Like its predecessor, the long-awaited Frozen 2 is ostensibly a movie for children, but
lots of grown-ups are watching it.
If anything, Frozen 2 doubles down on bits that seem aimed squarely at adults.
Here's a look at just a few of the most memorable.
The first Frozen film received a fair amount of criticism for its lack of diversity.
The movie's main cast and most, if not all, background characters were white.
Defenders of the film cited the apparent setting of medieval Scandinavia as the reason for
the whiteness, but that excuse didn't really hold water, as the film's setting of Arendelle
is a fictional kingdom and Scandinavia is never mentioned.
But Disney was clearly paying attention to the controversy, as Frozen 2 is certainly
more diverse.
For starters, there is now a prominent black character.
Lt. Mattias, voiced by Sterling K. Brown, is an Arendellian soldier who shows up early
in the film and goes on to appear pretty consistently throughout.
Then there are the Northuldra, a clan of indigenous people who live in an enchanted forest and
are pretty central to Frozen 2's story.
They're based on the real-life Sámi people from Scandinavia, and Disney worked with Sámi
groups in developing these characters.
Kids aren't likely to notice the effort that went into increasing Frozen 2's diversity,
but adults will.
Despite all the attention Elsa's sexuality receives from fans, only Anna has ever shown
any interest in romance.
In Frozen, she spends much of the film pining after her suitor, Hans.
Then, after he turns out to be the villain, she falls for Kristoff.
"I could kiss you!
I could.
I mean, I'd like to.
May I?
We me?
I mean…
May we?
Wait, what?"
"We may."
In Frozen 2, it's made clear from the get-go that Anna is still very much interested in
men, or, well, one man in particular.
Anna and Kristoff are very much a couple.
They even casually kiss from time to time, which is kind of an unusual thing to see in
a Disney animated movie.
But one scene in particular makes it seem like Anna has more than kissing on the brain.
In the film, Anna, Kristoff, Elsa, and Olaf head out on an adventure together in a wagon
pulled by Sven the reindeer.
Kristoff and Anna ride together in the front of the wagon, while Elsa and Olaf sit in the
back.
At a certain point in the journey, both Olaf and Elsa doze off, which doesn't go unnoticed
by Anna.
She points the situation out to Kristoff and suggestively asks him what he wants to do
before puckering up her lips.
Kids will think Anna just wanted a smooch, but adults know that a mere smooch doesn't
require privacy with the added danger of getting caught.
Anyone who's seen Frozen knows that Olaf is full of corny jokes.
Kids may love the snowman's sense of humor, while to adults, he can get a little annoying.
"Olaf, did Elsa build you?"
"Yeah.
Why?"
"Do you know where she is?"
"Yeah.
Why?"
"Do you think you could show us the way?"
"Yeah.
Why?"
"How does this work?"
"Ow!"
But in Frozen 2, Olaf actually manages to sneak in a couple one-liners that are aimed
squarely at the grown-ups, and one of them is actually pretty morbid.
There's an old aviation joke regarding black boxes.
So-called black boxes, if you're unaware, are flight recorders that are designed to
survive a plane crash in order to help investigators determine what caused it.
The joke goes something like this: "If the black box is crash-proof, then why don't they
make the whole plane out of the black box?"
Olaf tells a variation of this joke in the movie, and he does so at the most inappropriate
moment.
In the film, Elsa and Anna find the shipwreck that killed their parents.
an unspeakably tragic discovery.
Upon finding it, one of them declares that there should be a record on board in a waterproof
box, as that was standard procedure.
Olaf then, instead of consoling his friends in this extremely trying time, asks, quote,
"If it's waterproof, why didn't they make the whole ship waterproof?"
Kids will laugh at the joke, not knowing that it's a reference to a very old joke about
airplanes and that Olaf is being extremely insensitive.
Adults, meanwhile, may want to see Olaf melt even more than they already did.
One of the film's big reveals comes near the end, when Elsa discovers why Arendelle and
the Northuldra had gone to war in the past.
It all started because the King of Arendelle, Elsa and Anna's grandfather, was a colonizer
who, upon discovering the Northuldra, secretly formulated a plan to destroy them.
Why?
Because they believe in, and essentially worship, the magic of the forest.
These beliefs differed from his own, which frightened him, so he constructed a dam on
their river under the guise of it being a gift, and destroyed their land.
When called out on this by the Northuldra leader, the king killed him, igniting the
battle between the two people.
Frozen 2's stance on a number of issues has been clear to critics.
The film presents a narrative that shows the harm done by colonialism, religious bigotry,
and environmental recklessness.
In the end, the dam must be destroyed to lift the curse on the forest, symbolizing a return
to the natural order of things as well as the destruction of a symbol of oppression.
These are heavy themes, and since they're not spelled out in a super obvious manner,
kids probably won't understand a whit of it.
With any luck, their parents will explain it to them.
If there's one theme that best sums up Frozen 2, it's this: Love thyself.
The movie sends Elsa on a journey of self-discovery to find the meaning in her life she's been
searching for forever, and she ends up finding...herself.
Near the start of the film, Elsa hears a strange siren's song that no one else can hear.
This eventually leads her to the enchanted forest, where she learns that the four spirits
of the forest, air, wind, fire, and earth, are in disarray.
After she learns that she has the power to tame the spirits, she's told of a mysterious
fifth spirit that acts as a bridge between all the others.
Elsa ventures to find this fifth spirit, the one who's been calling to her since the start
of the film, and she ends up in a temple trying to chase down the elusive voice.
When she reaches the end of the temple, she realizes that not only is she the fifth spirit,
but she is also the one she's been searching for.
The film's message of self-love is an important one, no matter the viewer, and no matter their
age.
Everyone needs to love and take care of themselves, and everyone, even adults, can use a reminder
of that from time to time.
Even if it's from a cartoon.
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