For the first time in forever, everyone’s favorite Disney princesses are back on the big screen.

Frozen II opened November 22, 2019 as the highest grossing movie in theaters.

The original Frozen was the highest-grossing animated film of all time until The Lion King live action dethroned it.

This begs the question: Is Frozen II better than the original?

In my humble opinion: no.

To start, everything on the Frozen soundtrack is excellent. “Do You Want to Build A Snowman?” succinctly captures Anna and Elsa’s childhoods in a catchy montage, and “Reindeer(s) Are Better Than People” is adorable, charming and hilarious all at once. “Let It Go” gets a lot of hate nowadays but it is a show-stopping ballad with powerful vocals from a Tony winning Broadway star, Idina Menzel. Nothing on the Frozen II soundtrack can compare. Kristoff’s ‘90s boy band song “Lost in the Woods” is catchy, but the movie’s plot comes to a grinding halt just so Kristoff can have an out-of-place, cheesy music video moment.

Speaking of plot, Frozen’s story is more cohesive and well thought out than Frozen II’s. Frozen is a straightforward story of Anna going on an adventure to save her sister and the simplicity works well. However, Frozen II has so many story beats to cover that everything comes a bit too easily for all the characters. Every main point occurs without much buildup to the event.

The plot twists in Frozen II also do not have the same impact as the ones in Frozen. When I watched Frozen for the first time, there were audible gasps in the theater when Hans was revealed to be the villain. In Frozen II, nothing of that kind happens.

Finally, the most significant part of any Disney movie is its characters. In Frozen, the characters learn and grow, but in Frozen II, they just do their adventures and learn nothing.

I am not saying that Frozen II is a bad movie by any means. I would definitely recommend it, but it simply does not live up to the legacy of Frozen.