“Frozen 2” Spoilers, According to the Soundtrack
The soundtrack to “Frozen 2” was released a week before the movie’s premiere, and if the songs are truly any indication of the plot, it’s going to be dark.
Written by Kaci Pelias
Image courtesy of The New York Times
The soundtrack to “Frozen 2” is officially out, a week ahead of the movie’s theatrical debut. Here’s what the songs hint might happen in the movie. Warning: there may or may not be spoilers in this article, depending on how accurate these predictions are. Read at your own risk.
Prediction #1: Anna and Elsa’s mom survived the shipwreck.
The first song on the soundtrack is sung by Evan Rachel Wood, a new star to the “Frozen” universe. Titled “All is Found,” this lullaby-inspired tune seems to indicate that Wood voices Anna and Elsa’s mother. She sings about a “mother, full of memory” telling her daughter to “come homeward bound.” While this song could appear only in a flashback scene, Evan Rachel Wood is too big of a star to be reduced to a single flashback. Furthermore, motifs from this song appear in later tracks, including “Show Yourself,” where Idina Menzel (Elsa) and Wood are both listed as artists. This can only mean that Elsa and Anna’s mother somehow survived that epic shipwreck from the first movie and has been living in her own ice castle across the sea. How can this be? The only possible explanation is that she also has ice powers.
Prediction #2: Anna and Kristoff almost break up.
An overwhelming amount of songs on the soundtrack are about Kristoff’s intimacy problems. He sings about struggling to express his emotions and love for Anna. Hey, it’s hard to be a man in 19th-century Norway. Kristoff also senses a growing distance between him and Anna as she’s “off on a different path” than him, according to his power ballad “Lost in the Woods,” a song that’s also covered by Weezer. This tension and awkwardness between the two will build to a dramatic climax with a big fight that leaves the audience wondering if love even exists after all.
Prediction #3: Elsa turns evil.
If you’re familiar with the “Star Wars” series, you know that it’s only natural for the powerful prodigy figure to be tempted to join the dark side. As a young Padawan, Anakin Skywalker, famously known as Darth Vader, was approached by Sith leaders at his most vulnerable, as he struggled to contain and fully understand his newly unleashed powers. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it? Elsa only recently started exploring her powers; before she made that impressive ice castle during “Let It Go,” Elsa was told to suppress her powers because they were far too dangerous. The sequel would be the perfect time for Elsa to start testing the limits of her magic, for better or worse.
Based on the lyrics, Elsa’s turn to the dark side must come from external pressure. In the song “Into the Unknown” (covered by Panic! at the Disco), Elsa addresses this “secret siren.” She tries to “ignore (their) whispers” until she caves and admits that “there's part of (her) that longs to go into the unknown.” If the Walt Disney Animation Studios executives weren’t afraid, Elsa could’ve had a cool, evil girlfriend who steers her to the dark side.
Instead, a far more frightening and dangerous figure will transform Elsa into the multi-dimensional villain of our dreams.
Prediction #4: Bruni the Salamander is the one that turns Elsa evil.
Meet Bruni: a snowy salamander that seemingly only exists to sell cute merchandise. Going back to the “Star Wars” comparison, Bruni is like a Porg: adorable, quiet, and full of secrets.
Image courtesy of Fatherly
He seems sweet and innocuous, but so did Hans in the first movie. And — spoiler alert — he turned out to be a murderer. I think there’s something sinister about this salamander. Elsa refers to her “secret siren” voice as “someone who’s a bit like (her),” which could be referring to a person… or a salamander who loves the snow.
Why this salamander? Simple: he needs a role to fill. He can’t be the silent and supportive or cute and comedic type — those niches are already filled by Sven and Olaf, respectively. There’s a neat little hole in the character web, however, left open by the aforementioned Hans: surprise villain. This little guy would surely be a surprise, and he already seems to have Elsa under his spell.
And anyway, without Bruni, who would be the villain? Societal pressures to conform? The intoxicating effect of power?
Prediction #5: Elsa kills Kristoff at Bruni the Salamander’s command.
Right after Anna and Kristoff’s fight, which ends with a particularly harsh yell from Anna, Elsa will kill Kristoff. Bruni will attempt to convince Elsa that all of her friends are out to get her, and he will start by pushing her to kill Kristoff and Sven. Sven is playing near an iced-over pond one morning as daylight breaks over a sleeping Kristoff in a secluded patch in the nearby woods. While Sven is away, Elsa finds Kristoff and freezes him in his sleep, in what seems like a quick, quiet kill. Things get complicated when Kristoff opens his eyes as she freezes him, penetrating her evil exterior with a single glance. Sven returns to a dead friend/brother and a distraught Elsa, who is struggling to reconcile with her actions. Anna swoops in to apologize to Kristoff, only to find his frozen corpse and a sister she doesn’t recognize anymore. Cue her solo “The Next Right Thing,” which is all about moving on from grief.
Prepare your tissues, friends. This movie is going to take us to dark places, full of sadness, regret, and salamanders.