November 26, 2024
by Carla Hay
Directed by David G. Derrick Jr.; co-directed by Jason Hand and Dana Ledoux Miller
Culture Representation: Taking place in ancient Polynesia, the animated musical film “Moana 2” (a sequel to the 2016 animated film “Moana”) features a cast of characters who are human Pacific Islanders, gods or animals.
Culture Clash: Teenage adventurer Moana goes off on another sea voyage, but this time, it’s to find a long-lost island that can bring other Pacific Islanders together.
Culture Audience: “Moana 2” will appeal mainly to people who are fans of 2016’s “Moana,” the movie’s headliners and Disney princess movies.
“Moana 2” didn’t learn the sequel lesson that more characters in a sequel don’t automatically make a better movie. Fans of 2016’s “Moana” should find enough to like in this sequel, which is adequately entertaining but inferior to the original “Moana” film. It’s the type of sequel that replicates much of the same “voyage at sea” concept as the series’ first movie but doesn’t do much to make it more innovative or more exciting.
“Moana 2” was directed by David G. Derrick Jr., and co-directed by Jason Hand and Dana Ledoux Miller—a different team from John Musker and Ron Clements, who directed “Moana.” Jared Bush, who wrote “Moana,” returns as the screenwriter for “Moana 2,” which has Ledoux Miller as an additional screenwriter. “Moana” composer Mark Mancina also returns for this sequel with Opetaia Foa‘i as writers of some of the movie’s original songs. However, Lin-Manuel Miranda (who co-wrote many of the original songs in “Moana”) is not part of “Moana 2.” Instead, “Moana 2” has Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear as co-writers of most of “Moana 2’s” original songs. The end results in “Moana 2” are predictable and formulaic but not entirely disappointing.
In “Moana” (which takes place in ancient Polynesia), teenage Moana (played by Auli’i Cravalho) goes on a seafaring journey to give back a poweful precious stone to the goddess of nature Te Fiti (who is also a living island), in order to save Moana’s island of Motunui from a food shortage that could lead to massive starvation for the people of Montunui. Along the way, Moana teams up with a wisecracking and shapeshifting demi-god of the wind named Maui (voiced by Dwayne Johnson), who stole the precious stone many centuries ago. Moana also finds her identity and confidence as someone who can lead an adventurous voyage and do good things for her community.
In “Moana 2,” the stakes are much lower than life or death for the people of Motunui. Moana is now a proven heroic voyager, but Motunui is still isolated from other people in the Pacific Islands. Moana is visited in a vision by Tautai Vasa (voiced by Gerald Faitala Ramsey), one of Motunui’s orginal adventurers, who tells Moana to find the long-lost island of Motufetū, which can connect other people who live in the Pacific Ocean.
In order to find Motufetū, Moana has to battle against Nalo (voiced by Tofiga Fepulea’i), the god of storms who sunk Motufetū, thereby separating Pacific Islanders to prevent them from connecting with each other. It’s a muddled plot that only makes sense if you’re willing to believe that certain land in “Moana” can have mystical powers. As explained in the “Moana” movies, the people of Motunui were taught for generations to fear going outside a certain radius from their land.
Nalo has captured a mysterious woman named Mitangi (played by Awhimai Fraser), who has lived inside a giant clam for the past 1,000 years. Nalo has ordered Mitangi to stop anyone from finding Motufetū. Mitangi, who surrounds herself with flying foxes, isn’t quite the fearsome opponent that she needed to be to make “Moana 2” more thrilling. Her big musical number is when she performs a song called “Get Lost.” Mitangi is no Ursula (the sea-dwelling ruthless villain from “The Little Mermaid”) because Mitangi’s personality is being a fairly generic villain.
In “Moana 2,” Moana’s parents Chief Tui (voiced by as Temuera Morrison) and Sina (voiced by Nicole Scherzinger) have less importance to the story than they did in “Moana,” which had overprotective Chief Tui telling Moana not to risk her life as a voyager because she’s female. Moana received Chief Tui’s respect and permission to go on voyages at the end of the first “Moana” movie, so there’s not much reason for her to rebel against her parents in “Moana 2.” Moana’s beloved paternal grandmother Gramma Tala (voiced by Rachel House), who died in “Moana,” makes a cameo appearance in “Moana 2” as a ghostly vision.
“Moana 2” introduces a new family character, who is a cliché that many animated sequels have: the adorable kid who’s under the age of 10. “Moana 2” shows that Moana now has a younger sister named Simea (voiced by Khaleesi Lambert-Tsuda), who’s about 4 or 5 years old. Simea’s only purpose in “Moana 2” is to show how much she wants to be an adventurer, just like Moana. In other words, Simea was created to most likely have her own animated spinoff.
As for Maui, there is nothing that’s very new or interesting about him. He still has tattoos that move around on his body, with the tattoos having the ability to portray many of his life experiences. He’s still cocky and prone to getting himself into embarrassing situations. He’s still the impulsive counterpoint to the more logical Moana. He is still the biggest comic relief, although Maui’s presence is diluted in “Moana 2” because the movie is a bit overstuffed with new characters.
In “Moana,” the only people on the sailboat voyage were Moana and Maui, accompanied by Moana’s slow-witted pet rooster Heihei (voiced by Alan Tudyk), who stowed away on the boat. “Moana 2” makes the misstep of having too many people on the voyage with Moana and Maui, thereby giving them more backup allies and less suspense in their chances of winning in any fights. Also on the voyage in “Moana 2” are Moana’s sassy best friend Loto (played by Rose Matafeo), elderly worrier Kele (voiced by David Fane) and burly storykeeper Moni (voiced by Hualālai Chung), who greatly admires Moana and Maui. The accompanying animals on this “Moana 2” voyage are Heihei and Moana’s cute pet pig Pua.
When only Moana and Maui there to protect each other in the first “Moana” movie, any danger they encountered seemed to be more of a challenge. In fact, one of the ways that “Moana 2” misses the mark is in making everything safer and less surprising than the first “Moana,” which already had enough predictability. The animation in “Moana 2” is perfectly fine but isn’t as vibrant as the first “Moana” movie.
“Moana” had bigger issues about environmental protection at the heart of the story, while “Moana 2” is more about Moana hanging out with her boat mates so they can find new friends. “Moana 2” makes more of an effort than “Moana” to incorporate Pacific Islander culture dancing into the story. However, the introduction of Moana’s new boat mates seems forced and contrived, as if this is the “Moana” version of the “Gilligan’s Island” motley crew.
The songs and musical score in “Moana 2” are pleasant, but the movie isn’t a journey chock full of memorable hits. “Can I Get a Chee Hoo?,” which has Johnson on lead vocals, is one of the fun tracks that does a good job of capturing Maui’s sense of playfulness. The anthemic “Beyond” and “What Can Be Better Than This?” are the obvious showcase songs for “Moana 2,” with Cravalho on lead vocals. Are these songs catchy and entertaining? Yes. Are they iconic as Disney animation tunes “We Need to Talk About Bruno” (from “Encanto”) or “Let It Go” (from “Frozen”)? Frankly, no.
The “Moana 2” voice cast performances are very good but would have more of an impact if the overall story and screenplay had been more engaging and more innovative. Mitangi’s most memorable line is when she gives this bland advice to Moana: “There’s always another way, even if you have to get lost to find it.” A mid-credits scene featuring Nolo and Mitangi can be considered a hint of what the story could be for another “Moana” sequel.
People who’ve seen 2016’s “Moana” might have varying expectations for “Moana 2,” which was originally going to be a straight-to-streaming project for Disney+, instead of getting a theatrical release. A live-action “Moana” is due out in 2026, with Johnson reprising his role as Maui. In other words, Disney is overloading on “Moana” but isn’t doing enough to come up with any ideas to take this franchise to new and creative storytelling levels.
Walt Disney Pictures will release “Moana 2” in U.S. cinemas on November 27, 2024.
