Directors – David G. Derrick Jr., Jason Hand, Dana Ledoux Miller – 2024 – US – Cert. PG – 100m
*** 1/2
The desire to connect with the people who must surely live beyond the known horizons of her world drives Moana on a new seafaring adventure – out in UK cinemas on Friday, November 29th
Set three years after Moana (John Musker, Ron Clements, 2016), this features the eponymous Polynesian heroine (voiced once again by Auli’i Cravalho) not as a 16-year-old but as a 19-year-old. She has now become a wayfinder and the leader of her island people. Weirdly, perhaps, for a leader, she likes nothing better than going off into the middle of the island, accompanied by her two Disney-obligatory small animal friends Pua the pig and HeiHei the dim-witted cockerel (voice, or at least cockerel noises: Alan Tudyk), climbing to its highest point and blowing a shell in the hope that someone out in the world beyond the one she knows might respond. She wants to reach out and connect with other islander populations. Alas, she gets little more than Heihei blowing a shell a few yards away.
Following a vision in which she is visited by Tautai Vasa (voice: Gerald Faitala Ramsey), a wayfinder from a distant generation who sent out to sea and never came back, Moana and her small crew set sail for the lost island of Motufetu. She is guided by a light in the sky. In addition to her two animals, the crew includes Moni (voice: Hualalai Chung), the young man who is also a dedicated story-keeper, boffin cum designer Loto (voice: Rose Matafao) given to innovating in unlikely ways such as chopping down the main mast, and the elderly Kele (voice: David Fane). Early on in their voyage, they run up against the diminutive yet ferocious Kakamori race in their ship, and are joined in their quest by the Kakamori warrior Kotu.
One of the great strengths of the original film was the pairing of optimistic human teen Moana with the somewhat out-of-control, outsized demi-god Maui (voice: Dwayne Johnson), a shape-shifter deriving that ability from a giant hook he carries with him. He is also noteworthy for having a body covered in tattoos, animated by veteran Disney pencil-and-paper 2D drawn animator Eric Goldberg, best known for animating the genie on Aladdin (John Musker, Ron Clements, 1992). These include a little animated drawing of Maui himself, with whom Maui often remonstrates.
Maui doesn’t appear until part-way through the voyage in this second film, which is okay because there is enough going on around Moana and the other characters to make the film work, but when he finally does appear, the pair’s dynamic kicks in once again and adds a significant element of the first film to its sequel.
Later on, our heroes run into Matangi (voice: Awhimai Fraser), the underground servant of the god villain behind the disappearance of the island of Motufetu. First described by Maui as “that crazy bat-lady”, she zips around the screen (not unlike Aladdin’s manic genie) as a force to be reckoned with. Other perils on Moana’s quest include a giant island that eats people – it has two halves like a pair of jaws or the shells of a clam – and a dark storm.
Disney have gone to a lot of trouble to try and accurately portray island peoples with a great respect for their culture, which is all very laudable, yet you wonder if they are putting all their effort into the right place because the film feels like yet another quest movie, and it’s quite hard to invest any enthusiasm in the protagonists and what they have to overcome.
There is also the somewhat odd spectacle (as with the previous film) of a friendly sea that behaves like the water tentacle in The Abyss (James Cameron, 1989). The scene in which it featured in Cameron’s film was at once a profound meditation on the nature of alien (or subterranean) life forms and a pioneer leap forward in special visual effects, whereas its presence in the Moana films simply feels like a cheap steal.
Despite that, the production does possess considerable strengths in certain areas. The characters are consistent with the first film (from which many cast members here reprise their voice acting roles), even if their street-smart dialogue proves a little wearing after a while.
The animation itself is superb. You marvel as, for example, Moana hangs off the side of the boat she is single-handedly sailing – you feel the animators have correctly judged her weight and movement, and she feels totally convincing. The dim-witted chicken is hilarious. Eric Goldberg’s Maui tattoo animation is mesmerising. None of these are essential elements that drive the narrative forward, they are more like small details, but they’re a real pleasure to experience on the screen.
However, the best thing here is the relationship between Moana and her toddler little sister Simea, only observed when Moana is at home on her island, which is a fairly small part of the film. The two characters share a deep bond, with the elder one possessing an adult’s perspective while the younger one struggles to make sense of everything around her with the sensibilities of a three-year-old. It’s a deeply affecting portrayal of siblings, and there’s something utterly disarming about it.
Moana 2 is out in cinemas in the UK on Friday, November 29th.
Trailer: