MovieChat Forums > Frozen II (2019) Discussion > What are your opinions about "The Next R...

What are your opinions about "The Next Right Thing"?


What did you think about "The Next Right Thing"? From a structural standpoint, it's pretty much the riskiest song in the movie. Not only because of it's sheer poignancy, but also because of it's placement. Typically there's not many songs that late in Disney movies, aside from villain songs and it pretty much faces the same hurdle that "If I Never Knew You" from "Pocahontas" did: A grave, poignant song late in the movie.
As for me, aside for these aforementioned reasons, the song still worked in the movie. It never felt too sappy nor superfluous. It's not my favorite song, but I thought it worked and never felt that it was too sentimental or too grave.

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I felt like crying when seeing her sing that, because the night before, she basically was sitting there in the cave while sweet little Olaf "died" in her arms, which is something most adults her age never have had to deal with. It really cuts into your soul, the fact that she had to deal with that, and keep on going when nobody else could. It's one of the harshest lessons adults ever have to face, and it's rare to see it in a Disney movie, even before they fixed everything with the "everything gets better at the end" trick.

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Fair enough.

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It works because it emphasizes just how bad things have gotten for Anna at that point. Think about everything Anna has lost.
Elsa. Olaf. Her belief and faith in her history and what she's been taught about her kingdom. She has no idea if she'll ever make it home again. And she knows that if she does what she knows she has to do, she'll lose Arandale. She is in a straight-up DARK PLACE. If the film had gone right from Gale blowing Olaf into a tidy pile outside the cave to Anna climbing out and staring at the dam, we would not have been quite so aware of how completely devastated she was.

It also shows us her thought process. We know what she has to do because of her last conversation with Olaf. But that was before she LOST Olaf (or Elsa). Even though we know she has to destroy the dam, we don't know if she will actually have the strength to do it. The song ends on a (sort of) hopeful note -- that she'll keep on doing what's right, even when nothing in her life will ever be the same. There's an important lesson in that for all of us.

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Thanks for your reply and your excellent thoughts.

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