When I first experienced a movie in 4DX (Avengers: Endgame), I said, “Imagine your favorite Disney or Universal ride but for the duration of an entire movie.” So how does that work out when it’s actually a Disney movie (that will likely get its own ride eventually)?

I had the opportunity to see Frozen 2: The Frozening this past weekend (opening weekend) in 4DX. Herein are my thoughts on the film with the upgraded “shaky seat” experience.

First of all, let’s get the obvious out of the way. I’ll avoid spoilers here, but Frozen 2: Frozen Boogaloo is an incredible film. It’s better than the first, though that could possibly just be first impressions versus six years of Frozen saturation and “Let It Go” overkill.

Still, the film fires on all cylinders, tells a compellingly original story, and isn’t just a rehash of the original. It remains grounded in the world the first movie created, and it plays by the same rules (i.e., don’t expect something totally ridiculous like Cars 2 or Mulan 2).

Elsa, Anna, Kristoff, and Olaf have all aged six years and grown up considerably – just as the audience from the original has also aged six years in the real world. As a result, Frozen 2: The Ice Strikes Back is a darker story with serious emotional stakes. This is a film for the kids who saw the original in 2013 and are now six years older, wiser, and more mature.

But it’s still a Disney fairy tale, and it’s still made with the youngest of audiences in mind – even if some of the events and themes will fly right over their heads. Even if it might scare them or make them cry at times. All the best Disney movies have this effect; they all reach for our core emotions and easily take us from laughter to tears to fear.

Frozen 2 is an emotional roller coaster.

Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez, the songwriters behind the original film and ALL of its earworm tunes, are back for this sequel. And they knock it out of the park. You won’t find a radio-friendly smash hit like “Let It Go” to haunt your every waking moment, but that’s a good thing. The songs in Frozen 2: Elsa’s Revenge are more in line with the tunes you’d hear in a musical stage production. They advance the plot, reveal inner thoughts and emotions, and are catchy in a more subdued way.

In the 80 years since Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs hit the big screen, Disney has released hundreds of songs. Many of them classic, most of them memorable, some of them forgettable. But NONE of them is as meaningful and as emotionally charged as “The Next Right Thing” (sung to perfection by Kristen Bell as Anna). It’s as close to the Perfect Song™ as Disney has ever gotten. And it’s worth the price of admission alone.

So, OK, 2 Frozen 2 Furious is a very good film. A fantastic film with stunning animation and epic action sequences and effects that deserve to be seen on the big screen. But should you fork over the extra money to experience it in 4DX?

Here at The Roarbots, we’ve found the tech to be bit of a mixed bag. It mostly worked in Endgame, and it worked quite well in Midway, but it didn’t work at all in Terminator: Dark Fate.

The 4DX effects in Frozen 2: The Return truly make the film feel like a Disney Parks attraction. You’re totally immersed in the action sequences (notably, Elsa’s experience in the turbulent ocean waters toward the end of the film and Anna’s experience in the woods at the same time), and the tech works quite well during those moments.

Perhaps a little too well. Those two climactic events I just mentioned? They last for a while, so the immersive 4DX effects also last for a while. Two kids had to be taken out of the theater I was in because they were terrified and screaming.

But the film also has its fair share of quiet moments – moments of introspection and deep emotional turmoil. These moments do not lend themselves to moving seats, overhead fans, or sprays of water. Thankfully, for the most part, the 4DX effects don’t intrude on those moments, but there’s almost always something happening for the entire runtime of the movie. Even if it’s just the seats gently rocking back and forth for no discernible reason.

The theater I was in was sold out. It’s not surprising, since it was opening weekend, and the movie raked in an impressive $350 million. But there were a LOT of very little kids (4-8 years old) in the theater, and aside from the two who got carried out, most seemed to really enjoy the film AND the 4DX effects. My own kids (8 and 10) also enjoyed both and thought the 4DX was cool but ultimately unnecessary.

Our advice? If you want to experience the film in a unique way, you can’t really go wrong with the 4DX. It’s not distracting or overly intrusive when it shouldn’t be. And it’s done really well. But it’s also an unnecessary addition. Frozen 2 is so good on its own that it doesn’t need blasts of air, rocking seats, and mists of water to convince you to see it.