The Gist
Three years after her first adventure Moana finds herself on another journey ready to save the world.
The Review
When Moana hit cinemas in 2016 neither Disney or the world knew what was about to hit them. Disney had an instant hit on their hands while children around the globe suddenly had a fan favourite family film. A film that you would have to say competes rather well alongside Frozen as perhaps the most popular family film of this generation.
With all that in mind shouldn’t we be excited about the fact that Moana 2 has just landed in cinemas? Well, the answer to that question is complicated because there are some early warning signs that may suggest that Moana 2 is the not the masterpiece its predecessor was.
The first thing that should have alarm bells ringing is the fact that Moana 2 was originally supposed to be a straight-to-streaming TV series. And no offense to animation studios out there but fans of the genre will tell you that TV spin-offs of feature films rarely have the same look and feel of the original film – and that is certainly the case of Moana 2.
The film is set three years after Moana’s (voiced by Auli’I Cravalho – Mean Girls) original adventure. Now Moana travels to islands close to her home trying to find other people who are connected to the ocean.
But all that changes when in a vision an ancestor warns her that she must find away to try and raise a legendary island, named Motufetu, from the ocean floor where it was sunk by a jealous Storm God called Nalo (Tofiga Fepulea’I – Take Home Pay). While this gave him power over humanity the ancestor warns if Moana does not find a way to restore the island humanity is about to become extinct.
With the demi-God Maui (Dwayne Johnson – Hobbs & Shaw) missing in action, he is being held captive by Nalo’s enforcer Matangi (Awhimai Fraser – Shortland Street), Moana is forced to put together a ragtag team from her village to set out on this adventure.
Hower the team made up of angry farmer Kele (David Fane – Next Goal Wins), the Maui obsessed Moni (Hualalai Chung – Rescue Hi-Surf) and wise craftswoman Loto (Rose Matafeo – Golden Boy) don’t exactly function the way that Moana had hoped and they soon find themselves in trouble.
The premise of Moana 2 is brilliant and the three directors, David G. Derrick Jr., Jason Hands and Dana Ledoux Miller (who are all first-time feature directors) should have been able to craft a pretty decent film out of it – but it seems like they were facing an uphill battle from the start.
The fact that this was supposed to be a television show becomes problematic very early on. The idea of having Moana and Maui separated may have worked for one or two episodes of a ten-part series but they are apart way too long for a 100 minute film. That is a major problem when you remember just how great the energy is when the two characters get to vibe off each other in the first film. Moana 2 lacks energy in the first half and the fact that Moana and Maui have no scenes together is a big reason why.
Secondly like all TV spin-offs there are new characters introduced which would mean in a television series the audience would have a few episodes to get used to them before their lives were placed in peril. Here though we are introduced to them and then bang they are in danger. Most audience members will think to themselves well I care about Moana, the pig and the chicken but I don’t really know the others. It is a shame because they are interesting characters but they need screen time for the audience to develop a relationship with them.
The third thing that becomes painfully obvious with the film is the look and feel of the original film is gone. In the first film the animation was so slick that the water looked real – that certainly isn’t the case here. There are also no memorable songs here. With the original film How Far I’ll Go and You’re Welcome became instant Disney classics but with Moana 2 the tracks are forgotten 30 seconds after the credits roll.
To its credit though Moana 2 does increase the interest in Moana as a character. Her selfless attitude of wanting to protect humanity and willing to do it without the power of a demi-God beside her is admirable and you see significant growth within her character as the film goes on. One day we may get another film or series that is worthy of the character of Moana but this certainly isn’t it.
The Verdict
Moana 2 might do enough to entertain small children throughout the film but it certainly won’t be embraced the same way the original film did. Trying to shove a whole TV series worth of plot lines into a feature film doesn’t work and the film suffers from the fact that Moana and Maui are kept apart for too long. Fingers crossed that the live-action Moana remake will capture the magic of the original film because Moana 2 sadly doesn’t.
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