Moana 2 has some impressive visuals such as a giant sea creature clam, but its story is all but nonexistent. If Disney doesn’t do a massive course correction to this franchise, this will be as far as Moana and co. go.

Moana 2 sees its titular heroine (Auli’I Cravalho) trying to unite the people and tribes of the ocean; however, the lightning god Nalo sank the mythical island of Motufetu to keep the people apart. When Moana receives a sign from the ancestors, she leaves home again teaming up with her pig, rooster, canoe designer Loto (Rose Matafeo), master farmer Kele (David Fane), and storyteller Moni (Haulaai Chung) to break Nalo’s curse.

The decision to break up Moana and Maui (Dwayne Johnson) for as long as the movie does was an interesting (albeit wrong) choice. I hoped the new cast of characters would help the lulls between action set pieces but unfortunately, that was not the case. The movie never goes beyond the characters’ initial introduction. There’s a sequence when Maui protects the crew from Nalo’s killer bioluminescent eels telling them to get to their positions. They stumble over each other collapsing on the deck unable to contribute anything to the situation. The scene works as an establishing sequence, but these characters never seem to truly matter.

After the crew’s boat gets wrecked, the ragtag team manages to unite and rebuild the canoe. The only problem is the movie shows us the aftermath – the boat is fully resorted. Rather than seeing the team working together, this moment happens off-screen, during Johnson’s inspiration musical number, which makes one wonder what does Moana actually bring to the table?

The big bad of the movie Nalo is introduced in this story. He’s often depicted by illustrations in Moni’s painting or in the storm clouds. It’s an odd choice to show the audiences the villain’s face in a post credit that couldn’t make the villain any less menacing. According to the legend, he kept the people of the ocean apart to make himself stronger, but it’s never explicitly stated how. Did the people’s exchange of ideas and stories suppress his legend and therefore diminish his power, what was his motivation?

The movie also introduces a witch named Matangi (Awhimai Fraser) who is imprisoned by Nalo in the giant clam. She somehow manages to overpower Maui and hold him captive at least until Moana shows up and rescues him. It’s unclear as to whether she’s supposed to be a threat to Moana and Co or if she’s collateral damage in a story that has yet to be told. However, in the post credit scene, it’s revealed she owes a debt to Nalo that she believes she’s paid. Again this is another story idea for another movie apparently.

The songs this time around are much less memorable compared to the first’s “How Far I’ll Go.” It can’t be easy to write lyrics but there are two songs in this movie that utilize Moana having to say her name which comes off both as lazy and uninspired. The score does some heavy lifting during the climactic battle giving the sequence a sense of epicenes that isn’t conveyed by anything actually shown on screen.

I’m shocked at how little actually happens in this movie. Even more shocking is how the filmmakers chose not to disguise the stagnant moments with more action set pieces. Rather than finishing a plot point to its natural conclusion, the writers continue to add story ideas that would need to be explored in future movies proving this franchise is stuck in the doldrum of ideas.

Rating: 1/5.

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The writer of this piece is: Laurence Almalvez
Laurence tweets from @IL1511

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