Warning: The following contains spoilers for Frozen 2, now in theaters
Frozen 2 is, for the most part, is a strong character study of Elsa as she learns more about herself and her history. It abandons a lot of the basic trappings of classic Disney films, carving out its own unique place in the cartoon canon.
It also features one of the most bizarre sequences in any Disney film. In it, Kristoff sings a power ballad that is dramatized like a parody of a 1980s music video.
MUSICAL NUMBER
Kristoff spends the entire film trying to find the perfect way to propose to his longtime girlfriend, Anna. But he keeps fumbling over his words, accidentally insulting her at various times as they head further into the enchanted northern woods. He even ends up separated from the rest of the group as they venture deeper into the forest. With no one around and lost in his thoughts, Kristoff walks around alone, save for the company of his reindeer Sven and the other animals that Kristoff used in his latest attempt to propose to Anna.
The film then shifts into a bizarre and goofy sequence where the film completely changes tone. Crooning into pine cones as if they were microphones, Kristoff essentially stars in his own '80s inspired music video for the song "Lost in the Woods." There are plenty of shots and edits that mimic the style of that era, including cross-fading from Kirstoff's body to a close up of his face. He's backed up by a group of reindeer, who sing along to the song and provide the kind of background responses that human back-up dancers would typically perform. This makes the sequence all the weirder, especially when you remember this is a movie that's mostly predicated on character development and exploration.
THE BEAUTY OF THE BIZARRE
Kristoff is not really the focus of Frozen 2. Unlike his role in the first film (where he was at least a primary romantic interest and helped Anna in her journey throughout the narrative), Kristoff is less important to the story in this new film. As a result, he's often relegated to acting as comic relief. While Elsa and Anna do the heavy lifting, Kristoff gets laughs with his comically inept but dogged determination to propose. Much of the film is played seriously, with an eye towards introspection, so it uses the secondary characters to break up the tension with comedy. It's just that Kristoff's music video is so painfully out of place, that it seems to come out of right field.
While the moment doesn't fit in with the rest of the film tonally, it does point to how similar his storyline in the film is to that of Anna. Like Kristoff, her arc involves learning how important it is to keep getting up and going forward even after a failure. Her storyline is played completely straight, though, and builds to the emotional song "The Next Right Thing." The stakes for her are higher than for Kristoff -- at one point she has to survive a herd of Earth Giants as she leads them to destroy a dam. But the overall arc is similar Kristoff's, which allows them to share at least some level of emotional connection.
Plus, it helps that Kristoff's '80s music video scene is genuinely enjoyable. It commits to the bit but doesn't overstay its welcome. Jonathan Groff, who plays Kristoff, goes all-in on the power ballad, lending it a real sense of longing and sadness. The sequence is also animated well, finding the right level of silly without losing sight of the reason it's part of the story. The sequence is one of the strangest in a Disney movie in recent memory but it still serves a purpose in the film -- which makes it all the more impressive.
In theaters now, Disney's Frozen 2 reunites directors Jennifer Lee and Chris Buck and producer Del Vecho with voice actors Idina Menzel, Kristen Bell, Jonathan Groff and Josh Gad. Returning musical talents include Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez.