You're Welcome: 'Moana 2' Delivers More Charm than Expected

01/02/2025 09:20 AM

I was hesitant to see "Moana 2," as the response I kept hearing is that the story and songs are subpar and that its another sequel that doesn't measure up to what proceeded it.

After a month of discovering every screening was sold out, this wound up being my last theatergoing experience of 2024, along with my little girl.

It turns out the lowered expectations were unnecessary. "Moana 2" is imperfect, but still a robust, charming sequel that honors and extends the legacy of the original.

We see how Moana's newfound fame has affected her. The newly christened master wayfinder is entrusted by her people to face a looming threat. The plot is somehow complex, as it involves uniting an island chain and overcoming an unseen super-villain. It’s also simple, as everyone in the main cast aware of what is expected of them.

While Moana (Auli’i Cravalho) assembles a new team, as well as her veteran sidekicks (aka, Maui's "boat snacks"), her best friend and magic hook-sporting demigod is held captive by a bizarre sea creature.

Reports that "Moana 2" began as a made for Disney+ movie (the modern day equivalent of "The Return of Jafar" or "Cinderella II" going "straight to video") made me unsure if I wanted to see this in the theater. It’s worth noting that "Toy Story 2" (1999) also started off with small-screen origins before it was also reshaped into a theatrical film.

Here, the biggest narrative tell that this was once intended for the smaller screen is that almost all of the essential scenes are a little too long. It appears that the decision was to make this bigger by extending the majority of the sequences.

The best scenes are enchanting and play as fully as one would hope, but the same can be said of the busy-work exposition moments. It takes Moana longer than expected to go on her big journey and longer than needed for her to have the expected pep talk to push her over adversity.

If there's a problem with a story like this, it's that any major hurdle Moana and Maui encounter can be fixed by magic, a plot device that undermines the suspense. I doubt the intended audience knows (or cares) what a deus ex machina is.

Yes, the new tunes lack the snap of Lin-Manuel Miranda's original song score or, worse, they audibly try too hard to match his approach. Thankfully, "Moana 2" is more of a comedy than a musical.

For all the expected moving pieces at play here (the Disney Princess journey, the villain aiming for domination, cute animal sidekicks, zany episodic pit stops, etc.) the best scenes offer fresh approaches. I love the return of the Kakamora and the new, "T2"-like angle of the coconut warrior who becomes an asset.

A sequence where the Kakamora use coconuts to explain their ultimate plans isn't just funny but also brilliantly conceived. An extended first-act emphasis of the people Motunui allows for more comedy (Kele the grumpy farmer steals a lot of this movie) and welcome character development.

It’s worth noting that the demigod Maui isn't in much of the first act, but the movie is still cooking with gas without him. Once Johnson's vocal performance takes center stage of the second and third act, he shines as he did in the first film.

Johnson has been on bro-dude autopilot for years on most of his movies, but the work he does here is heartfelt, even soulful at times. I'm looking forward to seeing Johnson do something vastly different and give a real dramatic stretch in the 2025 Benny Safdie drama, "The Smashing Machine."

On the other hand, I never complained when Clint Eastwood basically played his Dirty Harry persona again and again, so I don't know why I want Johnson to return to drama (oh wait, I remember – because I saw "Red One"!).

The massive box office intake suggests that vast amounts of moviegoers saw this in theaters and didn't wait for the inevitable Disney+ release. That’s encouraging, as the visuals are a must for the big screen.

It's easy to compare "Moana 2" to another recent mega-hyped Disney holiday hit sequel, "Frozen 2" (2019) – I'm happy to report that the second chapter of Moana and Maui is leaps and bounds better than "Frozen 2" (which features "Into the Unknown," one of the most screeching, earsplitting showtunes in the entire Disney library).

The last scene in "Moana 2" is an ambitious set-up for a third chapter and it's a refreshing change of pace from most of the last-minute easter eggs I've seen. The concluding scene feels like a witty, promising, well-constructed pitch for the next movie instead of a tired commercial.

That's a nice change of pace!

Three Stars

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