Given the success of the first “Moana” movie, expectations were high for the second film; however, those expectations immediately plummeted. Directed by Dana Ledoux Miller, David Derrick Jr. and Jason Hand, “Moana 2” was released on Nov. 27, 2024. Although the movie was expected to be a major success, its faulty storyline and soundtrack ultimately resulted in an unsatisfactory sequel.
The story picked up three years after the original movie. In it, Moana, the Chieftess of the island Motunui, received a call from her voyager ancestors, who ask her to sail to the sunken island of Motufetu to connect all of the people of the ocean.
The plot tried to incorporate various aspects of the original movie, including the fact that Moana was once again embarking on an extremely dangerous and long voyage. Throughout the movie Moana encountered new and old characters. The addition of characters who seemingly had no purpose other than to give Moana difficulty made the movie feel like a recycled version of the first one.
The new characters had poor chemistry with one another, and their actions felt forced, ultimately weakening the story’s plot. New characters included Loto, an inventor, Kele, a farmer and Moni, who had the strength and ability to track their adventures. The demi-god Maui also re-joined the team as they sailed the ocean. Moana was held back by these characters as they often got ahead of themselves and created yet another problem for her to solve.
Moana’s goal in the movie was to pull the sunken island of Motufetu out of the ocean, effectively doing away with the curse upon the ocean and connecting all people of the various islands. This idea felt like it was thrown into the movie and had little to no correlation with the first film. Once introduced, it felt like a side quest or an issue that had randomly appeared for no reason whatsoever.
With the success of the first movie’s popular soundtrack, which included songs like “How Far I’ll Go” and “You’re Welcome,” expectations were high for the second film. Singer-songwriter Lin-Manuel Miranda, who wrote the first movie’s soundtrack, declined to return for “Moana 2,” leaving songwriters Emily Bear and Abigail Barlow with big shoes to fill.
Unfortunately, they did not succeed; the songs in “Moana 2” did not capture the emotional depth the first film did, nor Moana’s passion for saving her people. The soundtrack felt like a lesser version of the original, failing to impact viewers.
The film did, however, highlight Moana’s culture in a new and really refreshing way. Indigenous Polynesian culture was incorporated in the film through various songs, traditions and outfits. Songs such as “We’re Back” and “Beyond” were sung in languages like Samoan, Tokelauan and Tuvaluan. The inclusion of Polynesian culture was very prominent and touching; in fact, it was done well enough that it did not feel at all forced.
As a whole, “Moana 2” was disappointing, especially to fans of the first movie. With a lackluster storyline and failed attempt at recapturing what made the first film so memorable, the movie did not nearly live up to the expectations its prequel had set for it.
