Recently, a sequel to the Disney film “Moana”, which launched in 2016, was released as “Moana 2” on Nov. 27, 2024. After opening night, there has been a lot of back-and-forth debate on whether the movie lived up to its advertisement or not.
If you have not had the opportunity to watch “Moana 2”, the primary story involves Moana receiving a call from her wayfinding ancestors, asking her to connect the different people of Oceania by finding and freeing the Island of Motufetu from the malicious grasp of the storm god, Nato.
One of the most discussed topics among fans and critics is the change in song quality. In the original movie “Moana”, the writers for the soundtrack were Lin-Manuel Miranda, Opetaia Foa’i, and Mark Mancina. While the voice actors for both Moana and Maui in “Moana 2” stayed the same, Miranda was occupied writing music for the upcoming “Mufasa” movie, so new writers Emily Bear and Abigail Barlow joined the composing team along with the reappearing Mancina and Foa’i.
RHS Junior Kameron Commins stated, “I think one thing that could be improved was the music. There were no iconic songs. There were no songs that I had stuck in my head for the rest of my night. They needed something upbeat with a catchy rhythm.”
On the other hand, others mentioned how the animation was even better in the sequel than it was in the original movie. The art style was so realistic that you could see every grain of sand and every strand of hair.
RHS Senior Maddie Kuhl mentioned, “I feel like the animation for the second movie was better than the first. The really bad storm that was surrounding the lost island was very aggressive, and it helped viewers understand that a villain was behind it.”
Overall, the beautiful plot and animation of “Moana 2” made the movie a very successful sequel and many viewers were satisfied with their watching experience. If you are interested in seeing the film, it is currently playing in all theaters.
