Moana 2 (2024)

Moana 2 (2024)

5/10

 

Starring the voices of

Auliʻi Cravalho

Dwayne Johnson        

 

Directed by David Derrick Jr., Jason Hand and Dana Ledoux Miller

 

Fifteen minutes into the movie and absolutely nothing was happening, I was bored and absolutely confused on what the point of all the cultural significance that is being bestowed on Moana. It was like, the writers felt, they needed to elevate her more, after all she has done in the first Moana. Moana 2 is a cash grab, it is Disney being so much in need of a win, that they decided to just turn what was meant to be a series for Disney +, to a movie, just to get a box-office win. Moana 2, like this predecessor, is a CGI animated feature movie, featuring the voices of Auliʻi Cravalho and Dwayne Johnson.

So, what do we the unfortunate movie watcher get? Too much bone and so little meat. A forgettable experience in the movies, with songs that do not stick to the tongue like the ones in the first Moana movie in 2016.

The succinct plot is that Moana has been searching for other people like her own people on the island, so that they can connect (connect the people of the ocean). Because of her heroic adventure with Maui, she has been elevated to the person who will connect the people of the ocean. Problem is, after the events of the first movie, she has been searching for others and has not been able to find anyone.

Like all movies go, during the ceremony she gets a revelation, which I always wonder, when these ancestors come to visit to give us directions on our path, why not just tell us what to do. Give us a map and be very direct. Why be cryptic and send Moana to find a light to guide her to find the people of the island of Motufelu, which was sunk by a storm god Nalo.

To make it more intense, she must do this to save the people on her own island from extinction. So, when does she begin this journey? Well, like almost 30 minutes in, with a crew of people from her island. How does Maui connect? Well, he too is trying to find Motufetu (coincidence isn’t it), and he has some issues with Nalo, and Nalo's chief henchman, has him captured hoping he will reach out to Moana for help. Maui refuses, because he fears for her life, if she comes to help him.

One thing I know is that this movie will rake in millions and probably get to over a billion in the box office, it is possible, but we need better materials and not just Disney doing some spin-off of a series to a sequel.

Not worth the watch.