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PaperclipPerfector  1d ago (text post)   1171 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for July 20, 2025

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What's the best Disney sequel movie? I've watched basically all of the classics at some point in my life, but there's a bunch of stuff like Cinderella 2 or Mulan 2 that I just assumed were cash grabs based on the popularity of the original, and never bothered watching because I didn't think they'd be worth the time and the original movie closed its story on its own without needing continuation.

Is this assumption universally true, or are there exceptions? Am I wisely saving my time and money, or have I been sleeping on the hidden gem Aladdin 2: Electric Boogaloo?

You were probably just talking about the classics, but I've always seen Frozen 2 as a vast improvement on the first one, up to retroactively improving the first movie. Including the story of the second movie, the end of the first one feels more like a midpoint, while also expanding the world as the story expands to fit it.

Also, the music is much better IMO

The music in Frozen 2 is better, but the plot is barely comprehensible, and I hate the characters. The tendrils of wokeness are too obvious: Anna treats Kristoff like shit, Elsa is selfish and navel-gazing, and surprise-surprise, the old whites murdering the native magical browns are why everything sucks.

It's obvious Frozen 1 was rushed out and had serious story thrash but at least it's earnest. My kids barely watch the sequel but will see 1 any time.

Also, the music is much better IMO

The music in Frozen 2 is better

Am I taking crazy pills? "Non est disputandum" and all that, but still, really?

Frozen (1) was entirely supported by "Let It Go", which was so amazing (though the plot played it too straight in the end) that the flaws in the movie's plot and characterization were nothing compared to the zombie-apocalypse-level infectiousness of that song. I'm sure "Into the Unknown" managed most of the same technical feats of clever key modulation and whatever, but the lyrics and melody weren't nearly as interesting. For like a year afterward teachers were complaining that you couldn't put five kids in a room together without one of them starting to sing "Let It Go" and turning the whole group into an impromptu choir.

But even aside from the tentpole song? Frozen 2 had nothing as funny as "In Summer", and nothing as heartwrenching as "Do You Want to Build a Snowman?". I admit "Lost in the Woods" was impressively mature for a kids' movie, but I think "Love is an Open Door" would have been up there if only its irony had been a little less subtle. (of course, that time the plot managed to drive the irony in later, with a sledgehammer; modern Disney can show the problems with "love at first sight" more clearly than with "girl power leads to monologuing like a supervillain")

Yeah, Frozen II songs were a little too on-the-nose.

This will all make sense when I am older
Someday, I will see that this makes sense
One day when I'm old and wise
I'll think back and realize
That these were all completely normal events
Ah

I'll have all the answers when I'm older
Like why we're in this dark enchanted wood
I know in a couple years
These will seem like childish fears
And so I know this isn't bad, it's good

There is a certain type of "Children's" entertainment that is really geared towards Parents. Books like "Love You Forever." Episodes of Bluey (I know this is controversial, but there are more than a few episodes of Bluey that have little interest to kids but is more geared toward teaching the parent.)

Frozen II is kinda there. Or rather, it's geared towards the 20 year olds who will never have kids but can reflect on their own childhood.

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