Moana 2 is the continuation of the story of the first film. Moana is once again heading out of her island life, and set out on an adventure, but this time not alone.
Since we’re such huge fans of the first Moana, we jumped the chance to review this one. As always, our reviews break down the films by story, acting, and overall. So let’s see how far we can go.
Story 8/10
The film picks up with Moana exploring islands trying to find more of her people who have sought out the sea beforehand and ventured across the world. For some reason though, all she can find after an exhaustive journey is just a relic that mentions an island.
After being named her clans first Tautai, after the loss and disappearance of the prior Tautai, a vision from her clans last Tautai Vasa comes from the heavens. In the vision she is guided to see that the island has a curse upon it and that Vasa was not able to reach it to free the curse before he was claimed.
For the first time Moana has an adventure, but she is scared because she’s afraid she will not make it back. Her mother convinces her that this isn’t the same clan or tribe as the first time she sailed out on adventure. They’ve all grown and changed, in part due to Moana’s influence. She doesn’t have to do this adventure alone. So Moana gathers a crew of unlikely but skilled individuals to join her on her adventure. Loto a shipbuilder, Kele a farmer to keep them well fed on their journey, and Moni the keeper of the tribe’s stories to give them insight into where they are going.
Along the way they form and unlikely allyship with the Kakamora and gained another champion for their trip in the form of Kotu the Kakamora Chief’s son.
That’s not all though, as along the way Maui returns to guide the journey, as well as Matangi, another Demigod. But can they make it through the Nalo’s curse and will they be able to reunite their people?
Acting 8/10
Moana’s voice actor, Auli’i Cravalho, is older now and you can hear it in her voice. I don’t take this as a bad thing, I’m actually a fan of the the change as it does show a good growth for the character in multiple ways. I’m also a huge fan of Khaleesi Lambert-Tsuda who voices Moana’s sister Simea. A character like this is an overly energetic child, which would be annoying to some viewers, but there is something so incredibly wholesome and sweet about Moana and Simea’s relationship that makes every scene with them together a delight.
Moana’s crew, Loto voice by Rose Matafeo, Kele voice by David Fane, and Moni voiced by Hualālai Chung, all are quirky, resourceful, and steadfast in their journey to reunite their people. All are unique in their design and their dedication to the roles are noticeable.
While they’re barely in the film, Nalo’s voiced by Tofiga Fepulea’i and Matangi voiced by Awhimai Fraser give quite the performance and their roles as gods leaves me wanting and wishing for more.
Overall 8/10
While a lot of people are attacking the films songs as not being as great as the first, or the storyline not being as solid of an adventure as the first film, I personally really enjoyed the story and adventure set forth by the film.
I will say though that the film does not feel as high stakes, at least until the very last moment. Frankly I would have liked a lot more time with the Kakamora Chief’s son, Kotu, as he was a breath of fresh air and ton of fun for the entire film. I also love how the movie doesn’t exactly tell you about the Kakamora Chief’s relationship with their son, they present it with no dialogue, only animated emotions and it comes off strong and powerful within the film.
Final thoughts?
It’s important to note that for all the criticisms of the Movie, about its energy, its journey, and story this film was never supposed to be a film. This story was supposed to be presented as a Disney Plus television series. However, after testing and putting together the works, the creators realized how solid of a story it was, so they decided to turn it into a full feature film and not a limited series.
Once you realize that it kind of fills the hole of some of the creative choices. I still can’t wait to see how far they go in the next potential film or TV series, now that they’ve set up a even larger villain and story that can hold Moana’s attention.
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