'Frozen 2' Review Roundup - Critics Are Hot & Cold Over Elsa's Second Adventure!

Do you want to watch a sequel?

Historically, Disney‘s followups to their biggest box office successes have been less than perfect (save for Little Mermaid 2: Return To The Sea — we WILL fight anyone who disagrees), so critics were already wary going into the sequel for the most successful Mouse House flick of the century: Frozen.

It’s been six years since the first film enchanted audiences with its modern-day take on the Disney princess and a certain ear-wormy power anthem that repeatedly played in households until, well, now — so, the sequel already had big gloves to fill.

Video: Kristen Bell & Jimmy Fallon Break Down The History Of Disney Songs!

Fortunately for fans, critics agreed Frozen 2 — which currently rests at a cool 82% on Rotten Tomatoes — has a lot going for it. But it sadly couldn’t escape the abominable shadow of its predecessor.

See what the critics have to say (below)!

Alonso Duralde, TheWrap: “There’s a lot to like here, from a rich palette of autumn colors to a potentially provocative subplot that will teach children that nations need to acknowledge and atone for their historical sins, but in the final tally, this is a sequel that exists not because there was more story to be told but because there was more money to be made.”

Todd McCarthy, The Hollywood Reporter: “Disney has been careful, cautious, conscientious and committed to continuing the franchise with the utmost fidelity to the original, resulting in a sequel that can’t miss with its massive constituency and will make another mint, but at the same time can’t help but feel predictable, safe and beholden to formulaic rules.”

Christian Holub, Entertainment Weekly: “Frozen 2 makes a valiant effort to live up to its predecessor, but can’t escape its shadow. Over the course of the movie, multiple characters openly wonder if they’re done adventuring yet. In our zeitgeist of maximized intellectual property, the answer is ‘probably not,’ but at least this fictional world isn’t afraid of a little change here and there.”

Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian: “At times, Frozen 2 almost felt like an extended bonus featurette that could have gone with the Blu-ray edition of the first film. Having said that, it looks and sounds good, with a stirring central song for Elsa entitled Into the Unknown, the curtain-raiser for her encounter with the primeval forces of the forest.”

Phil De Semlyen, Time Out: “If Frozen was about coming to terms with who you are, the sequel is about transformation. Does it offer any further evidence to those who interpreted Let It Go as Elsa’s covert coming-out anthem? Sadly no, though she remains an intriguingly elliptical canvas on which to project genuinely groundbreaking ideas about empowerment and identity. Elsa may be an icon, but there’s nothing set in stone about her, and it’s good to have her back.”

Peter Debruge, Variety: “[Today’s kids] know when they’re being patronized, and at times, Frozen 2 tiptoes a bit too carefully along that fine line, where escapism stops being fun because the adults responsible have started overthinking the politics of it all.”

David Sims, The Atlantic: “Frozen 2 will make plenty of money and surely satisfy the younger audiences it’s mostly aimed at, but even as someone who enjoyed the ’90s-musical throwback of the first Frozen, I found little to relish this time around. Yes, it has the brassy ballads and sparkly one-liners that helped define the ‘Disney Renaissance’ style to which Frozen paid homage. But the sequel doesn’t build on what made the first movie so agreeable.”

Mara Reinstein, Us Weekly: “Frozen was an original once-in-a-generation phenomenon. All sequels by nature are derivative, and G-rated ones, in particular, are strictly continuing adventures of familiar characters. There was zero chance that Frozen could exceed its predecessor, and that’s before you factor in a head-scratching, overcomplicated plot that doesn’t quite add up. And yet … let it go.”

A.A. Dowd, The AV Club: “Lightly extending the progressive spin of the original, Frozen 2 comes to revolve around the question of accountability, and how we make up for the sins of the past and our ancestors. It’s almost a reparations story, really, which would be more touching—and interesting—if the sacrifices stuck.”

Matt Singer, ScreenCrush: “Not all of Frozen 2’s attempts to recreate the winning formula of the original movie work. The first film — directed, like this one, by Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee — actually had some surprising plot twists, and played with audience’s expectations about Disney princess movies in smart ways. The sequel’s mysteries are all extremely obvious and unsatisfying; even little kids will figure out most of the forest’s secrets before Anna and Elsa do.”