‘Moana 2’: Review

Dirs: Jason Hand, Dana Ledoux Miller, David Derrick Jr. US. 2024. 100mins 

Moana 2 boasts such beautiful visuals, it’s all the more disappointing that the sequel’s story and songs struggle to keep pace. Eight years after the original, the new film features the same buoyant spark and a lively voice performance from Auli‘i Cravalho in the titular role. But what once seemed so effortlessly charming about this young wayfinder forging her own path has, in Part Two, become more convoluted and stilted — it’s a journey that, frustratingly, leads nowhere. 

Is not as bold as its heroine

Disney starts the Moana 2 global rollout with a Thanksgiving release in the US on November 27, looking to capitalise on the holiday season. Wicked could be considerable competition, but considering how beloved the 2016 original is — grossing $643 million worldwide — this sequel (which once again sports Dwayne Johnson as a wisecracking demigod) should lure significant family crowds. And, of course, there is a live-action remake of the original, also starring Johnson, planned for 2026. 

Pacific Islander Moana (Cravalho) remains a fearless explorer, excited to travel across the ocean and live a life that extends beyond just her tiny island of Motunui. In a vision, she learns from her ancient ancestors about a mythical, lost island known as Motufetu, which may hold the answer to an important question: why has Moana never encountered any other peoples in her expeditions? Recruiting a small team of friends — including over-eager Moni (Hualalai Chung) and nerdy engineer Loto (Rose Matafeo) — she sets sail to find Motufetu. Along the way, she will reunite with the lovably arrogant Maui (Johnson), who advises  that she should turn back before trying to track down Motufetu; a warning she chooses not to heed.

The new film has new directors — Jason Hand, Dana Ledoux Miller and David Derrick Jr. — and, perhaps more crucially, no songs from Lin-Manuel Miranda, who contributed several memorable tunes to the 2016 blockbuster. Composers Mark Mancina and Opetaia Foa’i, who worked on Moana, are both back for the sequel, but on the whole the soundtrack has fewer standout numbers, no matter how brightly they are sung.

Much more successful is Moana 2’s rich animation, which capitalises on the oceanic settings. Sunrises and sunsets are glorious, while a vast night-time sky full of stars enchants. The filmmakers envision the Pacific as both luminous wonder and potential terror, with fearsome storms juxtaposed alongside awe-inspiring underwater views. As expected from the film’s quest narrative, Moana meets different quirky characters and fantastical sights — the most striking is that of a giant clam, which feels like a nod to Hayao Miyazaki’s imaginative, otherworldly creatures — but the story’s episodic nature offers few genuine delights. 

Whereas the 2016 film introduced us to the precocious, willful Moana, with the screenplay gently satirising the conventions of Disney animation (which often features plucky princesses), Moana 2 doesn’t possess a similarly effective emotional arc or sharp comedic thrust. Moana’s new adventure feels perfunctory and overly complicated, stifling the charisma Cravalho brings to her buoyant character. And while Johnson was a welcome addition to the original, providing comic relief as a powerful shapeshifter who is secretly quite insecure, here his sarcastic quips come across as strained. (Not helping matters are some pseudo-hip jokes, like one about butt-dialing that’s meant to be endearingly anachronistic.)  

Buried underneath Moana 2’s subpar plot is a potentially poignant idea about people’s need to connect — to go beyond the borders of their small communities to seek out like-minded souls. Moana isn’t simply trying to safeguard her island but, rather, continue her mission from the first picture to have new experiences and not be held back by a fear of the unknown. It feels ironic that Moana 2 is not as bold as its heroine, returning to this sumptuous milieu but lacking her adventurous spirit.