**Slight spoilers for Frozen 2.**
There is a love that many of us have with Disney that probably isn’t going away anytime soon. I blame growing up in the ’90s. So, when Frozen 2 came out, we flocked to the theater in droves to see the next installment of Anna and Elsa’s story.
In the sequel, when Elsa seems stuck without hope, Olaf suddenly vanishes as if this he’s Peter Parker in Avengers: Infinity War.
In the moment, it leaves Anna alone, stuck in a dark cave away from everyone she knows, and she stops to take a moment to reflect on her own pain and how she can grow from this moment. It’s dark, even for Disney, but it, to me, reflects a true millennial mindset.
A song about overcoming and exploring your own grief, I feel like this is one meant for the millennial generation and our continual uphill battle. Maybe it’s because I experienced my own struggle with grief in the last few years, or maybe it’s because I recognize how hard it is, as a millennial, in a world where we are often underpaid, overworked, and mocked for expressing our anguish over that.
Whatever it is, this song stuck with me over each of Elsa’s empowering songs. Sure, “Show Yourself” and “Into the Unknown” are beautiful songs to add to my karaoke track list, but there is something in “The Next Right Thing” that hit me in a way I never expected.
A lot of Frozen 2 explores Anna’s empowerment and placement away from her sister, something that she tried to grapple with in the first Frozen and that met a fitting conclusion in the sequel. She realized that her life didn’t need to revolve around Elsa’s, and it’s a song like “The Next Right Thing” that can help us all look inside ourselves and find ways to move on and grow for our own benefit, rather than for the benefit of everyone around us.
Will I sing “The Next Right Thing” at karaoke, too? Possibly, but I don’t know that I can sing it without crying, so that’s a real “to be determined.”
Frozen 2 is a beautiful sequel and, more importantly, a wonderful movie overall. For years, the idea of a sequel to a Disney movie meant a straight-to-video release and one that we rarely paid any attention to, but there is something beautiful about Frozen 2 that is being proven by its box office success and the love that many of us have for the film.
While this is a success, I don’t think we should continue the story past Frozen 2 because it perfectly closes off Anna’s storyline as well as Elsa’s, and to bring more trouble to these sisters would be a grab for cash, but then again, that’s what I thought of the idea of a Frozen 2, so what do I know?
(image: Disney)
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