On March 13 through March 15, the Huskies Events and Activities Team (HEAT) at St. Cloud State University continues their ‘Huskies Cinema’ Program with a movie viewing of Moana 2, a 2024 Disney film starring Auli’i Cravalho and Dwayne Johnson. The movie was the long-anticipated sequel to the first movie released in 2016, and expectations were high. The film seemed to surpass expectations on paper, breaking records across the Box Office, but audiences were less than thrilled.
In recent years, Disney has failed to impress both audiences and critics. In the past 3 years alone, Disney has lost best animated film at the Oscars, and Moana 2 was not nominated for best original score, unlike its original. This seems to be an ongoing trend; creating sequels and live action remakes of older movies to generate a quick cash grab for the company. While some (like Inside Out 2) do well and succeed globally, most fall short, and this is no exception.
As a girl, Disney was a part of my everyday life. The magic of Disney was intoxicating, and even films released later in my adolescence still held that same sense of nostalgia. So, with that history in mind, I walked into Moana 2 with a slim hope that this would be better than Disney’s last few films.
At the beginning of the film, I thought people had exaggerated about how awful it was. But as it progressed, I understood the negative reviews this movie seemed to get.
Lately, Disney has a knack for producing villains that aren’t exactly villains. Often, these characters are redeemed in some way, or the villain is an essence that we physically never see (for example, Frozen 2). The trailer for Moana seemed to pose the opposite – a female villain who was cunning and manipulative yet still very feminine.
I was excited to see her come to life on the screen. I was hoping for a true Disney villain who would attempt to thwart Moana, even if that meant killing her. Sadly, Disney wasted this character’s potential, making her a captive enslaved to a god instead of a goddess herself. She ends up being in one scene in the actual movie, and then once more in the post credit’s scene. For being such a prominent figure in the trailer, it was shocking to see her in only two scenes.
Along the same vein, the background characters in this movie didn’t interact with Moana much, let alone each other. We are introduced to three new characters who are supposed to help Moana on her journey. As the film progressed, I was expecting to see them change and become better wayfinders themselves, almost like a homage to the first film. Alas, this character arc lasted for all of one song. Granted, they are not the main characters, but for them to be in so much of the film and so stagnant felt underwhelming.
Another huge aspect that made the first Moana successful was the music. It captivated audiences and helped convey the cultural sense of the movie. The second film does have catchy tunes, but they lean more towards a pop album than a Disney film, which throws off the tone of the film.
The songs in this one are also very limited. There are 4 noticeable songs throughout the whole movie, but they are almost back-to-back in the first half of the film, leading the pacing to be off for the rest of the movie.
However, the movie did have some high points. The humor throughout the film was good, and there were times where everyone around me was laughing along with it. The color usage in some of the backgrounds is also amazing, with the sun rise and sunsets being some of my favorite visuals from the film.
Overall, I was thoroughly let down by this movie but looking back on Disney’s track record over the last two years, I am not surprised. This would have done better as a series like originally intended, and Disney’s greed ruined that.
The movie’s post credit scene does set up for a third film, so let’s hope the next one is better than this one.
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