“Moana 2” was released in theaters the day before Thanksgiving, November 27. This was a vividly animated addition to the original movie, “Moana”. “Moana 2” follows Moana Waialiki the Chieftess of Motunui on another adventure across the ocean to break a curse.
The whole movie was done very well. The writers came up with a great plot to continue the “Moana” franchise. That made it feel like it was meant to be continued and not forced to because of money and licensing reasons. The animations were very similar to the last movie and could only see minor differences without comparing them side by side. Considering this a new movie changes in animations were expected but they made the “Moana 2” better instead of worse. In my opinion, the songs in “Moana 2” weren’t as good as the original “Moana”. Well none of them were ‘bad’ in any way they just didn’t quite measure up.
At the beginning of the movie, Moana goes on many trips to find other people and their villages, but comes up with nothing. She then returns home to her family: mother, father, her people, and new little sister. There were many new characters introduced in this movie in addition to the originals, such as her sister.
While at home Moana has a vision from her ancestor, Tautai Vasalearns, who tells her about the ocean’s history. Long ago, there was a storm god called Nalo. He wanted power over mortals and the People of the Ocean. To get that power he sunk the island of Motufetū below the ocean and cursed it. Filling the area around it with harsh storms with lightning and tornadoes making it so no one could reach it to break the curse. This island, Motufetū, was magical, the center of all the other islands and villages full of people. This was the point that connected them all, and when Nalo cursed the island it broke separating all the People of the Ocean.
When Moana found out about the curse she knew that she had to find a way to reunite all the People of the Ocean and break it. She knew that this was going to be a long and hard journey so she needed a crew. She teamed up with Moni, a storyteller who knew all the legends and lore, Kele, an old farmer, and Loto, a brilliant but quirky engineer. Together they begin their journey to break the curse on Motufetū.
On the way, they stumble across Maui, the demigod of the winds and sea. He had gotten himself in a little trouble since the last movie courtesy of Matangi, the goddess of music and learning, who hung him from the ceiling. This reunited Maui and Moana together with the goal of Moana touching the mountain and Maui pulling it from the sea.
Throughout the movie, some funny moments were thrown in “Moana 2” to make it more light and kid-friendly than dark and serious. For example, Moni is overly obsessed with Maui and makes sure to show him whenever he can. This makes Maui a little uncomfortable at times.
Matani was my favorite out of all the new characters. She gave off a strong, smart, stubborn vibe. When she was first introduced in the movie she was keeping Maui captive, and supposedly working with Nalo, making the audience think that she was trying to stop Moana and her crew. But then did the complete opposite by giving Moana advice and bringing Maui and Moana back together so that they had a chance at breaking the curse. That would also free her from her own ‘cage.’ She was also the woman who sang my favorite song in the movie called “Get Lost” to Moana giving her advice for the journey ahead.
Although Nalo was the villain of this story there wasn’t any talking interaction between him and the main characters, just the storms that he created to protect the curse on the island. But overall, this movie was a fantastic watch, making a perfect sequel to the first movie. This movie has earned a rating of 5/5.