Moana graced theatres in 2016 and gave Disney fans another iconic protagonist amidst a great story filled with terrific songs. Development later began for a limited series for Disney+ following up the first film, but somewhere along the road that idea was shifted to a theatrical film, leaving us with Moana 2 this week.
After her ancestors send a call to Moana, she and a team of islanders (one of whom is very reluctant) set sail to find a lost island that is said to bring the people of the ocean together. Along the way they face the dangers of the long-lost waters and mysterious characters.
I love the first film, the voice acting is perfect, the story is powerful, and as I said before the music is amazing. This is ultimately a film that feels like less care and effort was put into it. It ultimately feels like a rehash of a lot of the first film's qualities but just not as good. You can kind of tell this was initially meant to be on streaming, as the visuals are just not quite up to par with the amazing animation from the first film. It doesn't look bad by any means, but there's a level of quality that this just doesn't quite hit.
The biggest thing holding this back is the plot. For the most part it feels like it's just treading water coming off of the first film. None of the characters really show any growth or change, and ultimately I didn't find the main story all that compelling. It isn't bad by any means, I still had a good time, but the film is sorely lacking a strong antagonist. The villain is essentially a faceless cloud of storm, and the crew's journey is given a purpose, but where the first film had stakes that felt dire, I just didn't feel that there. The narrative is just repeating a lot of beats which let me down. I have no problem with a film playing in similar territory, but Disney showed with Frozen II that they could take a success and send it down a vastly different path with success, and this sadly just stays very tight to the first film.
There's still a ton to enjoy here, and I did ultimately like it. While not as strong, the visuals and songs are still quite good. None of the songs will etch themselves into pop culture like the first film, but they were all strong. The film introduces a handful of new characters and I was a fan of them all. None get much of any development though, and one is introduced as a seeming secondary antagonist only to wind up helping Moana and then completely disappearing from the film. It's a shame because it was a truly cool character that ultimately felt like the writers didn't know what to do with. They make up for it though introducing Moana's little sister who is absolutely adorable.
Ultimately this is just lacking the something special that the first one had, but still offers a good time. Just decent all around. 3/5
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