There's so much to look at and think about in Disney's long-awaited sequel that it's
easy to overlook the many jokes, references, and shoutouts hidden throughout.
Fortunately, we're here to help you make sense of it all with this look at some of the best
and most memorable Easter eggs in Frozen II.
It's almost as obvious that Frozen II is a Disney movie as it is obvious that it's a
movie about a queen with magical powers who turns stuff into ice and belts out "Let it
Go" to make herself feel better.
Yes, the House of Mouse signed the paychecks for all the animators and voice actors who
worked very hard to make Frozen II a dazzling cinematic experience, and the crew said thanks
by dropping in a number of cute references to Disney projects old and new.
The film begins with a pre-Frozen flashback to Anna and Elsa as kids.
Although they live in a magical fairy tale kingdom of yore, they do what kids of any
time would do: play with dolls.
But these dolls are made out of ice, courtesy of Elsa's magical powers.
One of the figures is a little elephant with a long trunk and oversized ears — Dumbo,
in other words.
A slightly hulking, rounded one is a dead ringer for Baymax, the friendly robot from
the 2015 Disney/Marvel hit Big Hero 6.
There's also one who looks like adorable monster Totoro from My Neighbor Totoro, a 1988 Studio
Ghibli film to which Disney controlled American distribution rights.
"Merchandising!"
"Merchandising, what's that?"
"Merchandising!"
Of course, the most recognizable character in Disney's long history is Mickey Mouse.
Walt Disney's first successful creation is so recognizable and so popular that the silhouette
of this high-voiced star of "Steamboat Willie" is a linchpin of Disney's iconography.
Disney theme parks are full of "Hidden Mickeys" — those three black circles that comprise
the mouse's head and big ears are real-life Easter eggs to be found on the ground, walls,
and inside rides.
Just like Disneyland, Frozen II is sprinkled with a few Mickeys.
During a game of charades, Olaf cycles through several poses, one of which involves placing
coals on top of his head and one in his nose region.
The clue he's acting out is "mouse," and he chose to look like Mickey.
Later, when Elsa sings "Into the Unknown," she spins and leaves an ice circle in her
wake.
Very briefly, two circles appear atop that circle, forming the well-known Mickey shape.
Tons of Disney animated movies, including Sleeping Beauty, Snow White and the Seven
Dwarfs, Mulan, and Cinderella, are based on folk tales, legends, and fairy tales.
Frozen is based on The Snow Queen, a story first published in Danish in 1844.
The author, Hans Christian Andersen, also wrote the source material for another Disney
classic, The Little Mermaid.
He laid the narrative groundwork for Frozen, but Frozen II was created entirely by modern-day
screenwriters imagining new adventures for the characters inspired by Andersen's.
The author's presence is still felt in Frozen II, however, as an affectionate passing reference.
Toward the end of the movie, audiences see a flashback to when Elsa and Anna's parents
— Iduna and Agnarr — were children.
Iduna runs over to Agnarr and inquires about the book in which he's happily engrossed.
He explains it's "a new Danish author."
He means Hans Christen Anderson.
Pixar is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Disney, so Disney distributes Pixar films such as
Toy Story, Cars, and Newt.
Oh, you haven't heard of Newt?
That's because it's a long-lost, unfinished project.
Announced in 2008, Newt was about the world's last male and female blue-footed newts that
must breed to save their species, only they don't get along.
Pixar had no choice but to cancel the film — Fox's 2011 release Rio hit theaters first,
with virtually the same plot as Newt, except it was about macaws.
Frozen II just may have paid homage to this forgotten obscurity.
One of the cutest new characters introduced in the film is a big-eyed magical salamander
named Bruni who can spread fire the way Elsa spreads ice.
He bears more than a strong resemblance to the newts introduced in the concept art of
the ill-fated Newt.
The original Frozen was a massive hit.
Upon its release in 2013, it earned $1.2 billion at the box office.
And it's full of memorable songs — "Do You Want to Build a Snowman" and the Oscar-winning
"Let It Go" especially — so adapting Frozen into a Broadway musical, like The Lion King
and Aladdin before it, was a no-brainer for Disney.
The live version of Frozen opened in 2018 and earned three major Tony Award nominations,
including one for Best Musical.
Co-starring in the challenging role of conflicted, heartbroken young Anna in that production:
actress Mattea Conforti.
When Frozen II producers put its cast together, they brought Conforti on board.
In a subtle Easter egg that only the most hardcore of Frozen franchise fans were likely
to notice, the former young Anna gave voice to young Elsa in Frozen II.
Apart from Elsa and Anna's epic quest, Frozen II also finds Kristoff wrestling with his
romantic situation.
His relationship with Anna is seemingly so solid that he wants to propose marriage, but
every time he gets a chance to pop the question, he messes it up.
Before long, he wonders if he and his love are drifting apart, and he expresses these
feelings in a big musical number called "Lost in the Woods."
It's performed in the style of a 1980s power ballad, and the sequence makes use of the
kinds of things one would see in a vintage '80s music video.
Kristoff voice actor Jonathan Groff explained:
"It's sort of for the adults.
It's a joke for the adults.
The little kids don't really get it."
"Were you living your best animated life doing that?"
"I was living my best animated life."
There's also one very specific reference to a well-known video from the 1970s.
The face of Kristoff, partially shadowed against a black screen, appears in the bottom of the
screen, while three reindeer, singing backup, show up in the top half.
It's a visual straight out of Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody."
Frozen II is surprisingly dark and emotionally raw for a Disney cartoon aimed at grade-school-age
kids.
It finds Elsa and Anna coming to terms with their family's history and legacy, while Olaf
the goofy snowman seems to be going through an existential crisis brought about by aging
and being able to live in environments other than snow.
When Elsa heads out into the Enchanted Forest to find the source of a creepy voice only
she can hear, Anna, Kristoff and Olaf come along, too.
For a few moments, Frozen II turns into a road movie, with the gang piling into a reindeer-drawn
cart.
Olaf tries to help pass the time and entertain his friends by reciting a seemingly endless
litany of fun facts of varying levels of truth.
He's having so much fun he doesn't care if anybody wants to hear them or not.
This whole sequence is a pretty faithful re-creation of the famous scene from the 1996 dramedy
Jerry Maguire, in which Jerry and Dorothy patiently listen to Dorothy's son recite trivia
bits like,
"Jerry, Did you know the human head weighs eight pounds?"
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