Review of MOANA 2: A Wayfinder's Work

November 29, 2024

Since Moana (Auliʻi Cravalho) had been made into a wayfinder, she made it her mission to find people from other islands around them in order to unite them. One night, her father Tui (Temuera Morrison), chief of Motonui Island, bestowed on her the title of "Tautai" or "connector of the entire sea." The previous Tautai, Vasa (Gerald Ramsey), appeared to her in a vision and told her to find the lost island of Motufetu, or else her people will disappear in the future. 

Motufetu was an ancient island marked by two peaks, where the channels of the ocean came together, connecting the people of the entire sea. A power-hungry god Namo caused the island to disappear because he believed separating the people of the ocean would make him stronger. Moana assembled her crew for her quest -- the creative builder Loto (Rose Matafeo), the artist storyteller Moni (Hualālai Chung) and master farmer Kele (David Fane).

This was just the background on Moana's character, which dealt with myths that tied in with their people's reality. Of course, our favorite demi-god Maui (Dwayne Johnson) was also there, to settle his own beef against Namo. It is inevitable that the paths of Maui and Moana and her crew will eventually cross. Both of them would get entangled first with Namo's henchwoman Matangi (Awhimai Fraser), whose pets just happened to be bats.    

The vocal performances of Auli'i Cravalho and Dwayne Johnson remain topnotch with their boundless energy and comedic timing.  However, Moana's "Beyond" and Maui's "Do I Get a Chee Hoo?" (by Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear) in this film fail to live up to the catchiness of "How Far I'll Go" or "You're Welcome" (both by Lin Manuel Miranda) from the first film. I do not think any song in this new soundtrack will be nominated for an Oscar. 

The Polynesian-themed artwork, from Maui's tattoos and Moni's posters, still looked great. The animation of various forms of water movement, from splashing to crashing down, was impressive. However, the main story and the new characters were not very memorable. I read that this sequel was initially planned to be streamed as a limited series on Disney+. No wonder it had the feel of Disney's old direct-to-VHS sequels which no-one recalls now. 5/10