While Frozen II has looked amazing ever since we first laid eyes on the first images, we only had the simplest understanding of what the movie was actually about. However, a brand new trailer for the film finally makes (almost) everything clear. We also get to see how Anna and Elsa's parents fit into the new story. Check out the brand new trailer below.
The trailer opens with Anna and Elsa's father, voiced by Alfred Molina, telling his young children about an enchanted forest. It exists for to the north of Arendelle, but some massive calamity struck the land, and now nobody can enter that part of the world. This all becomes more than a story, however, when the same calamity hits Arendelle, and it all appears to be connected to Elsa's magic. This leads our heroes north to find out the source of the problem, and what it means for Elsa.
We also get to meet several new characters for the film. We see that, while nobody can apparently cross the mist, living in it is no problem. There's an entire culture that's been surviving there all this time, which apparently also includes General Mattias, the Arendelle soldier voiced by Sterling K. Brown.
The people living inside the enchanted forest are called the Northuldra. They're a nomadic people and the unofficial leader of the people, who we glimpse briefly in the trailer, is named Yelana, and is voiced by Martha Plimpton.
The pieces have largely fallen into place. We now understand why Elsa and Anna make the decision to leave Arendelle. It's not simply a desire to know where Elsa's magic comes from, but the belief that this knowledge will save their home.
However, it appears the larger threat might not be an external force but an internal one. In the trailer we hear the troll leader telling Anna that Elsa might "lose herself" because of magic's alluring power.
At this point, the question isn't "will Frozen II be a hit?" The only question is how big a hit it will become. The first movie grossed over $1 billion and became one of the most popular animated films Disney has made in 80 years. On the one hand, if the new movie is able to reignite that passion in the same way, the sequel could become an even bigger movie. Of course, the bar for Frozen success has been set quite high.
One item that may be the determining factor is the music. And that is one item that the trailers have been leaving out. While there might be a hint of some new music here, this trailer doesn't use the newly orchestrated version of Vuelie that's been the main theme of the first two trailers, we certainly don't get to hear anybody sing.
The only thing we know about the songs is that one of them is titled "Into the Unknown" which is also the name of the "making of" documentary that will be arriving on Disney+ sometime around the film's release.
If Frozen II has a soundtrack to rival the original movie, we could be in for a Frozen explosion all over again. We'll find out November 22.
