Review: ‘Moana 2′ a worthy sequel to a dazzling original

Parents of young children should let loose a hearty “cheehoo” upon the Thanksgiving week release of “Moana 2.” It’s dandy long weekend entertainment, a sequel that comes close to the soaring storytelling and exhilarating anthems of the first film, which delighted young audiences eight years ago, resulting in countless Halloween costumes and babies belting about how far they’ll go.

The animated film, which celebrated the strength and power of young girls, as well as Polynesian culture with reverence and specificity, was a balm in November 2016. It was a massive box-office hit, and nominated for two Academy Awards for original songs written by Lin-Manuel Miranda.

“Moana” felt revolutionary within the Disney canon because our spunky protagonist is decidedly not a princess (she’ll be the first to tell you that). She felt radical, especially for older generations who grew up on passive princesses whose lives were dictated by weddings (or the resistance to them).

Moana was a girl of action, an explorer — strong, capable, brave, family-oriented and empathetic. That made her a remarkable role model, and the character has lost none of her moxie and skill in the sequel.

While the impressive voice cast of Pacific Islanders, including Auli’i Cravalho and Dwayne Johnson, has returned (with a few new additions), a new creative team has been assembled for the sequel, which originally was developed as a series and then reworked into a feature length film.

The film is as visually dazzling and culturally rich as the first, and an apt continuation of Moana’s story, who is now a revered “wayfinder” in her community, on a tiny Pacific Island.

In “Moana 2,” our fearless heroine has a desire to explore even farther into the ocean, to go beyond where she’s ever gone before, specifically, to find and connect with other people. During a ritual ceremony, she receives a vision of an island, Motufetu, that once connected all the people of the ocean, but has since been cursed by a god named Nalo.

Moana (Cravalho) puts together a crew that includes her friend and historian Moni (Hualalai Chung), boatmaker Loto (Rose Matafeo), and farmer Kele (David Fane), in order to find Motofetu.

Along the way, they’ll have to scoop up demigod Maui (Johnson), who has been waylaid inside a giant clam by Nalo, with only the company of a mysterious, nefarious bat-woman, Matangi (Awhimai Fraser). The entire team will have to collaborate — even with the feisty bunch of coconut warriors known as the Kakamora — in order to break Nalo’s curse, achieve their goal and connect all the people of the ocean.

David G. Derrick Jr., Jason Hand and Dana Ledoux Miller make up the trio of directors on the film, with Miller and Jared Bush writing the screenplay.

But the biggest creative swap that audiences will notice is in the songs. With Miranda moving on, the songwriting team known as Barlow and Bear, made up of Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear, have written all the songs for the sequel, with Mark Mancina and Opetaia Foa’i. Barlow and Bear went viral on TikTok in 2021 with their “Unofficial Bridgerton Musical” album, which eventually won a musical theater Grammy.

The songs in “Moana 2″ are good, to be sure. They’re just not as addictively catchy as Miranda’s earworms — the man has an uncanny skill for sprinkling seriously habit-forming syncopations into his songwriting — and while the big ballad “Beyond” and the jazzy rock number “Get Lost” certainly are stirring, they don’t quite stick in the brain like “You’re Welcome,” or tug on the heartstrings like “How Far I’ll Go.”

“Moana 2″ is indeed a worthy sequel, with gorgeous animation, a thoughtful representation of Polynesian culture and another exciting adventure for our inspiring heroine. Does it go “beyond” the first film? No, but that would have been too tall an order. That it stands up as a sturdy and satisfying sequel is more than enough.

3 stars (out of 4)

Rating: PG (for action/peril)

Running time: 1:40

Where: In theaters