Film review: ‘MOANA 2’ by Nick Gardener from ‘Built For Speed’
Disney’s Moana was a justifiable smash hit. A cute, charming and extremely visually inventive animated adventure that drew on the familiar Disney trope of the feisty but sensitive young woman going on a journey of self-discovery. It was distinguished, however, by its South Pacific island setting (the fictitious island of Motonui) and its references to Polynesian history, culture and mythology.
The much-anticipated sequel, Moana 2, offers many of the same treats with some astonishingly vivid photorealistic and at times hallucinogenic visuals and quirky characters. Unfortunately, it also suffers from the familiar tendency to try and make sequels bigger and more extravagant than the first film. This results in a few too many loud, hyper manic action sequences and sight gags which become a little wearing on the nerves and at times make the story hard to follow.
This film is set three years after the original and sees Moana (voiced once again by Auli’i Cravalho), who is now the island’s main wayfinder or explorer, eagerly searching surrounding islands for evidence of other peoples. A revelation from an ancient ancestor tells her that the various peoples were separated when the angry god Nalo sunk the land of Motufetu that linked their islands. To reunite the people, Moana and a questionable crew must set off across the ocean to find the fabled sunken Motufetu. To have any hope of succeeding they must call on the muscly, tattooed, trickster demigod Maui (Dwayne ‘the Rock’ Johnson) to help them combat the supremely powerful Nalo, his arsenal of storms and his menagerie of sea beasties.
Like the first film, Moana 2 mixes affectionate visions of family and island life with perky songs and vigorous action sequences in which some calamity tests Moana’s courage and self-belief. What emerges is really just a bigger, noisier – and for littlies more intense and occasionally scary – version of the first film. As it hits us with a succession of over-the-top set pieces, it loses some of the innocent charm we enjoyed so much in the first movie.
The songs, this time written by Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear rather than Lin-Manuel Miranda, are tolerable enough but don’t quite connect as well as Miranda’s and some are just typical bland Disney power ballads.
Importantly, though, Cravalho and ‘the rock’ once again provide extremely endearing voice work. The sparky energy with which they infuse this film holds our interest ahead of the elaborately animated images or the music. As Moana’s crew, Hualalai Chung, Rose Matafeo and David Fane provide some amusement but the script doesn’t given them the scope to make their characters especially memorable. Temuera Morrison and Nicole Scherzinger return to voice Moana’s father and mother but they have less impact here than in the first film. Fans will be pleased to know, however, that Moana’s disaster-prone pet chicken and pig are back.
Moana 2 isn’t quite as appealing as the first one but its best moments (aesthetically at least) are stunning, Moana is still an extremely likeable character and the film’s cultural perspective is very welcome in the world of animated blockbusters.
Nick’s rating: ***
Genre: Musical/ Comedy/ Action/ Adventure/ Animation.
Classification: PG.
Director(s): David Derrick Jr, Jason Hand & Dana Ledoux Miller.
Release date: 27th Nov 2024.
Running time: 100 mins.
Reviewer: Nick Gardener can be heard on “Built For Speed” every Friday night from 8-10pm on 88.3 Southern FM.