Peter (Jason Segel) and Sarah (Kristen Bell) have been together for five years. Sarah is an actress, starring in a TV crime drama, playing a homicide detective. Peter - a composer - writes the music for the show.
When Sarah reveals that she has been seeing someone else for some time, Peter is understandably heartbroken.
On the advice of his step brother Brian (Bill Hader), he begins sleeping around with as many women as possible to try and find the one for him.
Rachel (Mila Kunis) and Peter (Jason Segel).
When this doesn't seem to work, he decides to go to Hawaii for a week's holiday to take his mind off of Sarah. However. When he arrives there, he finds that Sarah and her new boyfriend - singer Aldous Snow (Russell Brand) - are staying in the same hotel.
While there he befriends Rachel (Mila Kunis) who works on the front desk at the hotel and the two of them become very close.
Of course, it isn't long before Peter and Sarah try to rekindle their relationship. But things don't go quite as planned.
Sarah Marshall (Kristen Bell) and Aldous Snow (Russell Brand).
The screenplay, written by Segel, is quite clever. While a lot of the jokes are crude in nature, the similarities and contrasts between Sarah and Rachel are well-constructed and well-executed. The script follows general romantic comedy tropes, so much of the plot will not come as a surprise to many viewers.
There is not a lot of scoring in this film from composer Lyle Workman. However, there are a lot of songs, seemingly written by Peter, who is also in his spare time writing a rock opera based on the story of Dracula to be performed with puppets.
The cinematography, by Russ T. Alsobrook, is fairly standard for a film of this genre, and doesn’t feature anything particularly distinctive, or memorable, or even worth mentioning.
Brian (Bill Hader).
It should come as no surprise that the performances of the cast are well suited to this film. Apart from the leads previously mentioned, there is also a great supporting cast, including Jonah Hill as a waiter at the hotel, Paul Rudd as a surfing instructor, and Kristen Wiig as a yoga instructor.
Director Nicholas Stoller has made a reasonable enough film here, one that while I would be quite happy to watch again, is certainly not the best film I have ever seen, or even the best film I have seen in this genre.
Disney fans, rejoice! The two best Disney princesses - in my opinion, of course - are back again for another fantastic adventure. In fact, the entire main cast are back, an indicator of a great sequel.
And as it happens, the creative team are the same as that of the original. Same director, same screenwriter, same songwriters, the works.
Elsa (Idina Menzel) now enjoys a relatively peaceful life as Queen of Arendelle. Supported by her sister Anna (Kristen Bell), Kristoff (Jonathan Groff) and living snowman Olaf (Josh Gad), her powers are now kept at bay. She still has them, but she seems to be able to keep them under control, such that they do not cause the devastation they used to.
However, she is still troubled from time to time by a voice that it seems only she can hear. It is a voice that seems to be calling her away into the North, away from Arendelle and into the enchanted forest she has only ever heard about in stories.
Anna (Kristen Bell) and Elsa (Idina Menzel).
When the two sisters were younger, their father told them about the enchanted forest, where another group of people lived, in harmony with each other, and with nature, even with the four spirits - Earth, Air, Fire and Water - that governed over their respective elements and kept the world running smoothly.
However, following a major disagreement between the two people groups, the elements together banished the people of Arendelle from the enchanted forest, and enclosed the entire forest in an eternal impenetrable mist.
Elsa tries to fight the urge to go to the forest and seek out the voice that is calling her, but it becomes too strong. Of course, Anna, Kristoff and Olaf are not about to let her venture into the unknown on her own, and so the stage is set for another adventure.
I’d better not mention anything else about the plot here, I’ll let you discover that for yourself.
L-R; Elsa (Idina Menzel), Anna (Kristen Bell), Kristoff (Jonathan Groff) and reindeer Sven.
The screenplay, by Jennifer Lee (who also wrote the first film), is quite good as sequels go. All the characters are just as we would remember from the first time around, and react and respond just as one would expect in every encounter and situation. I would still say, as I did when I reviewed the first film a few months ago, that Olaf is definitely my favourite character in the film; he certainly has some of the best lines, and Josh Gad infuses the character with so much life and good humour that it is impossible not to laugh out loud nearly every time he speaks.
Married couple Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez are back again too, writing a whole new set of songs for this film. And their songs are just as good this time around as they were in the first film. Just as we had “Let it Go” in the original film, we have a wonderful new anthem in this film: “Into the Unknown”, which is not only a great example of how to write a Broadway-style song (as most of the songs in this film are. Who knows, maybe this film will be adapted to the Broadway stage just as the first one has been), but also a great example of how to sing such a song, as Idina Menzel once again belts it right out of the park with her amazing voice.
Even composer Christophe Beck, who wrote the score to the first film, is back again here, and bringing the same incredible level of detail and skill to this offering. Occasionally borrowing motifs from the original songs to highlight certain sections in a way that almost qualifies them as leitmotifs, he has constructed a mammoth score that almost runs for the duration of the film. This works well in animated films in a way that it doesn’t in live-action, and it doesn’t detract from the action or emotion of the plot at any point; if anything, it strengthens them.
Anna (Kristen Bell) and Olaf (Josh Gad).
The voice cast, it should come as no surprise, are fantastic. Once again, they all sing their own parts - this hasn’t always been the case in Disney musical films - and they all do a marvellous job at it. The interactions between the characters all seem incredibly lifelike, which given the fact they would have recorded their lines separately, only makes the quality of the performance all the more apparent.
Co-directors Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee have achieved the almost-impossible: they have made a sequel that stands up well against the original. It is even a great film in its own right. You don’t have to have seen the first film to be able to follow this one, but it certainly would help.
I would recommend seeing this film on the big screen if you get the chance, it is visually and aurally spectacular. If you miss out at the cinema, just make sure you watch it on as big a television as you can (with decent sound, too).
Inspired by 'The Snow Queen' by Hans Christian Andersen, this film follows the lives of two sisters, and tells the story of how far someone will go to protect someone they love.
Set in the land of Arendelle - modelled loosely on the country of Norway - princesses Elsa and Anna live with their parents. Elsa hides a terrible secret - she has a magical power that allows her to create and control ice and snow.
When the two princesses are children, this provides hours of amusement for younger sister Anna, but following an accident, the king and queen keep Elsa shut away from the world, and tell her she needs to learn to control her powers or someone else will get hurt.
Tragically, the king and queen are killed at sea in a terrible storm, and the two girls live alone - and separately - in the castle until Elsa comes of age.
Anna (Kristen Bell) and Elsa (Idina Menzel).
When the day of Elsa's coronation arrives, the gates of the castle are thrown open for the first time in years. Anna (Kristen Bell) also meets her sister for the first time in years.
At the party that night, Elsa's powers again rear their ugly head, and Elsa (Idina Menzel) flees in fear. As she runs, an endless winter falls over the entire kingdom of Arendelle.
Anna leaves her new fiancee Hans (Santino Fontana) in charge of the castle and kingdom and heads out into the wilderness to find Elsa, bring her back, and restore Arendelle to its former splendour.
Along the way, she is joined by Kristoff (Jonathan Groff) and his trusty reindeer sidekick Sven. They also meet snowman Olaf (Josh Gad), who was made by Elsa and has magically come to life.
Elsa meanwhile has shut herself off from the world in an enormous ice castle of her own making, vowing to never again return, as her powers are just too strong and too dangerous for her to be around other people.
Elsa (Idina Menzel) building her ice castle to shut herself off from the world.
The screenplay - written by Jennifer Lee - is absolutely fantastic, filled with great characters that audiences will love. Girls worldwide flocked to experience the story of the two princesses, princesses very different from the traditional Disney princesses of earlier films: Elsa with her flaws and dark secrets, and Anna as an otherwise normal young girl. The character of Olaf (the snowman) is one of the cutest, most loveable, adorable characters in any Disney film of recent years. And the story, very loosely based on Hans Christian Andersen's classic story, is filled with twists and turns that keep audiences guessing until the very end.
This film, however, is primarily defined by its incredible songs, written by married couple Kristen Anderson-Lopez & Robert Lopez. Every single song in this film is magnificent, and the voice cast who sing them do an incredible job bringing them to life. It didn't take long for this film to make the transition to the Broadway stage, with the addition of a few more songs; the Broadway show is also fantastic, but I should get back to the film.
I appreciate there may be many people out there who found the near-endless repeating of 'Let It Go' - the Oscar-winning song that added to the film's popularity - at the time a little wearing, but one cannot deny that the song is well written and the music well composed, or that Menzel's performance is absolutely breathtaking (this should come as no surprise, as Menzel is first and foremost a Broadway performer, and an amazing one at that).
Olaf (Josh Gad) dreams of what life will be like for him in summer.
Christophe Beck's original score is also well written, occasionally using themes from the songs to tie different scenes together, though usually going in a direction all its own.
The voice cast - who, incidentally, all sing their own songs - are all fabulous, in particular Idina Menzel, as already mentioned. I have to say, my favourite character in this film has got to be the snowman Olaf; Josh Gad is an amazing performer, and brings so much life to this wonderful character.
Directors Chris Buck & Jennifer Lee have made an incredible film here, as recognised by the wider community when the film won an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. I must say, this is one of the best Disney films I have seen in a long time, and I have seen this several times now.
All that being said, I have no alternative but to award this film a 10 out of 10.
