Wednesday, February 13, 2019

Is “Frozen 2” Trailer Basically a Remake of “The Last Jedi” Teaser?


“Frozen” is back. 

This fall will mark the fifth anniversary of the release of the first “Frozen” (a movie Bridget and I went to see opening night with our friends Mike and Lindsay — and saw a total of three times in the theater). 

While “Disney Princess” films aren’t “gritty” like many of the movies, books and TV shows I review on the blog, “Tangled,” “Moana,” and “Frozen” rank among my favorite animated films (and I love the soundtracks to each of those movies). 

I must admit I’ve been somewhat skeptical about the upcoming sequel to “Frozen.” I wasn’t really sure that we needed to return to the frosty Nordic environs of Arendelle again. 

But the new teaser trailer for “Frozen 2” (which dropped online Feb. 13) is kind of epic. It definitely wasn’t the happy-dancing-cherubs trailer I was expecting them to dole out. 



The teaser starts out with Elsa (the “Snow Princess” from Hans Christian Anderson’s fairy tale) standing on a beach against a dark cliff (on volcanic rock that makes it look like it could be Iceland). She is determined to run across raging waters.


Despite her best efforts, the Arendelle princess falters when she encounters a particularly large wave.

This isn’t terribly different than the opening scene in the teaser trailer for “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” that dropped on April 14, 2017:



In that trailer, we see Rey struggling with something along the darkened cliffs of Ahch-To. 


As I’m writing this post, and comparing both trailers, they are oddly similar in theme and structure. 

That said, we probably shouldn’t “deep dive” into the concept that Disney ripped off their teaser trailer for “The Last Jedi” when they made the teaser for “Frozen 2” (even though the vibe is similar). 

Back to the “Frozen II” teaser...

After the opening scenes of Elsa trying to “walk across water,” we see an enigmatic shot of Anna on a castle balcony looking at floating, diamond-shaped ice crystals:


This bit (without dialogue) has a similar feel to a shot of Princess Leia in “The Last Jedi” teaser where she is looking at a hologram of a star map:


Okay... I said I wasn’t going to keep comparing this thing to “The Last Jedi” teaser. Ugh. I need to stop doing that. 

The “Frozen 2” trailer then moves to a scene of Kristoff riding his trusty reindeer Sven among a pack of reindeer:


This is similar to the scene in “The Last Jedi” teaser where Finn is shown riding in a speeder among other speeders on on Crait:


Then in the “Frozen 2” teaser, we have a scene of Anna running and leaping across a stone outcropping:


This is followed by Anna and snowman sidekick Olaf surrounded by a flaming ice fire of some sort:


So... it’s sort of like the segment of “The Last Jedi” teaser where Poe Dameron and BB-8 (who could be Olaf’s mechanical cousin) are running through the hallway on the Resistance ship:


Followed by the two of them nearly engulfed in a flaming X-Wing explosion:


Remember when I said I was going to stop comparing the new “Frozen 2” teaser with “The Last Jedi” teaser? Yeah, I remember that, too. Since I’ve decided to jump down that rabbit hole, I might as well go all in... 

Then in the “Frozen 2” trailer, we have a scene — amongst fallen autumn leaves — with a young girl (maybe it’s Anna, but the hair is different so it is either a “young” Anna, or someone else entirely) and a blonde hair guy floating out of the leaves:


There isn’t an exact example of this in “The Last Jedi” trailer. Except maybe this scene of Luke (in the past) surrounded by floating embers:


The music then swells in both trailers as we near the end of the scene montages. In the “Frozen 2” teaser our heroes are standing on a cliff, looking out over autumn foliage:


We don’t have an epic wide-shot to end “The Last Jedi” trailer, but we do have Luke — mere steps from a cliff — saying it is “time for the Jedi” to end:


In both trailers, the music reaches a crescendo. The “Frozen 2” teaser shows a floating maple leaf (does this thing take place in Canada?) before showing the title graphic:


In the “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” teaser, the title graphic comes on screen:


I know what’s going to happen. I’m going to have to deal with a bunch of people who “@” me suggesting that the trailers aren’t similar at all. 

Fine, whatever. I might be looking for a connection that isn’t there. But before you all tell me to “Let It Go,” just humor me folks. After all, both properties are owned by Disney. 

The “Frozen 2” trailer ends with this post-title shot of Anna grabbing a sword of Kristoff’s belt and wielding it savagely at an unknown foe:


I don’t care what any of you say, that feels like a very “Rey-like” move to me...




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