I was hesitant to see “Moana 2”, as the response I kept hearing was that the story and songs were subpar and that it was another sequel that didn’t live up to its predecessor.
After a month of discovering the show was sold out, this became my last theater experience for 2024, with my young daughter in tow.
It turns out that low expectations were not necessary. “Moana 2” isn’t perfect, but it’s still a powerful and charming sequel that honors and expands on the legacy of the original.
We see how Moana’s newfound fame has affected her. A newly christened master wayfinder has been tasked with confronting an imminent threat by her people. The plot is rather complex, as it involves uniting an island chain and defeating an unseen supervillain. It’s also simple, as everyone in the main cast knows what’s expected of them.
While Moana (Auli’i Cravalho) assembles a new team, as well as her veteran friends (aka Maui’s “boat snacks”), her best friend and a magical grappling-wielding demigod is captured by a strange sea creature.
Reports about the movie “Moana 2” It started out as a movie made for Disney+ (The modern equivalent of “The Return of Jafar” or “Cinderella II” going “direct to video”) left me unsure if I wanted to see this in the theater. It is worth noting that Toy Story 2 (1999) also began with small screen origins before it was also remade into a theatrical film.
Here, the bigger narrative that tells us this was meant for the smaller screen is that almost all of the key scenes are too long. It seems the decision was to make this bigger by expanding the majority of the sequences.
The best scenes are charming and play out as fully as one would hope, but the same can be said for the show’s action-packed moments. It takes Moana longer than expected to begin her big journey and longer than necessary to get the expected pep talk to push her through adversity.
If there’s a problem with a story like this, it’s that any major obstacle facing Moana and Maui can be solved by magic, a plot device that reduces suspense. I doubt the target audience knows (or cares) what a Deus Ex Machine He is.
Yes, the new tunes lack the rhythm of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s original, or worse, try too hard to fit his style. Fortunately, “Moana 2” is more of a comedy than a musical.
For all the expected moving pieces here (the Disney princesses’ journey, the villain who aims to dominate, the cute animal companions, the occasional funny pauses, etc.) the best scenes offer new approaches. I love the return of Kakamura and the new “T2”-like angle of the coconut warrior becoming an asset.
The sequence in which Kakamura uses a coconut to explain their final plans is not only funny, but also brilliantly choreographed. The expanded focus on the Motunui people in the first act allows for more comedy (the angry farmer steals a lot from this film) and welcome character development.
It’s worth noting that the demigod Maui doesn’t appear for much of the first act, but the movie is still cooking with gas without him. Once Johnson’s vocal performance takes center stage in the second and third acts, he shines just as he did in the first film.
Johnson has been on autopilot for years in most of his films, but the work he does here is honest, even sentimental at times. I’m looking forward to seeing Johnson do something completely different and give a real dramatic stretch in Benny Safdie’s 2025 drama, “The Smashing Machine.”
On the other hand, I never complained when Clint Eastwood played his Dirty Harry role over and over again, so I don’t know why I would want Johnson back in the drama (oh, wait, I remember – because I saw Red One!).
The massive box office consumption suggests that large numbers of moviegoers saw this in theaters and didn’t wait for the inevitable Disney+ release. This is encouraging, as visuals are essential for the big screen.
It’s easy to compare “Moana 2” to another Disney holiday hit sequel, “Frozen 2” (2019) — I’m happy to report that the second chapter of Moana and Maui is much better than “Frozen 2” (which includes the song “Into the Unknown “, which is one of the loudest, most ear-splitting musical tunes in the entire Disney library).
The final scene in “Moana 2” is an ambitious setup for the third act and is a refreshing change of pace compared to most of the last-minute Easter eggs I’ve seen. The closing scene feels like a witty, promising, well-crafted preview of the next movie rather than a tired commercial.
This is a nice change of pace!
Three stars