Movie Thoughts: Moana 2 (2024)

• Released: November 21, 2024
• Directed by: David G. Derrick Jr., Jason Hand, Dana Ledoux Miller
• Running time: 1 h 40 min
• Rating 3/5

Synopsis

Moana sets out with a crew to find other people across the ocean.

My Thoughts

The reviews I've seen this movie get are usually indifferent at most, and harsh at worst. And usually I can at least kinda see where people are coming from.

Well, not here. Because I thought this was a genuinely fun and exciting movie. Sure, not the most complex and by far not as good as the first film, but I still think it's solid and deserves a watch. It's by far not as bad as I was anticipating it'd be when I first heard about this being a reworked miniseries.

Now, if you asked me the question "would this story have worked better as a series" my answer would be "probably yes". While I do think this is a decent movie, some concepts could've been executed better or expanded on more (such as the characters feeling a bit one-note and not very developed). But for what it is, I don't know man, I really do not see the hate for this film. 

Honestly, even with how simple they were, I liked the characters in this film. Moana and Maui are admittedly not as interesting in this film because their arcs too place in the first movie, but I'm glad they didn't regress their characters just to force them to learn the same lesson they learned in the first film. As for the side characters, sure, they're not super well-rounded, but I still genuinely liked these guys and I hope they return for the next movie, hopefully with a bit more character development.

My favorite part of the movie was the climax thought, it was legitimately impressive to me and I might even like it more than the climax of the first film, it felt genuinely exciting and the danger the characters were in felt real (even if obviously Moana ended up coming back to life in the end). 

As for the mid-credits scene, it does make me excited for the next film! I wonder what they'll be doing with Nalo and Matangi and of course my fave Tamatoa. 

If there is one thing I absolutely did not vibe with in this sequel, however, it's the music. I didn't like any of the songs and none of them left an impact on me. I can't recall a single one of them. This when I loved the soundtrack of the first movie. So yeah, while overall I do like this film the soundtrack is by far its weakest point if you ask me.

So okay, not a very great movie or anything and I do think it would've worked better if they'd kept it as a series, but for what it is I still think it's solid and fun. As far as Disney sequels go this is still miles above most of the trash they put out in the early 2000s.