Disney’s Moana retread misses the Lin-Manuel Miranda magic

MOANA 2 ★★★

(PG) 100 minutes

Here’s the first thing you need to know: Moana 2 was intended as a TV series for Disney+ before the allure of valuable IP convinced Disney’s executives to shoot for a holiday blockbuster instead. After all, in the intervening years, the original Moana (2016) – with its charming protagonist and rich mix of Polynesian mythology, epic adventure and climate consciousness – became the most popular animated movie on Disney+. It’s not the most romantic of reasons for making a sequel, but since when is Disney in the business of romance?

The sequel, then, doesn’t rock the canoe, immediately picking up the first film’s thread, with our resourceful wayfinder Moana of Motunui (Auliʻi Cravalho) – “Still not a princess,” as she proudly proclaims – torn between venturing beyond the reef and staying put to play at home with her adorable new sister, Simea.

And yet, it has its new appeals. Directors David Derrick Jr, Jason Hand and Dana Ledoux Miller have had eight years of CGI developments to work with and the onscreen visuals are sumptuous. Oceans ripple, sands sparkle and sunsets glow better than the real thing; there’s so much texture in Moana’s hair you’ll find yourself getting jealous of a cartoon.

The film even takes on a psychedelic edge when Moana’s thrown into dialogue with her spiritual ancestors after a kava ceremony, launching her on another Odyssey-in-the-South Pacific adventure in which – this time with a crew on hand – she confronts monstrous islands that bulge with eyes and tentacles, a blobby fish that oozes toxins and antitoxins, and even the return of the kakamoras, those cute Fury Road-inspired kamikaze coconuts. It’s inventive fun, until it’s not.

As any kid could tell you, it’s the songs that make a Disney musical, and Lin-Manuel Miranda’s contributions to the original Moana have fuelled repeat singalongs for years. He’s off on another project (a musical, The Warriors) and has been replaced by TikTok sensations Barlow and Bear.

The film misses Miranda’s magic. When a song such as Where You Are (“Consider the coconut!“), with its undulating countermelodies, cultural specificity and intergenerational warmth, can still make you weep – and that’s not even the one that earned an Oscar nomination (How Far I’ll Go) – Moana 2’s Beyond, with its Ireland-at-Eurovision chorus isn’t going to cut it.

It’s telling that the film’s two best songs – What Could Be Better Than This? and Can I Get a Chee Hoo? – are essentially Miranda retreads. On the first, newcomer Rose Matafeo – voicing the brainy Loto, one of Moana’s crewmates – raps triplets like she’s Disney Eminem; on the second, Dwayne Johnson – back as the demigod Maui – proves (again) that hitting a note is overrated.

But Get Lost, a funky torch song from the campy new villain Matangi (Awhimai Fraser), is a missed opportunity, choosing restraint when it should soar. Ursula the sea witch would shudder.

The lacklustre songs are just the half of it. The first film found coming-of-age tension in Moana’s quest to fulfil her wayfinding destiny despite family trauma but there’s no emotional pull in this sequel to make anything matter (they already killed the grandma); it just shuffles through plot points like pages in a cheap paperback.

That it all ends with a closing mid-credits sequence pointing to yet another sequel proves Disney will always drive a good idea into the ground like no one else.

Moana 2 is released in cinemas on November 28.

Find out the next TV, streaming series and movies to add to your must-sees. Get The Watchlist delivered every Thursday.