First ‘Frozen 2’ Reviews Are Now In

Frozen 2, the highly anticipated sequel to Disney‘s 2013 hit Frozen, officially hits theaters nationwide on Friday. But many critics were already able to screen the film and their reviews have started flowing into Rotten Tomatoes. So far, it has not quite lived up to the critical response that the original movie received, but the reviews are mostly positive.

As of Tuesday, Frozen 2 is “certified fresh” with an 82 percent score after 91 reviews.

Boston Globe critic Feeny gave the movie three out of four stars, writing,”The sequel is a solid, if not quite inspired, follow-up to Frozen. Solid is saying a lot, since Frozen really did enter the cultural bloodstream. You’d have to go back to the original Lion King for a Disney animated feature that can be said about.”

San Francisco Chronicle critic Mick LaSalle also had a positive review of the film.

“Frozen 2, like a lot of Disney films and fables in general, finds emotional power in the viewer’s latent attachments to family,” he writes. “In a scene brilliantly realized in visual terms, Elsa walks into a kind of land of frozen memory, in which various tableaux of her family exist as frozen statues […] It’s little moments like this, and there are several, that lift up Frozen 2 and make it better than an obligatory, dutiful and functional sequel. It’s not a classic, but it’s inspired in its own right.”

Polygon’s Petrana Radulovic, writes: “Disney’s CGI animation has come a long way in those six years, and visually, Frozen 2 fully takes advantage of the studio’s abilities […] As the movie dives deeper into magical lore, and Elsa tames the elements, treks across a stormy sea, and discovers a glimmering glacial fortress that rivals the ice palace she conjured in the first movie, the visuals are dazzling, surpassing the original.”

There are, of course, a few negative reviews sprinkled in.

“Its messaging lacks the emotional resonance that was at the heart of Frozen, and ultimately, feels half-baked,” Akhil Arora from Gadgets360 writes.

“This is a really gorgeous looking movie with some really good songs and a great score and really good voice acting, but the story I just found really uninteresting,” says YouTuber Chris Stuckmann.

It remains to be seen if Frozen 2 can surpass the astounding $1.276 billion the original made worldwide, but there’s no doubt that Elsa fans will be flocking to the box office this weekend.