The Reel Review
Moana embarks on a journey with friends to a mysterious island in the hopes of bringing together the populations from across the South Pacific, in this Disney animated family adventure sequel to 2016’s Moana starring Auli’i Cravalho and Dwayne Johnson.
Visually, Moana 2 looks fantastic with gorgeous, meticulously crafted animation. But storywise, it is a threadbare snoozefest more geared towards toddlers under the age of 3 with its cute coconut pirates, Abyss-like character Ocean and the goofy chicken Hei-Hei. Even the songs in the film are not that memorable.
Fans looking forward to the reunion of the 2016 film’s leads will be disappointed that they don’t even appear together until the film’s second half. All in all, Moana 2 is a pretty but dull paint by numbers sequel more interested in setting up the next installment in the franchise.
REEL FACTS
• Originally planned as a television series to air on Disney+, the project was transformed into a theatrical sequel in February 2024.
• None of the four original directors of Moana returned for this sequel.
• Dwayne Johnson’s daughters Jasmine and Tiana appear in the film as two of the Moana-bes.
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