Now that D23 Expo is over and I’ve had some time to process my thoughts on all the Frozen 2 goodness I experienced there, I wanted to write a follow up to my panel coverage post from Saturday where I tried to describe pretty much all the new footage that was shown (thanks to everyone who liked and reblogged and for pushing me over 400 followers :3)
Firstly, I wanted to go a little more in depth about the “Into the Unknown” scene now that I’ve found a few posts with the lyrics (can’t say they’re 100% accurate but they definitely sound on point from what I remember):
As Elsa’s walking down the corridors of the castle.
“I can hear you, but I won’t. Some look for trouble while others don’t. There’s a thousand reasons I should go about my day and ignore your whispers which I wish would go away, oh. Oh. You’re not a voice. You’re just a ringing in my ear and if I heard you – which I don’t…”
She stops and looks at paintings on the wall, One is of the Frohana group and the other is of her parents.
.”..everyone I’ve ever loved is here within these walls. I’m sorry secret siren but I’m blocking out your calls!”
She continues walking through the castle and ends up outside. I believe it’s the exact same location where she fled Arendelle in the first movie, the area behind the castle near the fjord.
“Are you here to distract me so I make a big mistake? Or are you someone out there who’s a little bit like me, who knows deep down I’m not where I’m meant to be? Every day’s a little harder as I feel my power grow. Don’t you know there’s a part of me that longs to go into the unknown?“
Around this point the magical ice particles that we saw in the trailer appear. The first image they form is a heard of reindeer like we saw in the trailer scene with Kristoff and Sven. Then the fire spirit (it looks like a little wispy, bouncy flame, just like the purple fire from the trailer), then the Nokk, then the earth giants, and then the blowing leaves. There was also a moment the ice particles seem to “pull” her towards the edge of the land and she spontaneously makes a ledge of ice so she can follow them even farther. This leads to the other trailer scene of her reaching her arm out towards the fjord before the ice crystals with the symbols appear all around her. The footage ends there.
I loved this new song and everything else that was revealed at the Expo. But like others, I’m both hyped and apprehensive about how the filmmakers chose to end the story. Switching gears from song to speculation, while they were discussing the story during the panel, they said things like there will be a “big change” and “in the end nothing will ever be the same.” One of the biggest fears fans are having is that Anna and Elsa will end up separating at the end, whether it’s Elsa staying behind in the enchanted land or some other scenario. While I can’t help sharing that fear maybe a tiny bit, I’m much more certain that it will not be the case. titania-knight mentioned that separation of the main characters happened in recent Disney/Pixar sequels like Toy Story 4 and Wreck-It Ralph 2, so it could happen with Frozen. But Frozen is different in the fact that the entire plot of the first movie revolved around Anna and Elsa getting back together as a family. While all the Toy Story movies emphasize the fact that Andy’s toys were like family, they also emphasized acceptance of change (leaving Andy for Bonnie), plus the fact that they’re toys makes it a given that things won’t always be the same when their kids grow up. And even though the movie ended with Woody separating from the others, it’s not like he went off all alone - he’s still with Bo Peep and her toy friends, which still leaves potential for fun adventures with them as well as Buzz and the old toys. Same thing with Wreck-It Ralph: the first movie was all about Ralph trying to find out that he’s more than a “bad guy” by forming a friendship with Vanellope, while the second film explored how his friendship went a bit overboard and he had to accept Vanellope’s wishes even though they clashed with his own. And again, even though they ended up going separate ways, there’s still potential for stories with Vanellope and her new friends in Slaughter Race and the rest of the internet, as well as Ralph and his arcade friends. Plus they can still easily visit each other now that the arcade is connected to the internet. So yes, Toy Story and Wreck-It Ralph do involve strong bonds of friendship between the characters, but their whole identity isn’t formed from a single relationship the way Frozen’s is with the sisterly bond between Anna and Elsa.
While all Disney movies of the past had the “happily ever after” ending, even though more recent ones have opted for a bittersweet ending, one thing they still stay true to is, as I described with the aforementioned sequels, the potential for the characters to have more adventures and live on in their world, even if it’s not the exact same way as before. Disney keeps their characters immortal by allowing us to always imagine them in a happily ever after even if it’s a bit bittersweet. So unlike Ralph and Toy Story, what potential would exist for Frozen if its main characters ended up separating? From what we’ve seen of the enchanted lands, they don’t seem like a fun place - Matthias and his soldiers have been trapped there for years, so it’s place people want to get away from. Unless a lot more about it is revealed later on, the impression I have is that it’s a desolate place not meant to be inhabited. I’ve been trying to think of a possible reason for Elsa to stay there but I can’t think of any, especially not one that would make a satisfying ending. I know Disney isn’t always totally akin to what its fans want, but I don’t think there’s a single Frozen fan who would want an ending with the sisters splitting up, and Disney must be aware of that. I know they want to make Frozen 2 a bit “darker” but that doesn’t mean unsatisfying. It’s an ending nobody would want, that goes against the achievement of the first movie, and leaves poor potential for imagining the characters in a continual happily ever after. So while I can’t say with absolute certainty we won’t get a separation ending, it’s very unlikely in my opinion.
So then what could this drastic, irreversible change be? Another theory is that Elsa will lose her powers in the end. It seems more plausible than the separation ending, but still doesn’t seem that likely - stripping Elsa of her powers would pretty much render the 6 years of making her an iconic user of ice magic completely obsolete, and I don’t think Disney would do that to one of their most popular characters. While I’m not one to dwell much in fan theories, I will say that I personally think the “nothing will ever be the same” description is referring to how we thought Elsa got her powers: she was born with them, but it’s actually not the case. For a while I’ve been thinking about the scene at the beginning of the first movie where Pabbie asks “Born with the power, or cursed?” and Ignarr says “Born.” The way he says it almost seems like he’s being a little too insistent, like he doesn’t want anyone to think it could be a curse…so maybe we find out that it actually is, that whatever happened when he went to the enchanted land originally caused his first born child to be cursed with magic powers? Again, that’s just my theory and the only plot reveal I could think of that matches the drastic description the filmmakers put forth for the movie (I also like frozenartscapes’ theory of Elsa uniting the magic of the enchanted lands with Arendelle)
I think that’s all I gotta say about Frozen 2 for now. I apologize that this post was kind of all over the place. Just had to get all my thoughts out at once! XD I’m sure I’ll be back once we get the next new trailer or other footage~
