Movie Review – Moana 2

I waited to see this until the crowds died down a bit (I love animated films, but not the theaters full of children talking and jumping around). I think the first Moana film is far better than either Frozen movie, so I was excited for the sequel.

This sequel finds Moana searching for other humans on other islands, but she is not having any luck. Turns out, an angry god hid the island that served as a centerpiece for her people’s culture. It is never fully explained why, just that he was mad, but Moana brings a couple islanders with her to try and find it anyway. Eventually she reconnects with Maui who she teams up with again, because of course she does.

This film, while just as pretty to look at as the first one, lacks in both story and music. None of the songs are catchy. I often hum the songs from the first film, but that won’t be the case with this one. The story needed some flushing out. There is a character who traps Maui and then helps Moana for no apparent reason. She is promptly forgotten about after Moana and Maui leave. And the angry god who hid the island they were trying to find suddenly doesn’t care that they find the island and raise it from the bottom of the ocean. He just gone. Moana and her little sister have a cute relationship, but they call each other Big Sis and Little Sis mainly because otherwise it looks like Moana is an unmarried mom.

Anyhoo, three out of five stars for a film that is really pretty but lacking everywhere else.