While out exploring the islands around Motunui, Moana (Auliʻi Cravalho) discovers an old jar adorned with carvings that supports the existence of Motufetu, an island which was used as a way point for the neighboring tribes but has since been shrouded by storms from Nalo (Tofiga Fepulea’i), the storm god.  After receiving a vision of Tautai (Gerald Ramsey), a wayfinder who perished in his quest to find Motufetu, Moana knows that it is her destiny to travel to the island and quell Nalo’s vicious storms.  She can not do it alone, though, and in addition to Hei Hei (Alan Tudyk) and Pua, she recruits ship builder Loto (Rose Matafeo), farmer Kele (David Fane), and historian Moni (Hualālai Chung), along with her trusty demigod adventure partner, Maui (Dwayne Johnson), who has his own reasons for traveling to the storm-cloaked island. 

Originally conceived as a streaming series for Disney+ in 2020, Moana 2 was a surprise addition to Disney‘s 2024 theatrical slate when the title was announced at CinemaCon earlier that same year.  Because of its convoluted origins, the convoluted process of animation, and even more convoluted crediting bylaws, David G. Derrick Jr., Jason Hand, and Dana Ledoux Miller all received recognition from the DGA for this title, with the latter along with Jared Bush receiving writing credits for the script.  While many of the original cast, as well as composers Mark Mancina and Opetaia Foaʻi returned to Montunui, Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear were tasked with songwriting for the sequel; no easy feat given the incredible popularity of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s work in the 2016 original.  Despite some shakeups below the line and the massive expansion of the world, Moana 2 feels like a rather seamless extension of its beloved predecessor. 

Running an even 100 minutes – 7 less than Moana’s first adventure – the film sets out to expand the world and discover new neighboring tribes, while also working to develop a jealousy and vengeance plot hatched by the gods, the effects of which has caused the tearing apart of Moana’s island nation.  While the films themes are ultimately geared more towards a kumbaya-globalist idea of colonialism, it is a message of unity that is not fully developed by the story team, but coming from the studio who forged their legacy on true loves first kiss, this cursory examination is par for the course.  What makes this standout whereas other Disney titles can often get a pass is because Moana 2 is trying to do so much with its plot that the paper thin nature of it all becomes the only thing we can focus on.  In our effort to understand and weigh what is important, we discover the trick that the script is simply overwhelming us with flashy ideas that do not connect or build the narrative up in a satisfying way. 

The biggest example of this does not even have anything to do with its poorly defined and contextualized themes, but in its basic plotting and villain arc.  Maui, a key figure in the plot, is introduced as a captive of Matangi (Awhimai Fraser) who is working in service of Nalo.  Her presence is beguiling at best, throwing some roadblocks in the way of Moana and also working Maui back into a story which Johnson was clearly too self-important for when it was a straight-to-streaming series.  A rather toothless villain in the story, she disappears from the narrative entirely around the halfway point after her song and then does not return until a mid-credits stinger that teases at a third instalment that will actually resolve this whole Nalo plot.  As presented, one would expect a confrontation with Nalo once Moana braves the vicious storm and reaches Motufetu, but the vengeful god is hardly mentioned during the calamity and at a certain point during the climax, seemingly forgotten about by the screenwriters as the action takes a considerable shift into new territory, practically abandoning the plots that came before it. 

The protagonists of this story share in a lopsided screentime along with the antagonists in a bit of narrative solidarity.  Beyond Maui’s relative absence from the front half of the action, Moana also finds herself separated from her crew leaving them to their own devices and audiences, at least briefly, to forget whose film they are sitting down to watch.  A symptom of the film’s root as a series, the expanded cast all do well enough in fleshing out their roles with clear strengths and weakness that almost all come into play across their journey; they just do not have enough room to breathe, either aboard their tiny raft or crammed into this bloated arc. 

As far as the visuals go, the color palate inspires the imagination to conjure up warm, pacific breezes; a welcome respite from the cold spell ahead of the oncoming winter and a tease of summer to come.  Most of the backgrounds also help to wrap us in this warm sensation be it the pristine greens and blues of the island against the ocean, and streaks of galactic purple to indicate the fantastic power of the gods.  Where the visuals begin to falter is in the character design and when the film is trying to show a populous.  Even when the camera is close in on one of the human characters, the skin texture is uncomfortably smooth, and while not quite as blocky as a videogame character, the overall character design still feels rugged and obtuse.  This style mostly only touches the speaking characters as the background characters have their own affliction to contend with  Often times the islanders and standing still or mildly bumping into each other to give the allusion of some life, but in this way, the televised, secondary animation is impossible not to notice.  This is not to be taken as a slight against the artists behind the film, but rather a symptom of the suits changing course midway through a production, expanding it in ways it was not intended, and then not funding the various teams appropriately to bring this vision to life which will all just add to the title’s profitability so Disney can claim 2024 as a bit of a victory lap and Iger can stick a feather in his cap as the savior of the Mouse House.  The title’s success will be heralded as a return to form, if you will, ignoring that it is just that; a return instead of an innovation.  

Simply put, Moana 2, while fine, is afraid to be its own thing between many of the musical themes that are working in service of  Mirada’s songs to Maui, in what can only be cynically seen as Disney falling head over heels with Deadpool’s fourth wall breaking – is saddled with clunky, self-referential and meta jokes that just do not fit into the charm of the original story.  Speaking directly to the audience at least three times, two are just calling out his jokes from the first film.  It makes the film feel like such a lazily crafted endeavor that while it still looks better than the WalMart straight to DVD knockoff, it certainly fails to set the spark of imagination that Disney can do with its properties when it is operating at its best. It is just participating in the tradition of the studio’s history of uninspiring sequels so while the Executive Suite will be pleased at the box office performance and the merchandising opportunities, parents and children alike will be bored as they try to navigate this choppy sea along with Moana.