Moana 2

Why were audiences so angry at Moana 2? The original 2016 Disney film didn’t blow people away out the gate but steadily grew a legacy on Disney+, becoming a popular baby-siting option for parents which led to several repeat viewings and by extension, a lot of viewership.  It’s no surprise then that a sequel was put into place, but upon its release in 2024, the responses were not very harmonious. With a weak critical reception and a lot of unsatisfied viewers, this should just be another example of Disney fumbling a successful property, but something about this film made people go rabid, and it’s worth looking over to see what specifically spurned it on.

Set three years after the first film, Moana (voiced again by Auliʻi Cravalho) continues to search for other islands in the hopes of uniting all the tribes together, but this forces her away from her island and her family, including her new little sister, Simea (voiced by Khaleesi Lambert-Tsuda). After being crowned the island’s wayfinder, the ceremony is interrupted by a call from her ancestors, who inform Moana of a place known as Motufetu that once connected all surrounding islands but was sunk in a malicious storm concocted by the storm god, Nalo, killing all who tried to find it (including her ancestors). Wishing to locate Motufetu in order to achieve her goal, Moana sets out with her animal companions and a new crew, including a ship builder named Loto (voiced by Rose Matafeo), a crotchety elderly farmer named Kele (voiced by David Fane), and a myth enthusiast named Moni (voiced by Hualālai Chung). On a quest that could change the fate of her people, Moana journeys into unchartered waters, putting her on the path of Maui (voiced again by Dwayne Johnson) as well as other mischievous gods who wish to stop her plans of reuniting the tribes.

Moana 2 isn’t really discussed about by families, nor did it do that great with critics, but the fact that it earned over $1 billion dollars at the box office has forced it to be relevant. While it doesn’t feel like a movie that should illicit anger, it is definitely worth feeling disappointed over, as it is a rushed out, poorly written, awkwardly conceived picture that doesn’t do justice to its predecessor.

One of the main criticism this film faced is how corporate it feels, with Disney seemingly shipping out an unfinished product just for the purpose of suckering in unsuspecting youths who’d be more than willing to throw away their money for a brand they previously loved wholeheartedly. While this might sound like a cynical viewpoint, it isn’t entirely wrong as this was originally a long-form Disney+ series that was later retooled after Disney CEO, Bob Iger, saw potential in what they were creating. While that might seem like faith in the creatives, another way to spin it is realizing they would be throwing a potential money-maker onto their streaming service for free, so it’s hard to pretend that wasn’t on their minds when making the switch. This doesn’t have to mean an automatic failure, but considering the choice was made in the same year the film came out, that’s not enough time to properly reconstruct the necessary areas, and you can feel that while watching.

With a narrative that constantly loses focus and continually establishes and drops plot details and character motivations at a whim, this narrative written by screenwriter, Jared Bush, alongside co-writer and co-director, Dana Ledoux Miller, and Bek Smith, feels very weak and isn’t a meaningful continuation of the last film (which played things very safely, but did treat its story and characters with a sense of weight and meaning). It’s fitting that this would feel very similar to the direct-to-DVD sequels Disney released in the past, with a plot not befitting of a continuation, characters that don’t develop and devolve into one-note versions of themselves, a heavier focus on comedic escapades rather than impactful storytelling, music that is very up in the air in terms of quality, and a sense that nothing will have lasting consequences or stakes going forward (even when the scenario and narrative consequences should feel large and impactful). The script written by Bush and Miller makes some baffling decisions that come out of nowhere, the film’s obvious edited-down length means several elements, arcs and even characters get forgotten about, the directing by Miller, Jason Hand and David Derrick Jr. tries to replicate the style of the first film, but lacks the gravitas that came with it, and while harmless and an innocent sit that won’t bother children, they probably won’t remember it after said viewing.

The first film, while a solid flick, felt a little basic in regard to its story and characters due to following a very standard checklist associated with Disney princess films. This sequel ironically doesn’t suffer this problems thanks to trying something more out-of-left-field, but much like Frozen 2 (another Disney sequel that made enormous money, but was sloppily put together from a storytelling and character perspective), being unpredictable doesn’t always mean more adult and mature, instead being the equivalent of blindingly flying too close to the sun without protection. Moana as a lead works a bit better in this sequel as she no longer feels tied to the checklist and feels more mature and comfortably defined. While her purpose and motivation aren’t as strong, this movie did help prove she’s a solid main character that you want to follow. Her scenes with other characters are handled well, her older design makes her look different but still recognizable, and Auliʻi Cravalho does a very good job voicing the role and has an exceptional singing voice that has greatly matured since the first film, it’s a good showcase of her at the very least.

The rest of the cast are sadly not as well handled, and this is another component that plagued the first film. While none were downright awful, most felt very cliched and didn’t have good writing to make them feel like anything other than tools for the plot. This film fixes this a little but suffers an even worse repercussion as now everybody outside of Moana feels useless. The animal sidekicks, Hei-Hei and Pua, are entirely pointless and are very easy to forget about when not on screen, Moana’s crew aren’t unlikeable and occasionally have character but are written pretty flatly and clearly had more relevance in the show before it was edited, and even Maui feels like an added-in cameo rather than someone who impacts the story. Even the quote-on-quote antagonists aren’t really a factor, and it’s really distracting when the climax arrives and there’s no investment in the threat whatsoever. Nalo is constantly mentioned yet remains absent for the whole picture outside of a post-credit scene, and despite the character of Matangi (voiced by Awhimai Fraser) looking like the main villain from the advertising, she’s barely featured which is a shame as she could’ve worked. She has a cool design, Fraser brings a lot of character to the role, her manic hyperactive nature is pretty well animated, and she even has a cool villain song, but her lack of relevance neuters what could’ve been an interesting character.

For a sequel that came out eight years after the first film, you’d figure the visuals and spectacle would be improved, but whether its due to the first film’s overall strong visual quality, or from the fact that this was originally a television series, it doesn’t feel like that massive an upgrade. It doesn’t necessarily look bad as it still has vibrant colors, flowing expressions and movements, and a slightly weakened but still noticeable sense of scale, but the situations don’t lend way to a lot of spectacular visuals, the song sequences do have nice moments of atmosphere and energy, but not so much in terms of creativity, and while the characters are expressive, they feel simplified with more plastic textures, copied movements , and like tv-quality rather than cinema-quality. It isn’t a massive downgrade but doesn’t offer any upgrade.

The editors, Michael Louis Hill and Jeremy Milton, arguably have just as important a role as the directors since they would’ve been responsible for condescending a show into a film, and while they did their best given the situation, it doesn’t really work out. The scenes often feel choppy, certain cuts feel too rapid and abrupt (especially in the opening) and just from a basic pacing level, some scenes don’t feel like they naturally fit into the flow of the story and rather part of another subplot that would’ve been present in the show. The music was not handled by Lin-Manuel Miranda this time around, but instead by Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear, whose biggest rise to fame was their involvement in writing music for the concept album, The Unofficial Bridgerton Musical. Despite feeling different, the songs themselves aren’t necessarily bad numbers, as they have decent beats, the lyrics can be overwritten but are phrased fairly well, the singing is quite good, and paired against the musical score handled again by Mark Mancina and Opetaia Foaʻi, it does still have that Pacific Islander sound that made the original feel distinct, but regardless, they do all start to sound the same after a while, the melodies can be a little too quick to respond to, and while sounding nice, they’re fairly forgettable after the first listen.

Moana 2 doesn’t feel like a movie warranting of hate, but it seems like people are just frustrated that Disney was able to succeed with their plan of placing an unfinished tv series on the big screen and being able to make $1 billion dollars out of it. It’s this element that feels truly scummy and even manipulative, believing that people will fall for an undercooked piece of media just because it’s attached to a familiar IP, but it’s hard to say that it didn’t work. Moana 2 is just a showcase of a bad loophole practice rather than containing any truly garbage qualities, with the film perfectly operating as a mindless waste of time, but for a studio known for creativity and pushing boundaries, and an original feature that might’ve be small, but was held in the hearts of many, that isn’t good enough. The story is regressive, the characters don’t leave much of an impression, the visuals and emotions are weakened, the music isn’t as memorable, and even if some kids might be entertained enough, they will get a lot more out of the first film, so it’d be best just to stick with that. There’s no telling how far Moana will go as a franchise, but let’s hope the next attempt has a little more effort put behind it.