Moana 2 was never meant to be. The movie currently playing in theatres was designed to be a Moana: The Animated Series, a miniseries for Disney+ following up on the adventures Moana after saving her island. But then, likely prompted by the spectacular failure of last year’s Wish, as well as just the general diminishing returns in Disney’s animation output of the last several years, CEO Bob Iger earlier this year had it reworked into a movie for a holiday release (at no doubt immense pressure and excessive labour to everyone working on it). The likely rationale is that the established property will attract more audiences than the original movies Disney had been attempting of late, and that this is of course in step with the company’s philosophy going forward. And it does appear to be working, even though on an artistic, creative level Moana 2 doesn’t come close to saving the company. In fact it only signals a further decline.
2016’s Moana was Disney Animation’s last great movie, certainly the last that felt like a real future classic of the studio (sorry Encanto fans). Moana 2 in whatever form it took, wasn’t going to live up, and it isn’t especially bad, but it does encapsulate a lot of the general Disney mediocrity of late in its formulas, themes, and style.
It’s pretty apparent from the start and the immediately rapid pacing, that this movie is working with a relatively big plot (maybe three to four hours) that has been squeezed into one hundred minutes. Moana (voiced by a returning Auli’i Cravalho) is reintroduced in the midst of her own adventure, kicking things very quickly into gear with the discovery of evidence that other tribes exist on far off islands of their own, coming home and shortly thereafter embarking on a new quest to resurrect the great island that would connect all Polynesian peoples from the depths it has been sunk to by the storm god Nalo. She brings with her this time the pig, in addition to the silly rooster, as well as a small crew. Maui (Dwayne Johnson), captive by a minion of Nalo, also eventually comes back into the story.
Effectively meant to be the equivalent of one of those 2000s direct-to-video Disney sequels, it is nice to see that Moana 2 has no notable downgrade in animation compared to its predecessor. It is still a bit stylistically mundane in that fashion all Disney movies have been for more than a decade now, but it is colourful and energetic, particularly where it concerns some of the visual comedy -far more effective than the verbal comedy, which remains stuck in the space of droll observation. It also definitely benefits from additional characters as Moana’s travelling companions, who give the journey a little spontaneity: Maui fanboy Moni (Hualālai Chung), eccentric engineer Loto (Rose Matafeo) and crochety old farmer Kele (David Fane) -easily the best of the bunch. None of them are utilized as much as they likely were going to be in the series, making them fairly shallow one-note jokes here, but no less so than the similar trio of sidekicks from Mulan for example.
And they prevent the movie from just being the Rock Show, which is very much a good thing in this era of overexposure to Dwayne Johnson, whose role here isn’t nearly as fun or charming as it was the first time around. Maui has sidled very comfortably into the caricature aspect of his archetype, which was always just another descendent of Robin Williams as the Genie. But if that is who Maui evoked in the first movie, here he’s more Dan Castellaneta as the Genie. Already the movie fills itself with references to its predecessor, the repeat or borderline identical jokes from Maui just feel exceptionally tired: the shark man, the snipes with his tattoos, the heavy winking at pop culture or metatextual staples (yes, the “princess” bit comes up again). Though he has less screen-time, he is still often a drag on the movie, and certainly adds little in terms of the story until its final beats.
However, that story for Moana isn’t terribly compelling either. The problem with this kind of sequel, as was the case for Frozen II, is that the character arc has to in a manner be reset… and it’s never as effective the second time around. There’s no convincing personal growth for Moana, whose sense of purpose is more dutiful than earnest and whose threat of despair isn’t anywhere as potent. The fact that (at least for some of the journey) the sea itself is her friend, and communion with the ancestors isn’t uncommon, puts her on a plane of less relatability -something that may not have been quite so difficult in a longer form story where the character is allowed to breathe apart from the ultimate goal of the mission. Cravalho is still great, and does imbue some conviction, but that voice can’t be its only source.
Moana 2 also has a real preoccupation with cuteness. In addition to the two returning pets, Moana is given a toddler sister as a new emotional tether to her home island, and who in her every scene is sickeningly sweet and precocious. There's also a return of the little anthropomorphic coconuts from the first movie, who become an ally of Moana this time around -they even get their own tragic cultural backstory to better ingratiate themselves as lovable sidekicks. A few new creatures show up alongside them, like a sea monster and a kaiju clam, yet still the movie doesn't feel like it is doing much new. A potential villain appears in the goddess Matangi (Awhimai Fraser), Maui's captor through the second act. But she turns out to be sympathetic, and disappears from the narrative while Nalo remains a largely unseen enigmatic force of an antagonist that again hearkens back to the previous movie. Not until the climax is there anything interesting to the movie's structure and narrative, and that only lasts mere minutes.
Just about each of the songs are an echo of one from the original movie, in theme, purpose, or placement; but none of them resonate. A lot is put into "Beyond", the sequel to "How Far I'll Go", but for all the grandeur there is nary a memorable note. Few of the songs have a distinct musical character beyond that, they meld together in bland style and rhythm as songwriters Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear attempt in vain to imitate Lin-Manuel Miranda. Matangi's song "Get Lost" is mildly catchy, as is "Can I Get a Chee Hoo?", despite being sung by Johnson -but not so much that you'll remember them even a day after seeing the movie.
Given its original purpose, the contented mediocrity of Moana 2 is slightly more understandable than that of Disney's other recent features, but that isn't to justify it. It only further casts the movie in stark relief to its predecessor and the company's spark of renewed inspiration through the early 2010s. Maybe its colour and energy is enough to successfully catch the attention of its target demographic, but the original Moana aspired to a higher standard than that -it's disappointing Disney no longer deems that necessary.
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