Moana 2 Lands At The Island Of Lesser Sequels
Moana 2 is aesthetically lovely. It always amazes me how much more texture and sharpness can still be added to films. The iridescence and colors in this film are beautiful and it does feel like a lot of the film’s choices were made to show this technology off, not necessarily in the best interest of the story itself. Some characters return and they add a whole host of new ones. Unfortunately, the script is messy and tonally discordant.
Now a master wayfinder, Moana (Auli’i Cravalho) and her animal sidekicks are hopping islands hoping to find more people. Maui (Dwayne Johnson) seems to be doing the kind of thing that got him banished in the first place. We find him visiting? Robbing? Flirting with? All three? A woman who appears to be made of bats. He gets taken hostage almost immediately.
There are a lot of “bits” and a surprisingly large amount of goo/vomit play, but they are followed by some of the darker moments in the film leaving you unsure how to feel. The new characters really don’t add much besides a quip here or there. Some of them spoke so fast I barely understood them. Maui speaks mostly in action figure phrases, meta jokes and as if he’ll be cross promoting Zoa Energy or WWE’s Smackdown at any moment. He has two and a half songs in this sequel and one of them is decent.
The secret sauce of the original Moana just doesn’t exist here. Don’t get me wrong, there is absolutely nothing offensive here, but it just didn’t feel as thoughtfully made. The music, while fine, is tonally very different from the first, which isn’t surprising since Lin-Manuel Miranda did not return as songwriter. The villainess’ song is a fabulous disco fusion that should be right up my alley, but I barely remember it. There’s never an emotional peak close to the height of “How Far I’ll Go.” Moana returns to her island to a song that’s trying too hard to be “Where You Are.” The only time I found myself getting emotional is when they used orchestral and choral pieces from the first film. Initially, this film was announced as a Disney+ series, and I do wonder if some of the lack of polish is due to its consolidation down into a barely 100-minute movie.
There are some genuinely touching moments shared with Moana’s family, and a strong focus on remembering our ancestors which I will always be a sucker for. The colors were great. The songs were fine but I’ll be honest with you folks, Moana 2 just didn’t seem to know what it was. It was nice to see the characters I cared about again, but I don’t think this is going to have you bellowing cheehoo anytime soon. It was fine.
I give Moana 2 (Disney Television Animation; PG; 1hr 40mins) a 2.5 out of 5.
