Moana 2 (2024) Review

THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.

Moana has been looked at as one of Disney’s new phenomenons post-Frozen due to great music and a great grounded story. Since money talks, it was an easy decision for this to get a sequel as well.


PLOT


Moana 2 takes place only three years after the events of the first film. The titular princess of Motunui has been making personal voyages to search for other islands in order to connect her people to the ocean the way she is. One night, she gets a vision of her ancestor Tautai Vasa (Gerald Ramsey) that the connection hasn’t been possible due to the actions of the malicious storm god Nalo (Tofiga Fepulea’i). As he wanted the power over mortals, he sunk the island of Motufetu down into the depths of the ocean, knowing it could connect all existing islands. Knowing that Motunui will go extinct if this doesn’t change, Moana assembles her own team of voyagers to help her save their home. Besides her pets Heihei & Pua, the crew includes: elderly farmer Keke, historian Mimi and craftswoman Loto. The crew follows a comet across the ocean that’ll take them to Motufetu. Along the way, they encounter the coconut pirates, the Kakamora, who reveal that Nalo’s actions have caused them to disconnect from their own island. One of the pirates credited as Kotu helps the crew get inside the lair of Nalo’s enforcer Matangi, which happens to inside a giant clam. There, they find the demigod Maui and free him from capture since he was also trying to save Motufetu due to previous quarrel; He never reached out to Moana knowing she’d be in danger if he did. Matangi ends up letting the crew go to Nalo’s realm due to expressing feeling tiresome to serve him. In Nalo’s realm though does Maui confirm it is deadlier than the mortal realm due to vicious monsters at every turn. When one goes after them, it results in them washing to an isolated island which could’ve been disastrous had Maui not been there. Because of him sticking around, he motivates Moana to keep going since she did the same for him. Once motivation is regained, she deduces that simply touching Motufetu will be enough to undo Nalo’s damage. But Maui has to pull up with his magical hook enough for enough which he does once the crew repairs the raft. As the demigod does so, Nalo’s storm extracts his powers and makes him mortal again. Moana still swims deep into the ocean to touch the island, but is unable to avoid being struck by Nalo’s lightning bolt. Maui jumps in for her and is able to bring her back with the assist of her ancestors (including Tautai Vasa and her grandma Tala [Rachel House]) with the chant ‘Mana Vavau’. With their help, they revive her as a demigoddess and restore Maui’s powers, which is what raises Motufetu completely. As Moana’s crew returns to their home and Kotu returns to his, a flotilla of people to celebrate their success. The film ends in a surprising post credit cliffhanger where Nalo intends to punish Matangi for her betrayal and meets Tamatoa who offers allegiance.


THOUGHTS


I enjoyed Moana as much as everyone else did in 2016 and I didn’t mind it being its own franchise like Frozen because there are a lot of ideas to explore with sequels compared to a remake. I would’ve not minded with this being a show, but a movie was a better idea because you don’t want to stretch things out if you don’t know what to do from there. With that being said, it then goes without saying that the directing team of Jason Hand, David G Derrick Jr. & Dana Ledoux Miller did a good job in making something quite fun from start to finish. As expected, the visual effects done for both returning and new characters are flawless. Even the new creatures gave the right amount of excitement we were expecting. What was missing last time was a villain and Nalo was nothing but that. Despite hiding in his storms, he delivers in being interesting due to being the misanthropic type of evil. He doesn’t care about anyone that isn’t him in his quest to be most powerful of gods, which is why you should expect to be in danger if you cross him. With a legit ally out of Tamatoa compared to Matangi, he’s definitely gonna be a bigger problem should we see him again. Now as for the latter, actress Awhimai Fraser was indeed an appropriate shakeup for instantly swapping sides when we first see her. She does come off commanding for an apprentice that can summon bats, she still helps the protagonists go where they got to because she was ready to find a new chapter in her life. Her own song ‘Get Lost’ was an emphasis on taking new paths until the true one is found, which I think brings the story full circle in how we must always embrace challenges whenever we can or the intent to adapt will never be as you wished. With the returning protagonists dealing with an array of challenges, it does make it easier to pick up on. Auli’i Cravalho still leaves a good impression as the titular princess because she’s far more selfless that she’d rather do things on her own than rely on people not as strong as Maui. And because she had a sister that she loved like a daughter, the stakes felt higher for her. But if her songs ‘Beyond’ and ‘What Could Be Better Than This’ teach anything, it’s that going beyond the comfort zone can be beneficial. We still get a kick out of Dwayne Johnson as Maui because he’s more sentimental than he is boastful. He’s seen the dangerous world of the gods and knows when to keep his guard up. But when he’s not doing that, he’s still a team player in terms of protecting those not as strong as him while still encroaching to hype yourself up when the going gets right, much like his song ‘Can I Get a Chee Hoo?”. He’s in a mindset where he’s willing to sacrifice himself to protect everyone and losing his powers for the moment proved so. It would’ve been terrible for him to lose Moana because since she saved his life mentally, he wouldn’t know what to do without her. Which is why he didn’t hesitate saving her with all that he know and luck came their way when their ancestors got involved. Now while I felt the need to say the side characters felt underdeveloped compared to the villains, I can still say they kept the experience colorful. David Fane was a treat for making Kele the disgruntled one due to not liking the ocean, but came around in his own way since he contributed with food supplies. Hualālai Chong was enjoyable as Moni because he has the warmest heart and put it to use when learning to steer the boat. He may have gotten a reality check in how dangerous the waters are as Maui saved him during the journey, he still acts headstrong as needed to be helpful. Visibly, Rose Matafeo made Loto the most energetic due to being impulsive enough to see which idea can work rather than not trying at all. Because of her big brain, the raft gets fixed sooner than later. With such creative minds put together, you basically got yourselves wayfinding avengers that’ll keep protecting the ocean that is their world as long as they can. Now while I did enjoy this movie, there were a few things that didn’t make sense to me. For instance, how has Moana’s dad Tui (Temuera Morrison) not know about the history of Motufetu? Considering he used to be a voyager before he lost friends to a storm, it doesn’t make sense for him to forget some history like that. It was one funny gag for Moana to be caught by vines, but the fact we don’t see if Pua got the same luck worries me. It would’ve sucked for him to have his fall not broken. I’m always aware how animation bends reality, but where was Moana hiding that pot she found before giving it to her sister? She didn’t have a pocket and wasn’t wearing it like a satchel, so it would’ve been a cool detail if Pua just had it and he gave it to her. Also, how is Moana the only one to encounter Matangi after all these years? Considering she wasn’t the only wayfinder as proven in the end, it’s insane no one found her on accident. And how exactly can Maui’s tattooed self touch his nipple? It can move other tattoos of course, but it’s such a trip to try and understand how should that work no matter how funny it looked. It even felt strange as well to see it get a skeleton fish tattoo after Maui got vomited on by the other monster in Matangi’s lair. Moving on, why does Moana ask for Keke when she knows he’d be in the boat gardening? It wasn’t like he went overboard, otherwise Loto or Mimi would’ve said something. What even tripped me out more than Heihei finding a random conch to swallow was the fact that Maui was willing to jokingly be a fish before his sacrifice. I didn’t mind the shark head because that was meant for Moana to lighten up way before reaching the storm, but the fish was ridiculous because there was no guarantee they were gonna make it. Of all mistakes Nalo makes, it is not trusting Matangi but instead not wiping out humanity when he knew he has the power to do it. If you don’t want anyone to stop you, that would’ve done it. And why would he create sea monsters afraid of sunlight? That just makes things harder on his end if he doesn’t want anyone to have a chance to undo his actions. Ignore these issues, then you’ll still have a good time. In short, Moana 2 earns its billion dollar success at the box office for being entertaining enough for generations of families to remember. If you loved the first one, see this when you can.