The wait is over! After eight years, Moana 2 hit theaters Nov. 27, 2024, just in time for Thanksgiving. Featuring Auli’i Cravalho as Moana and Dwayne Johnson as Maui, this movie was ready to entertain an audience.
The beginning resumes with Moana back on her island, Motonui, with her tribe, happy as ever. We are then introduced to Moana’s little sister, Simea, the newest addition to the cast. Since Moana had saved her people from a life of terror in the first movie after Maui had stolen the heart of Te Fiti, she is now known as a hero to her tribe and was well respected.
However, Moana feels an urge to find other people out there, such as those who also live in the ocean around them. She decides to travel the currents in search of others of her kind, different islands and new opportunities. On the other hand, Maui is out in the ocean solving other problems he kept secret from Moana.
Through the first act of the movie, Moana tries to ignore her feelings of stress towards finding others. An unexpected call from her ancestor, Tautai Vasa, who was a known traveler, reaches and shows her the terrifying reality of what will happen if she doesn’t connect with other people around the ocean. Moana, determined to fix things, sets out with Maui and her new crew.
Loto, Kele, and Moni, members of her tribe, are now traveling along with Moana in search of the island Motufetu, which allegedly connects all the islands together.
Old characters from the previous movie make their debut, leaving a huge impact on Moana and her teams quest for unity. Hei Hei and Pua also board the boat as Moana’s favorite sidekicks.
To conclude the overall watch experience, the backstory to other aspects of the characters life’s intrigued me because I was watching something I couldn’t predict. The movie had me leaning forward in my seat and even brought me to tears at moments. Moana’s sister was an exciting addition to the film, however her lack of screen time was disappointing.
Although the movie paralleled the previous one, in the first it was up to Moana to save her people. I feel as though Disney was able to get away with the repetition only because of the creative storytelling and humor along with new lovable characters introduced. Unfortunately, the soundtrack and production of the film was far from the same as the original movie, ultimately losing some of it’s magic it captured with Moana 1.
American songwriter and actor Lin-Manuel Miranda was a huge part of the first movie, although he failed to make his return for the second movie. Instead Emily Barlow, a songwriter who ultimately got noticed through TikTok, made the soundtrack for Moana 2. Not many fans are excited about the change between music artists and are eager for Lin-Manuel to return.
Additionally, Moana 2 originally was not supposed to be a movie, but instead a Disney+ series. Some last minute changes were made and it was eventually transformed into a feature film. I feel as though Disney decided to make it a movie in order to earn extra funds, and it worked, with Moana 2 making a record breaking $389 million globally opening weekend.
Overall, I give this movie a 6/10. The humor definitely had me entertained and the soundtrack was also a vibe to listen to. I deducted 4 only because I wished Disney would have added more of Moana’s little sister, something they had teased in their very first trailer and was a highly anticipated addition to the series.
