out sentient life…
(X) For clarification, this is from the short Frozen Fever, not the trailer.
…going to finally have some consequences and those consequences are super dark?
Is this…is this movie…gonna be…good? Is Disney gonna make a….good sequel? Are they going full Pixar on us? Are they gonna make us cry in the first ten minutes again!?
I was real down on the idea of a Frozen sequel. I mean, with good reason. We know what Disney does with sequels to beloved princess film franchises…
(X)
(X) Ow.
But I think with this Frozen 2 teaser trailer, they’re trying to tell us that they mean business. They’re not taking our love for these characters and this world for granted. Even if Frozen 2 doesn’t end up a great movie…at least they’re trying to make one.
They’re basically going back to the marketing they wanted to do on Princess and the Frog, but at the time didn’t have the credibility to pull off. Audiences then wanted fluff, comedy, adventure, romance, and a dash of snark. Now, after films like Frozen, Moana, and Zootopia, Disney Animation has the credibility, and because of, erm, current events, as well the changing landscape of film and television, audiences crave more mature substance – even young audiences. We don’t want a snowman with teeth trying to get his carrot nose back from a precocious reindeer. We want a badass super-lady trying to freeze an entire ocean while the world falls apart around her. If the Frozen 2 team is taking this decisive a direction with the trailer…either they’re tricking us again…or they’re gonna be taking some exciting risks in the movie as well.
I’m excited y’all. Is what I’m saying. And “excited about Frozen 2” is not the character growth I expected to go through today. But sometimes nerd life surprises you like…
Melting my frozen heart in the middle of Winter, Disney. Now don’t you go breaking it.
