Review: ‘Moana 2’ Isn’t Very Good But That Hardly Matters to Disney

Moana 2 was never supposed to exist. The follow-up to the beloved 2016 Oscar-nominated animated film was meant to be a long-form miniseries exclusive to Disney+. That seemed like a great idea, a strong format that would allow the intrepid eponymous wanderer to explore and find lots of new adventures. Then, in February of this year, Bob Iger announced that the series had been reworked into a theatrical sequel. They were apparently so impressed with the early footage they saw that they just had to clumsily rework it into a movie that could be released in theatres.

Aside from what this says about the sheer lack of faith Disney seems to have in its own streaming platform, it’s tough to ignore how radical a shift was required for the team making the Moana series to rejig it into a movie in the space of less than a year. Their efforts were valiant, but Moana 2 is a pale imitation of its lovely predecessor. Then again, I’m not sure it could have been anything else.

Set three years after the first film, Moana (Auliʻi Cravalho) is now exploring the islands around her home of Motunui in hopes of finding other peoples connected to the ocean. The intertwining communities of yore are now gone after the devious storm god Nalo sunk the isle of Motufetu, which connected them all, and let it sink to the bottom of the sea. Moana receives a warning that, unless Motufetu is raised from the ocean bed, their communities will go extinct. So begins another adventure, but now she has a crew to help her. Of course, she’ll also need to find Maui (Dwayne Johnson.)

The disjointed nature of the overall narrative is tough to ignore. Some scenes seem cut together ill-fittingly, while others build to nothing. There’s a curious lack of tension for the first two acts, most notable in the scenes involving Matangi (voiced by Maori performer Awhimai Fraser), the kinda villain who completely disappears within a minute of her big number. It seems as though she was being set up to be an overarching figure in the series, a tricksy figure whose loyalties cannot immediately be understood. But in the context of a 100-minute film made out of three or four episodes of an unaired show, she is both needless and distracting. Her song seems like it’s meant to be akin to the ‘Love is an Open Door’ moment in Frozen, but it’s all for naught. It’s a shame since Fraser has the pipes and her character design is intriguing; just don’t get too attached.

Moana also has a crew this time around: Moni (Hualalai Chung), a storyteller with a man-crush on Maui who draws fanart of him; the chatterbox Loto (Rose Matafeo), who’s a dab hand at fixing things; and Kele (David Fane), a grouchy old farmer who’s apparently there to cultivate food for the crew but is never really seen doing so. There’s not much to this team, which feels more put together by committee than Moana’s animal friends (who are still here, and yes, the chicken still gets most of the best laughs.) Don’t expect any conflict from this dynamic, though. Minor things happen and they move on, almost like they were designed to be episodic in nature or something. There’s a shoehorned-in message about working together, which is inoffensive enough but takes away from Moana’s arc. Then again, said arc is mostly a retread of what she went through in the first film: she’s doubting her abilities to go the distance, she’s unsure of the way, and so on. Maui doesn’t fare much better, and his ‘I’m The Rock’ charm is far less interesting without the warmth of his relationship with Moana (they’re apart for the first half.)

Also, there’s more of those coconut creatures in this because someone at Disney really wants to make those things into their version of the Minions.

One of the reasons Moana soared so effortlessly was because of the songs by Lin-Manuel Miranda. Look, I know there’s this weird backlash to the multi-award-winning composer because he’s a cheesy theatre kid but come on, apologize to that man. You want to know what you get when you’ve been forced to hire the cheapest ‘we’ve got LMM at home’ version of songwriting? This movie. All the songs are dull, the lyrics are lazy, and they do almost nothing to advance plot and character. Barlow and Bear, the pair behind the songs, are not ready for primetime (sorry to fans of The Unofficial Bridgerton Musical.)

Credit to the animators who were overworked to make this happen because a lot of this film does look gorgeous. The final act, in particular, where the stakes are real and the action has some proper energy to it, is a fine example of this. But mostly, it just doesn’t seem as vibrant or dazzling as its predecessor. It feels, of course, like a smaller-scale continuation of the same that was meant for a different medium. Disney used to get credit among fans and critics for taking their time with their animated films because they knew they were the jewel in their studio’s heavy crown. Rush jobs will always look and feel like one. What should feel like an enrichening expansion of this world seems so stifled.

As of the time of writing this review, Moana 2 has already grossed over $386.3 million worldwide. That’s well over double its reported budget of $150 million. It was always going to be a mega-hit and Disney will feel happy about their decision to hastily reimagine this series into a movie sequel. They see it as a brand expansion exercise that’ll keep five-year-olds happy. And in fairness, the kids in my screening seemed to have a very good time. But this cannot help but feel like a company learning all the wrong lessons. Disney has noted plans to double down on even more sequels, including Toy Story 5, over developing more original works. Moana was a success because it felt like a fresh spin on their classic formula, and a chance for worldwide audiences to see something culturally specific that they otherwise might not have watched. If Moana were to get a real sequel, one with a story developed for cinema from the ground up, things would feel different. As it is, what we have is so derivative and transparently corporate that it bums me out. But hey, it did what Disney wanted it to do, so to them, it doesn’t really matter. They want it to not matter, but frankly, I think kids deserve more than that.

Moana 2 is in theatres now.