A Case for the UN?
Everything is a Trump allegory now.
Moana 2
Directors: David Derrick Jr, Jason Hand, Dana Ledoux Miller • Writers: Jared Bush, Dana Ledoux Miller
Starring [English]: Auli’i Cravalho, Dwayne Johnson, Hualalai Chung, Rose Matafeo, David Fane
USA • 1hr 40mins
Opens Hong Kong Dec 5 • I
Grade: B
Short answer? Nah, Moana 2 isn’t the revelatory minor joy the first Moana was back in 2016, with a Disney princess that was decidedly not a princess – and didn’t want to be – a fresh cultural perspective and a performance by the painfully overexposed/over-extended Dwayne Johnson that reminded us why we liked him in the first place. The first Moana was a bit of a gamble (by Disney standards anyway) but when it spit nearly US$700 million back at The Mouse a sequel was a matter of 3… 2…
Wild guess as to whether or not Moana 2 stays true to its modest origins (again, Disney standards) with a focus on fun characters and catchy songs? I’ll wait. Nope! It’s moremoremore as all sequels to surprise hits are. This is a straight-ahead adventure that ramps up the frantic animation and Marvel-level action sequences. Moana’s original directors – The Little Mermaid (the cartoon one) and Aladdin’s (ditto) John Musker and Ron Clements – have been replaced with artists David Derrick Jr, Jason Hand and animation rookie Dana Ledoux Miller, working from a script by Jared Bush (Encanto, Zootopia). Bush wrote the first film too, but he’s now the chief creative officer of Walt Disney Animation Studios. Take from that what you will. Despite the green directors and the guiding corporate hand (check out those Minions Kakamora, just in time for Christmas), or perhaps in spite of it, Moana 2 is fine. Moana is still one of the better Disney sisters – smart, daring, devoted, generous – the curse is a creative one that posits a cool mythology for Polynesia’s connective tissue, and a standout pair of new characters are charming enough to make you want more of them. It’s bright. It’s colourful. It has all the “right” messages about family, community and the value and importance of engaging with the world – and if the kids yelling “She has to find the stars!” and “Oh no!” at my screening are any indication, it works gangbusters.
Sequel = more on the canoe
We pick up with Moana (Auli’i Cravalho) accepting the role of wayfinder for her village, shortly after returning from yet another sojourn beyond the reef in search other people. Since she returned the heart of Te Fiti her home island Motunui has flourished but Moana is still looking beyond her beach. On the night of the ceremony making her wayfinder status official, she’s struck by lightning and has a vision of an ancestor. He tells her to follow the “fire in the sky” and break the curse of Motufetu, lest the oceans remain disconnected, guaranteeing Motunui – as well as other civilisations – will shrivel and die in its isolation (talk about an argument for not dismantling NATO). In no time Moana’s put together a crew made up of village scribe and fanfiction writer Moni (Hualalai Chung), budding engineer Loto (Rose Matafeo) and Kele, the island’s crankiest farmer (Kiwi vet David Fane, Next Goal Wins, totally hilarious). Loto designs them a bigger, better boat and off they go with Heihei (Alan Tudyk) and Pua in tow to lift a curse.
Elsewhere, shapeshifting demigod Maui (Dwayne Johnson) is beefing with the storm god Nalo, the dude keeping the curse alive, and winds up his prisoner. It doesn’t matter how it happens – though there is an amusing detour around the coconut warrior Kakamora clan – Moana’s posse winds up rescuing Maui, reuniting the demigod and the wayfinder for their second mission. Despite the poor kid’s “Oh no!” exclamation, they do indeed save the day.
Regardless of how familiar Moana 2’s narrative and emotional beats are, and despite the added visual zing – and by zing I mean ants-in-its-pants restlessness, not art or images, which are admittedly gorgeous most of the time, saucer eyeballs and all – it’s a worthy enough sequel, and consistently entertaining. The outward-looking fearlessness of the Moana character really helps, and it’s a trait we are all in dire need more of these days. Kele is the ace in the hole this time around, and Fane is pitch-perfect with his curmudgeon vibe; he gets off truly some glorious quips. If there’s a real knock on the film it’s Abigail Barlow, Emily Bear and Opetaia Foa’i’s soundtrack. None of the original songs this time around have the melodic, singalong persistence (whether that’s good or bad is personal) of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s “How Far I’ll Go”, “Shiny” or “You’re Welcome”. The big lung-clearer here is “Beyond” (there’s no debating Cravalho’s pipes), though “Get Lost” comes a close second. That’s performed by the film’s other great new addition, Awhimai Fraser’s Matangi, an enigmatic underworld goddess who helps Moana figure a way to escape Nalo’s lair with Maui and find Motufetu. Fraser gives the song some welcome disco energy – it had a legit “I Will Survive” thing going on in the opening bars – making it a nice complement to Chang’s ambiguity if you get me. Moana 2 has already hoovered up US$390 million in six days (as of this writing). Will we get more of the abfab Matangi? Look, Disney went to the trouble of creating its own Minions. Hell yes there’ll be a Moana 3.