Frozen II trailer teases a possible location shift
April 21, 2019
The original Frozen movie was, despite all the hate around it, an actually decent film. Disney took the traditional, stereotyped princess and turned her into a force to be reckoned with. Frozen’s success in the years after its release, however, may have prompted Disney to do what Disney does best: ruin movies with sequels.
If you haven’t seen the Frozen II trailer yet, go watch it. If you have seen it already, you’ve probably noticed that the whole tone of the movie has shifted– dramatically. Elsa’s running into the ocean, Anna’s alone in the dark, and it’s starting to look like Elsa’s ice powers are about to have some competition with the autumnal season. And yet, the whole two minutes of the trailer still feel frustratingly ambiguous. It might seem presumptuous to start making predictions from such a measly source, but that’s the fun of it. All credit, by the way, goes to Game Theory, the Youtube channel that made most of these predictions.
To start, the writers of the first Frozen movie confirmed a while ago that Frozen takes place in Norway. Many of the locations featured in the trailer, however, are not native to Norway. Black, pebbly beaches and maple leaves aren’t exactly native there. So, after a bit of research, it’s reasonable to conclude that the beach Elsa was shown on in the first scene of the trailer are actually native to Iceland (which is just west of Norway), and the maple leaves belong to a specific type of maple tree that grows– wait for it– on the easternmost side of Canada, the place where you’d land if you were sailing west from Norway. Obviously, Frozen II won’t be referring to these two locations as “Iceland” and “Canada”, but the important thing here is that Disney is implying that the crew is going west over the waters.
Now, the Game Theory video on this doesn’t stop there. It elevates the traveling aspect of Frozen II to new levels, drawing themes from buddy-road-trip movies of self-discovery, teamwork, and strengthening relationships. Considering that Anna and Elsa have literally just reunited with each after years of (partly self-induced) separation, and that the original Frozen took place within the span of about a week, it’s doubtful that the sisters have spent much time bonding with each other. It’s reasonable to infer, then, that one of the main themes of Frozen II will be the rebuilding of relationship bridges during whatever adventure the Frozen crew is propelled into. And, of course, most people have already figured out that Elsa won’t be the only one with the ability to harness the seasonal powers. There are flashes of new characters in the trailer surrounded by maple leaves– maybe they’re blessed with the power to make some really good maple syrup.
For now, Frozen II won’t be released until November 22, so we have a while before we find out just how accurate these simple predictions are. Again, all credit goes to Game Theory, who did most of the heavy-duty research to arrive at these conclusions. You can go watch their video on the trailer of Frozen II on Youtube if you’re curious about how these predictions came to be. Hopefully, Disney will pull a miracle with Frozen II, since all too often, a poorly-done sequel tends to color the original in a negative light. The trailer can only tell us so much information, after all, and it’s information that doesn’t include how good the movie will actually be. For now, keep your expectations flexible– Disney might surprise us yet.