Moana took his the world by storm about 8 years ago. It had a visual style like no other Disney animated film before it. It had catchy yet memorable songs like “You’re Welcome” and “How Far I’ll Go” written by the incomparable Lin Manuel Miranda and sung to perfection by Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Auli’li Cravahlo. This film was an instant hit with fans and critics alike. So naturally Disney would greenlight a sequel right? Not exactly. Moana 2 was originally set to be a streaming show on Disney Plus before it was changed to a film. I don’t know if that showed enough confidence or not, but the sequel is finally coming out this week in theaters.

Moana (Auli’i Cravalho) is now a wave rider. She surfs the ocean with her trusty friends, a pig and a chicken. She has the blessing of her island tribe, but she notices something that isn’t right in the world. She can’t find other islands with tribes on them like hers. She sets out on a mission to discover the reason why with a crack crew of helpers from her tribe. Along the way, they encounter a giant claim, a tribe of killer coconut men with poisonous blow-dart guns, and large treacherous storms that get in their way.  They find Maui (Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson) along their travels and he helps them on their mission.

For a portion of the movie, the two main characters are separated and eventually come together in the second act of the story. This gives both of them time to shine on their own, but it takes away from the fun banter and chemistry the two have with each other. Johnson is great doing comedy and witty banter off of a co-star. Here he tries that a bit on his own at the beginning of the film, but it doesn’t work as well as it did in other movies for him. This is more of a Moana story than a Maui story. With the film originally slated as a television series, there is a distinct quickness to the scenes including Johnson’s scenes.  This is a hodgepodge of scenes thrown together to make a movie. Not a cohesive story.

One thing about the first Moana was the memorable songs aforementioned.  This film has some songs, but I couldn’t tell you what they were called to save my life. Both of the main characters have songs they sing like in the first film, but they’re not as catchy as the ones in the first movie.  I was whistling “You’re Welcome” for days after hearing it in the first film. I don’t think I’ll be singing these songs a moment after I left the theater. That’s a shame because the music of a Disney animated films is a staple.  They are woven into the fabric of our culture. Without catchy and memorable songs this sequel will fade away pretty quickly I’m afraid.

The one thing about this sequel I did like quite a bit was the animation. The tribe’s people looked amazing. Their skin and facial features had fantastic texture and realism. The island looked like I could have stepped on it with my own feet. The water felt very real as well. The animation is the best part of this Disney film. The tattoos on Maui’s body came vividly to life, but weren’t as fun to watch as in the first movie. Other than that all the characters looked fantastic. Disney spared no money on the animation for this sequel to the popular film from 2016. Sadly, everything  else couldn’t be this good in the film.

As far as the awards contention for Moana 2 I’d say they were washed out to sea. There are at least five or six such as The Wild Robot, Flow, Memoir of A Snail, Inside Out 2, and Transformers One, other more deserving animated films that should be in the discussion for Best Animated Feature at next year’s Academy Awards. Films with innovative styles and visual looks to them that attracted me more. The music in some others was also better than the music in this film. I don’t see Moana 2 being an awards contender at all. Maybe it’ll be a good box-office contender but that’s it. 

In the first Moana, there was a story with stakes and characters I could gravitate towards. It felt like this sequel was Disney trying to capture the magic from the first film. They even had a side villain like the evil bat lady Sina voiced by Nicole Scherzinger. The overall threat was a natural disaster similar to the first movie as well. I hate to say it, but this felt like a cheap knockoff of the original Moana. I didn’t care as much for the journey the main characters go on and the music didn’t interest me at all. The songs won’t be in my mind like they were in the last film that’s for sure. The voice actors just seemed like they were going through the motions on this one, I’m afraid. Lacking the talented Lin Manuel Miranda and the original directors hurt this sequel a lot. I could feel this one didn’t have as much heart in it as the last one did. I’m sure parents will still take kids to see it over the Thanksgiving weekend, but I think it fails after people start telling their family and friends it’s not that good. Or as good as the original for that matter.

2 stars

Dan Skip Allen