'Moana 2', against all odds, is a worthwhile sequel

Originally a Disney+ series, the film looks and sounds great, despite some iffy plot machinations.

Moana 2 is very much in line with what Disney is all about, content-strategy-wise, these days: Namely, a need to stretch intellectual property well beyond its natural breaking point. 

The first Moana, an animated musical released almost exactly eight years ago, was a big hit, and its sequel was originally greenlit not as a movie but rather as a Disney+ series, it was only in February that the switch to a theatrical release was made. 

Also, Moana 2 is not to be confused with the live-action remake of Moana which is also in production and set to arrive in the summer of 2026, just a year and a half from now. On top of all that, the original Moana directors, the Little Mermaid/Aladdin duo of John Musker and Ron Clements, aren’t back, nor has Lin-Manuel Miranda — busy with another Disney IP stretch, the upcoming Lion King prequel — returned to write the songs. 

Despite all of that, Moana 2 is mostly successful. Sure, the stakes of its plot are a bit of a muddle, and the main characters of Moana and Maui are kept apart for way too long, although their reunion forms the new movie’s best musical number. But the animation is gorgeous, the character development well-executed, and the songs are slight but for the most part good. 

The film, directed by the debuting trio of David Derrick Jr., Jason Hand, and Dana Ledoux Miller, is set a few years after the first one, and Moana (Auliʻi Cravalho) still can communicate with the ocean. For very convoluted reasons, she is sent on a mission to visit a faraway island and break a curse, and so the bulk of the movie is Moana and her crew, going on a series of adventures. 

For this, she’s eventually joined by a crew of new characters, along with the familiar animal sidekicks. And I maintain my position, from the first Moana, that the chicken is annoying — he reminded me of John Dilworth’s old Dirty Birdy character — but the pig is funny. Eventually, they’re joined by the demigod Maui (Dwayne Johnson, who will reprise the character in the live-action movie.) 

Some things don’t change, as Moana 2, like the first, arrives in the immediate aftermath of a Trump election victory. But some things do: Dwayne Johnson’s reputation and box office clout certainly aren’t where they were eight years ago. 

What I can say is that the animated renderings are beautiful, especially the blue of the oceans, and while I don’t expect anything from the soundtrack to become an earworm, the songs aren’t bad. 

Of course, releasing a musical this time of year is going to offer some not-so-positive comparisons to Wicked, a movie where, unlike Moana, much of the crowd is going to go in knowing all the songs. Although Moana 2, to its credit, is an hour shorter.