I love Moana.
The 2016 film is an undeniable masterpiece with excellent music and an inspiring uplifting story. We fell in love with Moana (Auli’i Cravalho), her culture, her family, screaming chicken Hei-Hei, cute emotional piglet Pua, and charismatic demi-god Maui (Dwayne Johnson). So, when I heard that Moana was a getting a cinematic sequel with Moana 2, I was excited.
However, what I didn’t know was that the sequel to Moana was initially intended to be a long-form limited streaming series on Disney+. This was later reworked to be a theatrical release by February this year. Unfortunately, although Moana 2 does have a great story and its own unique charm, its prepared itself for failure for various reasons, and I’ll tell you why.
Firstly, its execution is poor for obvious reasons above. The visuals at the beginning of the film in comparison to the end are quite noticeable as half the film isn’t as crisp, clearly made for TV, while the finale is visibly gorgeous and as stunning as its cinematic predecessor.
Music wise, although no complaints on the score, there are far too many songs in Moana 2. This is coming from someone who loves musicals! Some of the songs feel so unnecessarily placed and forced, and it’s probably due to Moana 2’s initial intended episodic structure.
By removing this format and turning this Moana sequel piece into a feature length film, Moana 2 often feels overwhelming and almost suffocating at times with its unimpressive songs. Some of the lyrics aren’t even coherent for half the time, which was extremely disappointing. Plus, nothing feels original with the film’s new songwriters rehashing a lot of the styles, motifs and lines from the first movie that almost feel and sound like blatant plagiarism. Especially considering that the songwriters and composers (Mark Mancina, Opetaia Foa’I, Abigail Barlow, Emily Bear) in Moana 2 aren’t even the same ones as the first movie.
Honestly, I really wonder how Lin-Manuel Miranda feels about all this. More animated musical sequels should take a leaf out of Frozen 2, which successfully provided new songs that were completely different and original in comparison to its pioneering counterpart.
The pacing is also all off, once again for obvious reasons previously addressed, plus we have completely different directors this time around consisting of Dana Ledoux Miller, Jason Hand, and David Derrick Jr. I imagine that episodes would have spent more time getting to know the new characters that help Moana, but I left the film not remembering any of their names.
Even the villain has no depth. We are told what they’re doing, we are told why they’re doing it, but do we ever see them? Do we ever witness their perspective? Do we ever even get to know them? No. With an after credits scene showing the villain characters again, hinting to a sequel or an actual series this time, none of it feels earned nor worth investing in after such a messy jigsaw of a movie.
Look, if you love Moana and want to know more about her new adventure, and see her family and friends again after the happenings of the first film, then Moana 2 is still a decent look. Despite Moana 2 feeling choppy and rushed, its wholesome story still does manage to shine through, but only just.
It is a massive shame that this Moana sequel wasn’t intended to be a feature length cinematic release from the start. It could have been so much more than what it is now. Moana 2’s existence in this final format is an extreme disservice to the beloved phenomenon that the 2016 original film worked so hard to passionately build and respectfully create. While I am grateful that Moana 2 has a theatrical release regardless, it pains me to share that it is not the follow-up film that the courageous Wayfinder deserved.