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Credit: DisneyThe first reviews for Moana 2 (2024) are in and audiences are underwhelmed, to say the least.
Set three years after the events of the first film, Moana 2 follows its eponymous heroine (Auli’i Cravalho) as she receives an unexpected call from her ancestors and reunites with Maui (Dwayne Johnson) to break the curse the god Nalo has placed on the hidden island of Motufetu.
As fans will know, this wasn’t always supposed to be a film. Walt Disney Animation had spent several years working on a Moana sequel series until Disney CEO announced in February that they’d decided to adapt it into a film after being impressed by test footage.
With that in mind, the big fear has been that Moana 2 will feel like just that: a TV series scraped together into a movie. Disney has been guilty of this in the past, namely back in the 2000s when direct-to-DVD sequels were all the rage. Considering the grandeur of the original film, it seems like a sad fate for one of Disney’s most beloved princesses.
Now that Moana 2 is hitting theaters (where it’s sure to rake in the big bucks regardless), the first reactions are flooding in for the surprise sequel – and everybody seems to have the same critique.
Disclaimer: there are no spoilers here, but we can’t promise the same for any of the linked reviews!
The Film Feels Rushed
Unfortunately, our biggest fear seems to have come true. The general consensus is that the film feels rushed. As X, formerly known as Twitter, user @EzraCubero put it, it’s “a Frankenstein’s monster of a sequel that clumsily cycles through half-baked ideas, generic songs, and pandering callbacks that underscore its emptiness.
Auli’i Cravalho still shines, but Dwayne Johnson makes Maui obnoxiously annoying this time. Big miss.
Meanwhile, Dave Lee Down Under declared that it was a “disjointed, messy, low stakes story” that (surprise, surprise) “feels like a 2000s direct-to-video sequel.”
Its similarity to the original film was also heavily criticized. According to EJ Moreno of Flickering Myth, it is a “rehash of what came before with little to offer outside of diehard fans.” Robert Kojder, also of Flickering Myth, added, “There is a disappointing, dispiriting narrative flatness to Moana 2, recycling the original’s story (but with more characters, wasting them all) with almost no creative passion.”
Looper’s Alistair Ryder dubbed the film “Meh-oana,” claiming that “very little about ‘Moana 2’ is memorable even while watching, to the point it becomes more invigorating to try and detect any signs of a tortured production in the margins.”
The ‘Moana 2’ Soundtrack Isn’t Quite as Good as the OG
The music was a huge part of Moana‘s success. It’s the soaring, yearning nature of “How Far I’ll Go” that gives the film its emotional core, courtesy of Disney’s repeat collaborator Lin-Manuel Miranda. Either Miranda was too busy (or too expensive) for the sequel, as its music is instead penned by Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear.
While some critics have heralded the new tunes as “catchy,” others have complained that they’re “underwhelming songs that unsuccessfully imitate the first’s masterful tunes,” with Grace Randolph declaring that they’re “just okay.” Not exactly the most glowing testimony.
On the Plus Side, It Looks Gorgeous
For all its faults, even negative reviews have taken the time to praise the film’s visuals. Mama’s Geeky pointed out that it “looks gorgeous in a theatrical setting,” while Discussing Film claimed that it is “visually stunning” and Mashable highlighted its “beautiful, textured animation.”
But if the studio’s output in recent years has taught us anything, it’s that style over substance isn’t enough to take a film from mildly enjoyable to a certified Disney classic.
What are your thoughts on Moana 2?