Content warning/Editor’s Note: This review will contain spoilers for “Moana 2.”
“Moana 2” was released in theaters on Nov. 27, following up on Moana’s life after restoring the heart of Te Fiti in the first movie. According to cinemablend.com, this film was originally going to be a Disney+ series, but was instead compacted into a less than two hour film. This choice resulted in the movie lacking suspense because small problems were made and fixed quickly as if it were many quick episodes. For example, when Moana was sailing with a new crew, they were disorganized and it was solved in a short amount of time instead of developing how they learned to behave at sea. I would’ve appreciated if new characters could’ve been more focused on throughout the movie, but instead they seemed like side characters that made many appearances.
In the first Moana movie, the main conflict was clear and the goal stayed the same the entire film. In “Moana 2,” there was a goal, but the conflict between Moana and the main antagonist, Nalo, seemed pushed to the side and unimportant. Instead of focusing the production on the villain, new characters were introduced and had little to no development, making them seem overall pointless to the plot. These new characters, like Moana’s little sister, Simena, were introduced and made out to be very important but were barely shown throughout the movie, making it obvious that they were supposed to be expanded on in the series but weren’t important enough in the film.
Early in the film, Moana is searching for people on an unpopulated island, when she finds what seems to be a clue to a civilization that used to live there. She sails back to her home island, Motunui, and expects to stay there for a while, but the gods seem to have other plans. The night she returns, there is a ceremony to signify her role as a wayfinder, but she has a vision that compels her to return to the sea, follow the fire in the sky, and help connect the lost people of the ocean and find the island Motufetū. This was an intriguing start to the movie and it made me wonder why this was happening to Moana.
In preparation for her voyage, Moana collects a team of three people from Motuni: Loto, Kele and Moni. These characters are very off-task and useless at the start of the adventure, but Moana quickly teaches them how to be helpful and prepared. I didn’t enjoy this part of the movie because it didn’t leave any time to realistically show how these new characters grew as people. Suddenly, the group believes they have found Motufetū, but are gravely mistaken when it is revealed that the island is actually a giant clam attempting to eat the Kakamora. Moana attempts to steer away from the chaos but the Kakamora capture her boat and explain that they are also looking to reunite the lost people of the ocean and find their community. This is when Moana attempts to help the Kakamora, but her boat ends up being swallowed by the clam. I liked that this film included a background story for the Kakamora and made them characters that people can feel bad for.
Inside the clam, the secondary antagonist, Matangi, is holding Maui captive. Instead of giving Moana trouble, she gives advice and encourages Moana to find new ways to surpass obstacles she comes across. This felt like an unnecessary addition of a song and a scene to the film, but later it comes into play when Moana is struggling to figure out what step to take next when faced with an obstacle. Found by Loto, Kele and Moni, Maui makes an entrance into the room before Moana opens a portal to get out of the clam. From there, this group continues across the ocean but the fire in the sky explodes and disappears. The boat is then attacked by sea monsters and the group ends up stranded on an island.
Moana experiences self-doubt and believes that her task is hopeless, but Maui convinces her otherwise and together they form a plan with the rest of their team. In the movie, there is not much elaboration on why Nalo is the villain, so it seems that the main conflict is with Moana’s doubt in herself. Nalo has hidden Motufetū in the ocean, and to reunite the lost people, Maui must pull the island up and a human must make contact with it. When the crew makes it to the location of the island, a storm made by Nalo forms. Quickly, Moana realizes that Nalo is not paying attention to Maui but instead to her and her crew, so she plans to stall while Maui pulls the island up. This was a good show of how Moana has grown and learned how to sail a boat and effectively maneuver when in crisis.
Moana notices that Maui has nearly pulled the entire island out of the water when Nalo strikes Maui with lightning, causing his tattoos to fade away and take away his demigod abilities. The island falls, but Moana is determined to finish the mission and she swims after it. Nearly out of breath, she sets a hand on the island’s peak but is struck by lightning, killing her. Maui swims after her and spirits of the people of Motunui and other wayfinders revive Moana, making her a demigod and giving her her first tattoo. I liked this addition to Moana’s character because it opens an opportunity for a third movie, but I felt that when Maui lost his powers and became human again, he was too quick to gain them back and it ended up just seeming unnecessary to the story.
Overall, the movie was visually appealing with striking colors and realistic physics and shading and could’ve had a fluid storyline if not for the movie originally coming from separate episodes. The songs in “Moana 2” were not as catchy as in the previous movie. In my opinion, this is because, unlike other Disney movies such as Moana, Frozen and Encanto, Lin Manuel Miranda did not help write the songs. The first movie sets high standards with its brilliant songs and character development. “Moana 2” did not develop the characters as much and the songs did not stand out to me. For a sequel, “Moana 2” was acceptable, but doesn’t come close to being better than the first.
