Moana 2

Disney originally intended Moana 2 to be an animated series on its streaming platform, but after executives saw preliminary footage they came to their senses and realized the company would be leaving too much money on the table if it didn’t capitalize on a theatrical release. It was a good financial decision for Disney, but it’s a shame they didn’t originally greenlight the project as a film. If they had maybe Moana 2 would have had a better chance at being a good movie.

The sequel begins with Moana sailing the ocean looking for signs that her community isn't alone in the world. She discovers that long ago a malevolent god cursed humanity, scattering them on the seas. The curse binds the ocean currents, ensuring these various tribes won’t be able to find each other again. Moana (Auli'i Cravalho) and the demigod Maui (Dwayne Johnson), along with an eccentric crew from Moana’s village, must find a magical island to break the curse.

This time around, Moana’s oceanic universe is much impoverished by the absence of Lin-Manuel Miranda who wrote the songs in the original. Mark Mancina and Opetaia Foa'i return to write the score, but Miranda’s replacements, songwriters Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear, have penned a handful of forgettable songs that merely pad the 100-minute runtime. There’s no wit or sparkle. It’s a tragic testimony to the songs’ lackluster quality that the only moment of musical pleasure comes toward the end when the characters launch into a remix of Miranda’s “We Know the Way” from the first movie.

Musical woes aren’t Moana 2’s only problems. In its metamorphosis to feature film, Disney didn’t quite shake off the production's roots as a kids’ series. The animation, especially the water effects, is excellent, but often the scenes lack a cinematic quality. Figures loom large in the frame—it’s a style that’s more suited to the small screen than the big—crowding out moments of sweeping action.

But most importantly, the story arc retains too many vestiges of its episodic genesis. The setup takes too long, and once the adventure begins it moves too conveniently from one point to the next until we arrive at the heroes’ inevitable success. And speaking of heroes, Moana’s three new crewmates feel totally superfluous. They’re the kind of addition that might work over the course of an entire season, but in this short feature film the audience doesn’t spend enough time with each to care about them one way or another. We also meet another demigod who demands more attention and backstory than she was given.

None of this is to say that Moana 2 doesn’t have a few entertaining moments. I chuckled after Moana once again reminds Maui that she’s not a princess, to which he responds, “Well, a lot of people think you are”—a sly reference to Disney’s princess-industrial complex. The problem with this film is that it fails to live up to the original in every single category. You can safely save this one for the small screen, the place where it was originally destined to be.