Moana 2 (2024, dirs. David G. Derrick Jr., Jason Hand and Dana Ledoux Miller)

by Jack Martin | Nov 29, 2024

Certificate: PG

Running Time: 100 mins

UK Distributor: Disney

UK Release Date: 29 November 2024

WHO’S IN MOANA 2?

Auliʻi Cravalho, Dwayne Johnson, Temuera Morrison, Nicole Scherzinger, Khaleesi Lambert-Tsuda, Rose Matafeo, David Fane, Hualālai Chung, Rachel House, Awhimai Fraser, Gerald Ramsey, Alan Tudyk

WHO’S BEHIND THE CAMERA?

Dana Ledoux Miller (director, writer), David G. Derrick Jr. and Jason Hand (directors), Jared Bush (writer), Christina Chen, Yvett Merino and Osnat Shurer (producers), Opetaia Foa’I and Mark Mancina (composers), Michael Louis Hill and Jeremy Milton (editors)

WHAT’S IT ABOUT?

Moana (Cravalho) and the demigod Maui (Johnson) set sail on a new oceanic adventure…

WHAT ARE MY THOUGHTS ON MOANA 2?

Long before live-action remakes became Disney’s easiest get-rich(er)-quick scheme, the company developed numerous direct-to-video sequels to some of their most beloved classics in order to capitalise on their world-famous brand. Who could forget such follow-ups as Lady and the Tramp II: Scamp’s Adventure? Or The Little Mermaid: Ariel’s Beginning? Or even The Lion King 1½?

But while most of them were produced as standalone features, some of them were clearly formed from numerous proposed or cancelled TV spin-offs. Belle’s Magical World is a pretty notorious one, as was Tarzan & Jane and even Atlantis: Milo’s Return, all of which attempted to save face by stitching numerous episodes together and calling it a sequel.

Moana 2 very much falls into that category, for it was originally announced as a long-form series for Disney+, until unforeseen circumstances – namely, the fact that the studio has seen a number of underperformances over the last few years and needed a surefire box office hit to recoup some of its losses – led to it being redeveloped as a theatrical sequel. From a business perspective, it certainly makes sense, especially as Disney appears to be pivoting further and further away from its own streaming platform. Artistically, on the other hand, it does render Moana 2 a bit of a blatant cash-grab – not an outright terrible one, like a lot of the other Disney sequels tended to be, but nonetheless one that remains rather cynical in its existence.

The film picks up with the titular Wayfinder (voiced once again by Auliʻi Cravalho) as she’s continuing to explore the vast oceans in search of fellow inhabitants. She eventually finds evidence of a connective island that has since been lost and decides to use her navigation skills in order to find it, bringing together a small crew including craftswoman Loto (Rose Matafeo), elderly farmer Keke (David Fane), and Moana’s old demigod friend Maui (Dwayne Johnson) to help her on the perilous journey. Along the way, they of course encounter plenty of obstacles, from giant sea creatures to angry lightning gods, and perhaps the greatest challenge of all: a reason for this movie to exist, aside from the obvious ones.

Nobody is saying, least of all myself, that making a follow-up to a wildly popular film like Moana is a terrible idea. But in this case, there really needed to be a stronger idea for one in place, because the one that they’re going with here – clearly taken and reshaped from what would have been that Disney+ series – is fairly muted for a big-screen outing. It has the kind of narrative that might have worked better as a long-form show, one that expands more on the characters, the themes, the threats, the stakes et al, all of which are present but not given nearly as much breathing space in a contained feature, rendering most of them either rushed or wildly underdeveloped.

Because of that, you’re nowhere near as invested or even as entertained as you may have been during the original film. That movie did better at making its characters more interesting and engaging, whereas here you like them enough, but beyond that they don’t leave much of an impression, especially the newer additions who mostly serve as narrative filler. You can certainly get behind Moana and Maui because you’ve already spent an entire movie getting to know them and understand their dynamic, not to mention the respective vocal performances of Auliʻi Cravalho and Dwayne Johnson are still very charming, though the others are left shorthanded by the move to feature from series, where they might have had more of an opportunity to feel fleshed out as much as the leads.

There was also a grander sense of scale in the first Moana film, with the vast oceanic landscapes adding a lot of depth and beauty to the film, something that the stellar animation certainly helped bring to life. In Moana 2, the animation is still strong, and often very colourful, but it feels much more contained in its overall scope – again, probably due to the fact that it started out as someone you’d watch at home rather than the cinema – which diminishes the epic feeling you got from before. It makes the ocean feel much smaller than it actually is, since everything in this movie seems to happen within a few nautical miles of one another, whereas before you really felt like our titular hero had truly travelled quite a distance from everyone and everything she knows.

Even the songs, this time by songwriting duo Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear, aren’t quite as memorable or instantly catchy as they were when Lin-Manuel Miranda was handling that department. Some tunes are fine enough, and props to Barlow and Bear for doing their best to replicate their predecessor’s work, but there’s a noticeable lack of an equivalent to the likes of “How Far I’ll Go” or “You’re Welcome” this time around. The music overall is fairly forgettable, including a musical score that barely leaves an impression, which for a sequel to a film which is mostly remembered for its music is quite an astonishing oversight.

It should be more than obvious by now that Moana 2 is nowhere near the same level as the original, and is clearly unable to escape its televisual origins, even after being refitted for cinemas to earn Disney an easy box office ride. Still, in a world where Belle’s Magical World exists, this is hardly the worst case of Disney half-heartedly slapping together a movie out of a defunct TV show. And at least it’s better than last year’s Wish.

SO, TO SUM UP…

Moana 2 is passable family entertainment, but in direct comparison with its much better predecessor, not to mention its inescapable televisual origins, it barely catches a wave.