Moana 2 movie review: Eight years ago it was the heroine’s charm and stubborn determination to save her people from ecological disaster that gave Moana its main hook. This time round there’s none to speak of
Still from Moana 2
Film: Moana 2
Cast: Auli’i Cravalho, Dwayne Johnson, Alan Tudyk, Rachel House, Temuera Morrison, Nicole Scherzinger, HualÄ lai Chung, David Fane
Director: David G. Derrick Jr., Jason Hand, Dana Ledoux Miller
Rating: 2.5/5
Runtime: 100 min.
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This sequel to the 2016 release, an animation musical, is a thinly put-together Disney-fied exercise at cash grab. The sequel merely goes through the motions of telling a half-baked story that fails to achieve any highs. The visuals are gorgeous though. This is an adventure tale with no real adventure to speak of and it also fails as a musical because the songs are easily forgettable.
Disney had plans for an animated television series but scrapped that idea in favor of a cinematic sequel and there’s also talk of a forthcoming live-action remake.
This film opens three years after the end of the first movie with Moana (Auli’i Cravalho) endeavoring to break the curse of Nalo. In order to continue her search for the mythical island of Motufetu, Moana says goodbye to mom Sina (Nicole Scherzinger), dad Tui (Temuera Morrison), and little sis Simea (Khaleesi Lambert-Tsuda), and sets sail with a new crew of wayfinders - including her pet pig and pet rooster, along with a farmer named Kele (David Fane), an architect named Loto (Rose Matafeo), and a warrior named Moni (Hualālai Chung), who idolizes the legendary Maui (Dwayne Johnson), who is being held prisoner by a witch named Matangi (Awhimai Fraser).It takes about an hour for Moana and her team to work their way across Oceania and get to Maui just as he escapes Matangi’s imprisonment.In a disappointing scripting choice Moana & Maui don’t get to interact much. Quirky animal sidekicks are cute but Maui, missing from the narrative for far too long, may not go down well with kids.
The plotting here is pretty sparse. While the cultural resonance continues to be strong, we don’t get to see Moana in a heroic light because there’s not much happening here other than encounters with a tribe of coconuts and a giant clam. The writers fail to give Moana enough to do.
The songs here don’t match up to the original either. Lin-Manuel Miranda’s original compositions for Moana were memorable. The songs in “Moana 2,” by Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear, lack appeal. The Maui tune “ Can I get a Chee Hoo?” and recurring theme song “Beyond” are just about ok. Since Miranda is missing from the credits, this was to be expected I guess.
Eight years ago it was the heroine’s charm and stubborn determination to save her people from ecological disaster that gave Moana its main hook. This time round there’s none to speak of. Moana 2, directed by Jason Hand, Dana Ledoux Miller and David G. Derrick Jr. from a screenplay by Jared Bush and Ledoux Miller, features stunning animation but it lacks the narrative emotional intimacy that made Moana such an exciting involving adventure.
The sea looks menacing, the individual characters are well-designed and the action set-pieces enthrall. Moana 2 looks terrific and that’s all we can say in its favor.
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