Moana 2 (2024) Dir: David G. Derrick Jr, Jason Hand, & Dana Ledoux Miller

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When Disney announced that they would be making a sequel to one of their most successful and beloved films of the last decade, I was disappointed, but not quite surprised. The urge to rinse every last drop of juice from a profitable venture is hard to resist, especially for big Hollywood companies, and this sequel looked to be another example of that exact notion. I was hoping that directors David G. Derrick Jr, Jason Hand, and Dana Ledoux Miller, could change my mind.

I actually avoided this film initially, and it was only the recent announcement of the third film's release date that finally prompted me to watch it. On a positive note, the film looked good. The animation work of Walt Disney Studios is usually very consistent, and this seemed to be on that level once again. I do, for some reason, feel like the first film looked a little fresher, but perhaps that's, in part, due to the leaps and bounds being made in animation quality at the time it was made.

This film desperately missed the songwriting skills of Lin-Manuel Miranda, whose work on the first film was more than worthy of mentioning again. By contrast, the songs in this sequel were almost all extremely forgettable. The only one I liked at all was the first one - everything else was just a disappointment. There was something missing from them that had been so abundant before - a sense of identity, of character.

The comedy was incredibly mediocre, particularly when compared to the previous film, with far too many call backs and far too much meta commentary, rather than focusing on the new story - it was honestly quite distracting. The characters, new and returning, came across as very annoying. There wasn't a single character I enjoyed watching. No one had any significant development, especially the returning characters, whose arcs had already been completed the first time around.

As I have implied above, the plot provided was as weak as water, and not nearly as enjoyable. The call to adventure was vaguely interesting, but after that, everything else was filler until the film's predictable and forgettable climax. There was nothing about this film's story that made me want to watch a third one after this. This is what happens when greed and self-service overtakes genuine creativity and passion. There was no passion in this.

Auli'i Cravalho's voice acting was solid, but lacked the energy and vibrance of her previous turn as the titular islander. Much the same can be said for Dwayne Johnson, whose turn as the demi-God 'Maui' felt like a hollow iteration of the excellence he had provided before. The supporting cast couldn't raise the film's quality much further either. Hualālai Chung, Rose Matafeo, David Fane, and Awhimai Fraser tried and failed to make their new characters stand out, whilst the returning Temuera Morrison didn't get enough lines to have a significant impact.

Overall, I felt like this was the unwanted answer to the question of what 'Moana' would've been like if it lacked any soul or purpose. Dwayne Johnson's executive producer role may go a very long way in explaining why this empty tin can of a film was ever made, and why a third film will be churned out imminently, as well as a live action remake of the original, which, at the time of writing, isn't even ten years old. I couldn't help but feel a little sad writing this review. Films like this aren't what cinema is all about. This film's only purpose was to make money for Disney, and to stroke the ego of one of the most famous actors on the planet.