In recent years, Disney has created several new movies that have flopped as soon as they hit theaters. These movies, including “Wish,” the live-action “The Little Mermaid” and “Descendants: Rise of Red,” have amassed a whopping $1 billion to make, while only giving roughly $800 million back. The public has not received any of these movies well, and it only shows that Disney might be losing its touch. Moreover, the historical trend for sequels has been low ratings.
Now, Disney might be hoping to make more money by continuing the story of Moana, a story almost everyone knows and loves. They’re entirely wrong if they think that continuing a story that everyone thought was over will make them more money.
The newest installment in Moana’s story, creatively titled “Moana 2,” is just the newest excuse for Disney to make a quick buck.
The film follows Moana three years after the events from the first movie. For this movie, Moana is a Wayfinder trying to discover other people from different civilizations from Motunui. No longer is Moana’s island in danger; there’s no real cause except pure curiosity that sparks the adventure this time.
Remarkably, the voice actors were well picked out. New characters Loto (Rose Matafeo), Moni (Hualalai Chung), Kele (David Fane), Matangi (Awhimai Fraser) and Moana’s younger sister Simea (Khaleesi Lambert-Tsuda) were introduced in this movie. Of course, the original and beloved characters of Moana, voiced by Auli’i Cravalho and Maui, by Dwayne Johnson, helped bring the cast of talented actors to life on the big screen. While these actors voiced each of their roles well, the real problem with this movie was not the actors—it was the characters.
A crew of three, Loto, Moni and Kele, along with the adorable chicken and pig, Hei-Hei and Pua, accompanied Moana to discover other nations. However, the new characters were rushed upon. Throughout the movie, they failed to grow and develop as interesting characters, even after a thoughtful song of “What Could Be Better Than This.” In this song, Moana explained to the crew members that working together would help them in the long run. It took no time before Moni was steering the boat like a pro and Loto was starting to be more optimistic about their outcome, which was a little disappointing. The major character development that could have taken place during this song was replaced by the crew getting along after a couple refrains of the melody.
The biggest problem with this movie was that there was hardly any character development amongst any of the characters. The character with the most development was probably the Kakamora warrior that stayed behind on their boat. That small, seemingly insignificant character was the perfect thing for audiences to see to not fall asleep from lack of personality and engagement.
Simea was another enjoyable character in the movie. As Moana’s little sister, it reminds viewers of how younger siblings act, and it was absolutely adorable to see her run up to her older sister so excited, yelling “Big Sis!” to Moana’s “Little Sis!” response. While it was endearing the first time, every single time Simea saw Moana, it would spark the “Big Sis!” to her “Little Sis!” response, which gradually got weirder and weirder as the movie went on.
Matangi was an interesting character that might have made audiences confused. When viewers first met her, she was portrayed as an antagonist towards Maui. In her song of “Get Lost,” she tells Moana to stop playing everything safe and start “getting lost” in order to find her way out. In the end, though, it’s still left unclear as to whether Matangi is an enemy or friend.
It could be assumed by viewers that she might just be singing this song to trick Moana (especially since Maui gave a warning previously to not trust the “bat lady”) into letting down her guard. However, nothing happens and Matangi is left alone for the rest of the movie.
The biggest plot hole in this movie was the fact that the audience never really learned what Maui was doing inside the giant clam. Sure, for the plot, he was helping Moana in the long run, but when people started really thinking about it, he didn’t want Moana to be there in the first place. What was he trying to accomplish?
The music was also a bit of an issue. There weren’t as many catchy songs as in the first movie, and in the grand scheme of things, listening to just the soundtrack of Moana 2 didn’t make sense by itself. This soundtrack, when not accompanied by the visuals of the movie, was confusing and boring. Since the soundtrack had come out prior to the movie, getting a sneak peek just made listeners confused. By comparison, the first movie’s soundtrack was catchy and flowed from song to song.
The best part of the soundtrack is that they included so many more native languages (including Samoan, Tokelauan, and Tuvaluan) into the songs. It was really inspiring to hear so much more nodding back to the islands that inspired Moana’s story alongside the people and culture that helped create these movies.
Overall, the movie was a bit of a disappointment. The first Moana was a great movie and Moana 2 felt like a stretch. Since the directors had prolonged the story for 8 years, it would have been better if there had been both more character development and stronger music in this movie. Since they had so much time to plan the sequel out, they could have added more effort to these aspects.
