Moana 2

3 outta 5

Moana 2 is a decent sequel to Moana, a film that was released in 2016 and has gone on to become one of the most streamed movies of all time (couple of dozens of billion views). So, the sequel was inevitable, even if it was originally announced as a Disney Plus spinoff show but they came to their senses and made it a theatrical feature (also, money).  It is a bit of a step down in some ways, the songs aren’t nearly as memorable that sometimes rely upon reprising bits of the much more memorable tunes from the first, the plot is a little bit convoluted involving magic islands (yet again), there is a major character introduced that the movie seemingly forgets about until a mid-credits scene. But it looks spectacular, the character banter is energetic, and the jokes are still very funny, and any usage of Heihei the incredibly dumb chicken is a bonus.

On the Polynesian seas, Moana (Auliʻi Cravalho) is an island princess looking for other island nations across the seas. It turns out the tribes have been separated because a storm God keeps the tribes apart, and to get them together again, Moana assembles a crew and to find her old friend, the shapeshifting demigod Maui (Dwanye “The Rock” Johnson) to overcome this curse. But on the high seas they run into conflicts and setbacks, with Maui captured by Matangi (Awhimai Fraser), a powerful spider-like magical being. But Moana must reunite the tribes with her demigod friend, eclectic crew, and the perpetually in danger and oblivious chicken, Heihei (Alan Tudyk).

The main plot about how the tribes are separated by an angry God and Moana has to touch an island and get Maui to pull it up from the seas is needlessly complex. The first film also had a plot involving magic islands, but it worked as a simple fable. The bad guy here is personified by a giant angry storm and never really gets to be characterized until a somewhat confusing mid-credits tease. Initially, the main baddie seemingly is the Spider magic lady, Matangi, as she has Maui captured and says evil sounding things towards him. But when Moana shows up, she gives her a cheerful song about being empowered to save the day, and she isn’t seen again until a mid-credits stinger that feels more like mandatory sequel bait than an enjoyable extra. There was a post-credits scene in Moana that was super fun, this just feels like an afterthought. It is also kind of weird that the evil storm God doesn’t get any character, or a voice, until this scene.

This production was initially announced as a Disney Plus TV series years ago and wasn’t announced as a movie and had a release date until February of this year. Maybe it changed from a TV show long before, but the setup feels a bit like a TV show as Moana gets a bunch of sidekicks to go along with her journey, which makes the story not as focused as just Moana and Maui was in the first film.The multiple sidekicks feel like a leftover setup when it was a TV show, but at least they each get a funny moment.

The songs are good but, quite frankly, the songs in the original were better. New songs like “We’re Back” and “Beyond” have a few sonic callbacks to the much more iconic “How Far I’ll Go”. Even the finale of this movie sort of gives up and just reprises “We Know The Way” from the first one. It’s like the movie is saying “Yeah, these new songs weren’t great but remember how good those were?” Even if the songwriting isn’t up to par (losing Lin Mauel-Miranda as a co-songwriter probably had an impact), Cravalho is still an incredible vocalist, managing to hit some very amazing notes. One track that gets close is Maui’s song “Can I Get a Chee-Hoo?”. It isn’t as good as “You’re Welcome” but, frankly, nothing is. However, it does have Johnson doing the rap/singing bit again, set to a similar beat, and it is set to a really fun training montage with Moana. Johnson has a lot of really funny quips which makes the character entertaining.

Moana 2 does look incredible, like the first film there are lots of interesting creatures, epic visuals, large monsters, and the variety of lighting styles looks great. They also run into the pirate coconut guys again, and they get a very funny scene where they paralyze Moana and her crew. Heihei, the incredibly stupid chicken wandering into certain death and bumping into things is hilarious as Tudyk’s entire job is just clucking and screaming. Moana brings along her pet pig too for cute animal sidekick reasons, but that pig is never as funny as Heihei. The emotional story here is pretty basic, she just wants to find friends and misses her kid sister. There is one moment when Moana is captured by the snake magic lady and has a vision of her kid sister saying mean things that is effective.

Moana 2 isn’t a bad sequel although it doesn’t reach the heights of the original. It just feels a mite lackluster in spots. But there are moments when it kicks in as the zaniness is enjoyably frantic that make for a fun return to this world.