‘Moana 2’: Well, It’s Better Than Live-Action Disney

Moana 2 is fine. If you or your child want to see Moana 2, then you should see it and you will probably enjoy yourself.

But Moana 2 is not incredible. It is not great. You can trace many of its shortcomings–episodic plotting, vague stakes, sidelining main characters–to the fact that Disney first conceived it as a Disney+ series. It just wasn’t meant to be a movie. But they made it a movie, and here we are.

In a very similar plot to another Disney sequel Frozen II, our heroine is drawn out into mysterious terrain guided by signs from her long-dead ancestors. Elsa sang about going “Into the Unknown” while Moana belts about discovering what’s “Beyond”. This song is the strongest of the film’s original songs by Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear; however, most of the soundtrack feels like a poor imitation of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s songs from the first Moana movie. (The fact that Barlow and Bear could win the Best Original Song Oscar for “Beyond,” while Miranda has lost twice is actually mildly depressing.

We get an expanded ensemble of characters, most notably Moana’s crew who accompany her on her journey. There’s Loto (Rose Matafeo), a woman in STEM; Moni (Hualalai Chung), a historian and author of Maui fanfic; and Kele (David Fane), a cantankerous horticulturist. A cynical person might say that more characters equals more opportunities for toys and merch; although, the target audience for an action figure of an elderly farmer seems fairly niche. In the series we may have had more time to get to know each character, but the movie pushes them to the forefront despite their never having appeared on Motunui before. 

The most intriguing new character is Matangi (Awhimai Fraser), a maybe-evil, underworld-dwelling bat lady who acts as a servant to the mostly offscreen villain, Nalo the storm god. Matangi gets her own diva-slay-queen musical number, then unfortunately disappears from the movie leaving her true motivations unclear. A mid-credits cliffhanger suggests she may return next season, er, in Moana 3.

Is Moana 2 as good as Moana? No. But it stands head and shoulders above most of the theatrically released children’s fare of recent memory. 

 Auli’i Cravahlo, reprising her role as Moana, brings warmth, moxie, and vulnerability to her vocal performance. She impressed as a teen in the first movie, but now, eight years later, her singing voice has gorgeous depth and clarity. Dwayne Johnson also returns as the braggadocious demigod Maui. He still has the signature swagger; however, the ensuing years have not improved Johnson’s musicality. (I’m not sure who to blame for the shockingly bad rap during Maui’s solo number — the performer, the songwriters, or the directors who said “yeah, this is good enough.”)

And the movie looks fantastic. Every frame, from the ocean and island scenery to dream worlds and fantastical realms, is beautifully realized and visually engaging. That good ol’ Disney character design ensures all the new faces have distinct personality and appeal. There are a couple of mucous-spewing creatures, but nothing as viscerally disgusting as the cockroach man from Despicable Me 4 or the Olive Garden promos in The Garfield Movie. 

Creatively, Disney and its Pixar Animation arm are in a bit of a slump right now. Recent efforts include the widely disliked Lightyear (2022) and Elemental (2023), as well as the outright unfortunate Wish (2023), which was designed to be the studio’s 100th anniversary jewel, but ended up being its worst movie in nearly 20 years. This year’s massive box office hit Inside Out 2 was, like Moana 2, an okay sequel to a superior original. 

Judging by their slate of upcoming films, Disney’s priority is making more sequels to animated hits and re-making their animated classics as “live action” uncanny valley nightmares, including a new version of Moana currently filming. These movies have done well financially, but does anyone actually prefer the 2019 versions of Aladdin or The Lion King? Who is the audience? After seeing trailers before Moana 2, my own children pointedly told me they do NOT want to watch “the ones that look real” including this year’s big Christmas release Mufasa: The Lion King and next year’s Snow White. 

So, is Moana 2 actually a harbinger of doom? A creatively-bankrupt product indicative of prioritizing financial return over artistic risk-taking? 

No. Maybe? It’s probably just fine.