MOANA 2 REVIEW

“There’s no way around the fact that it feels awkward, forced and formulaic compared to the first movie.”

While Disney+ subscribers have had plenty of chances to watch the original 2016 Moana via streaming, it’s hard to determine whether many people watched that movie and immediately thought, “Man, I’d really love to see more within this world.” I really enjoyed everything about the movie and just as much when I rewatched recently, but maybe, checking out the sequel at 10 in the morning wasn’t my smartest move. Now, usually I’m not one to snub my nose at a sequel that basically tries to maintain many of the same things that worked in an earlier movie – see my review of Gladiator II if you don’t believe me – but there’s a point where you have to assess what worked so well in that earlier movie but throw a few curveballs to make sure it’s not the exact same movie. That’s the first big problem with Moana 2. 

This time around, Moana (once again voiced by Auli'i Cravalho) learns that there may be other islands and tribes of people out there, though they were all separated by the destructive actions of Nalo, the God of Storms. In order to revolve this, Moana forms a motley crew of villagers with little rhyme or reason to go on another journey into the sea. Before that, they decide they should locate the Dwayne Johnson-voiced Maui, who has been captured by a malevolent spirit called Matangi (voiced by Awhimai Fraser), who is surrounded by bats. Their mission after freeing Maui is to raise the sunken island of Motufetū, which can reunite all the people of the oceans.

That’s the gist of the plot for what is essentially a movie that tries its best to create the magic of the original movie, but fails in two out of the three things that worked so well there. The original Moana was a very funny musical comedy combined with the action-adventure, while Moana 2 struggles to find anything even remotely funny that wasn’t already a joke from the first movie. 

At this point, it feels kind of silly to criticize a musical for having characters break out into song, but in this case, it really feels predicable and forced, making it one of the very rare musicals where I found myself groaning internally as soon as one of the songs began. (Maui’s songs are particularly bad, and that’s because his “You’re Welcome” number from the first movie was such a stand-out.) 

(CORRECTION: I wrote the below without realizing that Lin-Manuel Miranda didn’t write the new songs for Moana 2, but instead, the songs were written by a trio who not only didn’t have much songwriting experience, but three people who clearly listened to a lot of Miranda’s work and replicated it as best they could. So yeah, Moana 2 doesn’t even real Miranda songs, so what is the effin’ point? My apologies to Mr. Miranda for thinking that he was slacking off or somehow was half-assing this one, when in fact, he didn’t write the songs at all!)

In general, it feels like Lin-Manuel Miranda is having trouble veering too far from his own songwriting formula, which essentially continues to be Sondheim 101. Since his songs were such a key role to the first Moana, it makes perfect sense to bring him back for a similar role, but there doesn’t seem to be a single song even halfway as strong and memorable as some of the great moments from the first movie. Awhimai Fraser’s song is one of the few exceptions that really jumped out at me, but she’s also a character that seems to be completely forgotten after being featured so brilliantly. Other characters, such as Moana’s annoying younger sister, don’t really click, as hard as they try to make them stand-out by building up the primary cast.

An even bigger problem with the movie is that it tries to pile on so much more mythology about the islands and the history of Moana and her people, which ultimately just bogs things down with exposition, before everyone once again break out into the song. As with the first movie, the film tries to find moments to pile on the sentimentality, but in this case, it doesn’t feel natural or organic at all, but more because it did work so well the first time around.

Where the film does excel is with its large-scale action sequences that look absolutely stunning on the big screen (including IMAX) with giant monsters and impressively-designed locations, though so much of the film relies on characters being spewed on with slime, something the movie falls back upon more than once. That’s about the level of humor to expect in this sequel to a movie that was consistently funny throughout.

Diehard fans of the original movie and younger kids who don’t know better might love Moana 2, but there’s no way around the fact that it feels awkward, forced and formulaic compared to the first movie.

Rating: 6/10

Moana 2 will open nationwide on Wednesday, November 27, but actually, it will open for previews in just two hours from right now.