It isn’t hyperbole to say that the first Frozen was a phenomenon. The 2013 Disney film from directors Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee was a critically acclaimed box office behemoth that remains hugely popular to this day. So with Frozen II finally arriving in about a month, the obvious question becomes, can it possibly live up to the original? If Kristoff voice actor Jonathan Groff’s opinion is anything to go off of, it very well might because according to him, Frozen II is ‘Earth-shatteringly great.’ Take a look:
Wow, way to manage expectations Kristoff. Jonathan Groff didn’t attend the cast screening for Frozen II with co-star Josh Gad, but got to see the film beforehand and he even took his mom with him. After seeing it, he sent in a video response to his fellow cast-mates, prior to their own cast screening of the movie and if they weren’t already excited to watch Frozen II, they surely were after this.
Jonathan Groff apparently doesn’t have social media (probably smart), but thankfully, Josh Gad felt that this video response should be shared with the world and he did so on Twitter. The actor who voices Kristoff in the film is positively effusive with praise here, barely able to contain his excitement and love for Frozen II. You can see him somewhat struggling to find the words to express his feelings about the film but the words that come are highly encouraging.
Jonathan Groff is in the movie, so he probably wouldn’t admit it publicly if he didn’t like Frozen II. However, he seems to be genuinely thrilled here and if he didn’t love the movie, he’s really, really overselling it in this video.
The actor, who also recently starred in Season two of Netflix’s Mindhunter (where his character never displayed one-tenth of the emotion seen here), calls Frozen II “freaking incredible and mature and complex.” He also highlights the film’s humor and says how emotional it is. We probably could have guessed on that latter part given the first film and the trailers for Frozen II, but this basically confirms that the sequel will probably pull at your heartstrings and elicit a few tears.
Jonathan Groff believes that this sequel is the tree that the seed of the first film blossomed into. That’s interesting because it seems to mean that this sequel is much bigger and feels like a natural and necessary extension of the story. We know that the world of the film will be opening up in Frozen II and Jonathan Groff’s words indicate that it does just that while telling a compelling story that has a lot to it.
That’s exciting to hear because, as is the case with all sequels to beloved films, living up to the original is hard to do. It sounds like Frozen II does just that and will give audiences plenty to talk about when they leave the theater. Jonathan Groff admits that he expected Frozen II to be great, as I imagine most of us do, but it surpassed his expectations and he found it to be “Earth-shatteringly great.”
We can all remember movies that disappointed after incredible hype and massive anticipation and what a bummer they are. But the movies that manage to exceed even the wildest expectations are something special and if Jonathan Groff’s comments are anywhere near the mark, Frozen II could very well start the Frozen phenomenon anew.
Frozen II arrives in theaters to dominate the box office on November 22. Check out our 2019 Release Schedule to keep track of all the big movies coming this fall.
