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Moana (Auliʻi Cravalho) still lives on her island nation of Motunui, and she spends her time exploring other islands in the hope of finding other communities and people connected to the ocean. When one of her ancestors visits her in a vision, Moana learns about the island of Motufetu, which connected all the islands across the sea but was sunk by the vengeful storm god Nalo. Additionally, Moana's ancestor warns that unless she can find a way to raise Motufetu from the depths, everyone in Motunui will go extinct. Moana sets off with a selection of crewmates, along with her pet pig and rooster, Pua and Heihei (once again voiced by Alan Tudyk, who continues to provide lively clucking), to save their island community. Of course, Moana eventually reunites with the demigod Maui (Dwayne Johnson), who happily helps his old friend complete her quest.
Although the screenplay is credited to Jared Bush (who wrote Moana) and co-director Dana Ledoux Miller (a TV writer whose credits include, um, Thai Cave Rescue and Kevin Can F**k Himself), everything about Moana 2 feels like the work of AI. The dialogue is generic and witness, the characters are hollow and meaningless (I cannot name any of Moana's crewmates), and the songs are thoroughly unmemorable. With Lin-Manuel Miranda not returning as the sequel's songwriter, the musical numbers here fail to make an impact, and you will forget about each song before it has even finished. The songs should be catchy and move the story forward by contributing insights into the characters or the story, but the musical numbers here only slow down the story's momentum and pad out the feature's 100-minute running time.
Revealing its origins as a television show, Moana 2's narrative feels jarringly episodic, and the quest is not compelling enough despite what's at stake. Not helping matters is the lack of a proper antagonist - heck, the bat lady known as Matangi (Awhimai Fraser) even disappears in the third act after the story establishes her as someone who's apparently important. Plus, Moana and Maui are just there on the screen, with Disney hoping their mere existence will put bums in seats (and, alas, the $1 billion box office haul proved them right), but they do not change or learn meaningful lessons, and Maui's contributions to the story are so minor that he feels heartbreakingly interchangeable instead of essential. For a character so iconic (Johnson is even playing the role in live-action), it is depressing that Maui does not have a single memorable scene or line of dialogue. The voice cast gives it their all, with Cravalho (reprising her role from the first movie) giving spunk and personality to Moana while competently handling the singing. The songs might be unremarkable, but Cravalho's singing voice is lovely. Meanwhile, Johnson makes very little impact here, which is all the more surprising considering his notorious ego that normally hijacks every project to make his character the primary focus.
Animation for a major, big-budget studio release should not look this cheap. Moana 2 was the first animated feature to be animated and produced at Disney's new production facility in Vancouver, which was only established to churn out budget-friendly content for Disney+. Although the texturing on backgrounds and fabric looks sufficient, and there are some visually striking moments in the third act, the movement looks slightly off, particularly the mouth movements that look like the work of AI algorithms. Facial expressions also look a tad strange. Disney admitted to using AI in the animation process, touting it as a way to revolutionise how animated movies are made, though the extent of AI usage remains a mystery as the wording in press materials is deliberately vague. If Moana 2 remained a streaming show, the animation would look adequate, but there is no reason for a $150 million theatrical feature to lack the visual "wow" factor that animated movies should achieve. A theatrical sequel should not look like a visual downgrade from its predecessor...especially with an eight-year gap between pictures.
The only aspect of Moana 2 with any passion behind it is the portrayal of Polynesian culture, as the filmmakers conducted extensive research into the cultural history and traditions of the Pacific Islands during the film's development. Anthropologists and historians contributed to the picture, and the research provided a foundation for the story. The filmmakers reportedly listened to the experts, using their insights to fine-tune the story and ensure an accurate and authentic depiction of the Western and Eastern Polynesian cultural nuances. Keeping all this in mind makes the disappointment of Moana 2 sting all the more, though at least the original Moana authentically represents Polynesian culture while also being a genuinely good movie. There are some interesting ideas in Moana 2, and some isolated scenes stand out (Heihei's antics are amusing, and the return of a fan-favourite character during the mid-credits scene is a hoot), but there is no reason for the movie to be so dull and lacklustre. I wanted more of Moana after seeing the first movie, but the set-up for Moana 3 at the end of this sequel left me unmoved and unexcited. Unfussy children might enjoy the flashy colours and cute characters of Moana 2, but they deserve better - check out Inside Out 2 or The Wild Robot instead.
4.9/10
