Moana 2 almost does enough to distract from its DTV roots. The production, visuals, voice performances, sound etc are top notch. And it’s nice to see the characters again. The plot is super weak though and mostly a rehash of the first film. The songs even are rehashes of songs from the first film.

Not bad and mostly enjoyable but hugely missed potential.

There is an end credits scene that sets up a 3rd film. And it had a really fun cameo.

Meh.

Maybe they did need Lin Manuel for the songs? Don't remember a single one from this. Definitely feels very direct-to-video but with expensive animation. Idk man, Disney Animation was on a roll but with this and Wish...

the coconuts deserve their own movie!

Feels like the disney plus show it was meant to be for about 60% of the run time, but you can tell exactly when Disney saw the dollar signs and its when they escape the clam and reunite with Maui. "Give me a Cheehoo" or whatever its called is no classic, but its the only song that doesn't sound exactly like one from the first movie. And the finale does feel very cinematic. My heart was tugged. The ending had me in the palm of its hand so well that I actually thought "they should bring back We Know The Way to close this out" shortly before they did exactly that. Vintage Disney Magic.

7/10. Rock bottom expectations helped, but I was pleased with the film and am looking forward to Moana 3.

Disappointing due to not having an interesting enough storyline. They could've made the Get Lost girl the villain and get into Moana's head, or they could've met the new people halfway through the movie, neither of which would've been super new directions, but still more interesting than what they really did which was to just make them fight an evil storm in the climax like the boat movie it is and then call it a day. Moana's interest in finding new people might have resonated more at the start of the first movie but after already meeting a demigod and having adventures it's hard to see her yearning for more excitement, overall the personal journey doesn't seem as necessary to make a movie about as say Elsa's in Frozen 2. The Rock does his best to save it and has the best song again and the inventor girl has her moments but overall this is average at best.