I recently watched Moana 2 on Disney Plus, and I wanted to write some of my thoughts on it. I like to end things on a more positive note, so I’ll start talking about the things I disliked first before I talk about what I enjoyed about the movie.
One thing I disliked about this film is that the stakes feel the same as the first movie. In the first Moana movie, Moana has to travel across the sea and return the heart of Te Fiti with Maui’s help, and they have to face the lava monster Te Ka (who is actually Te Fiti who needs her heart back to get back to normal). Moana returns the heart and saves the day.
In Moana 2, Moana has to travel across the sea to an island called Motufetu so that she and her people can connect with other people of the ocean, and she does that with the help of her new crew and Maui, and they must face an evil god to reach Motufetu, and they end up saving the day.
The similarities between Moana and Moana 2 are obvious, but the similarities aren’t necessarily the main problem for me. The main issue I have is that since the stakes are somewhat the same, I couldn’t help but feel like the writers were trying to make the stakes feel higher than the first movie when, to me at least, it really wasn’t.
Moana’s family is worried for her and the Chief and Simea (Moana’s sister) fear that Moana may never come back, Moana sings “Beyond” revealing that she is hesitant to go on this journey, and it’s supposed to be a huge deal. I understand to a certain extent why Moana would be worried, and she seems to fear that this may be a journey she won’t return from and she doesn’t want to leave her sister behind. But at the same time, she already went on a dangerous journey in the first movie, and there was also a risk that she would not survive, given she had to face a lava monster. While I was watching Moana singing “Beyond,” I couldn’t help but think “But this isn’t so different from what you did last time.”
It doesn’t really matter though, because she makes the decision to go on the journey the very next day, after talking to her grandma, who seems to share the same opinion I had while watching all this. She asks Moana “What are you so worried about?”
But speaking of Moana’s grandma, this leads me to one other thing I don’t like, which could be considered a nitpick. When Moana tells her grandma that this journey is different from last time, her grandma says, “Last time you weren’t old enough to understand all you could lose or learn.”
I’m not sure what to make of this statement, given the fact that in the first Moana movie, it’s clear that Moana knows that if she fails to return the heart of Te Fiti, her island and her people will die. She even had a nightmare about this. So she did understand what she could lose, it’s just that her main fear has changed a little bit in Moana 2, which she seems to be leaving her sister behind and the possibility of never returning home.
While I think it’s fine for Moana to be a little worried, the fact that this journey is similar to the first movie where it will inevitably have the same outcome of her surviving and making it back home safely made this first part of the movie feel a little over dramatic to me.
One other thing I disliked about the movie is that Moana’s new crew lacked development. Besides Moni, the storyteller guy, I don’t remember any of the other’s names. That isn’t to say that they were completely useless. The boat building girl was able to help towards the film’s finale, and the old gardener helped a little at one point, and so did Moni. However, I don’t really know much about them other than their professions and personalities. Moni is sort of annoying, because he geeks out over Maui and he writes what he calls “fanfic” with him and Maui going on adventures (This is another nitpick, but I don’t know why the writers thought mentioning fanfic was even a good idea), the old man is grumpy, and the young boat builder is somewhat hyperenergetic and she seems to like to come prepared.
But since the movie doesn’t delve into them much, I was left feeling like the movie could have done fine without them, or at least without Moni and maybe the old gardener. Also, I don’t know why Moana would want an old man out at sea to begin with, especially since he had no interest in going when she asked him. The man is old, so he can’t do too much, and he is probably more prone to getting injured on a journey like this.
Another thing I didn’t like is that some scenes were dragged out for humor, but it didn’t land for me. There is a scene where the coconut people shoot Moana and her crew with darts, and they can’t move. But when they agree to help the coconut people, this big green fish has to spread green goo over them in order for the toxins to wear off quickly. This was supposed to be funny, and maybe kids will think it is, but I didn’t, and the scene felt like it was going on for too long.
I also noticed there was one scene that cut abruptly, and it looked a bit weird. It was around the time Maui made a joke about the ancestors “butt dialing” Moana, and the lady who built the ship turned to him, and it almost looked like she was going to say something or was going to give him a look, but the scene cut back to Moana.
Finally, Moana becomes a demigod, but this is glossed over too quickly. The movie doesn’t show how her family reacts to this, or if they even know (though I can only assume they do) and the repercussions aren’t discussed or implied. I mean, if Moana is a demigod, won’t she outlive her family? What exactly does that mean for her and her people? I guess that will all be explained in Moana 3, whenever that will happen.
Now to talk about the positives.
One thing I did like about the crew is that they were resourceful when they needed to be. When their ship gets wrecked on a remote island, they use the wreckage of one of their ancestor’s ships to fix up their boat, and they did all that while Moana got a pep talk from Maui. What the crew did for Moana was really nice, and may be the best scene in the movie for me.
The animation is great, as usual. The music is okay as well. I think “Get Lost” and “Beyond” were the best songs in the movie. Maui gets a song where he gives a pep talk to Moana which is decent.
I also enjoyed the relationship between Moana and her little sister Simea. That was one of the best things about the film, and their interactions were sweet and heartwarming. Simea is probably the best side character they added for this movie.
Another side character I liked was the Warrior Kakamora who helped Moana and her crew out a little. There is a scene where Moana is trying to pull their boat out of the clam, but the Kakamora sees that the Kakamora ship would eventually be pulled into the clam along with them, so he cuts the rope to save his friends. I thought it was interesting, and it showed that he cared about his people.
Overall, the movie was fine. Moana 2 has some enjoyable scenes and songs, but it doesn’t feel complete. This movie felt more like a stepping stone for Moana 3. Some side characters weren’t fleshed out enough, a couple of scenes dragged on for too long, and the movie felt a little rushed, probably because the movie was originally going to be a TV series but last minute changes were made. I would probably give the movie 3.5 stars. However, I should note that I am in my early twenties, so young children will probably get more enjoyment out of this than I did, and I know that other adults who like Moana may love this movie as well.
Comments
Post a Comment