Moana 2
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Moana 2 (also known as Vaiana 2 or Oceania 2 in some markets) is a 2024 American animated musical adventure film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios for Walt Disney Pictures. It is the sequel to Moana (2016) and the second installment in the Moana franchise. The film was directed by David Derrick Jr., Jason Hand, and Dana Ledoux Miller (in their feature directorial debuts) and produced by Christina Chen and Yvett Merino, from a screenplay by Jared Bush and Miller. Auliʻi Cravalho, Dwayne Johnson, Temuera Morrison, Nicole Scherzinger, Rachel House, and Alan Tudyk all reprise their roles from the first film, with Hualālai Chung, Rose Matafeo, David Fane, Awhimai Fraser, Khaleesi Lambert-Tsuda, and Gerald Ramsey joining the cast. A live-action remake of the first Moana film is set to be released in the United States of America and Canada on July 10, 2026, and while a third film in the animated Moana franchise hasn't been announced, according to DanielRPK on X, Moana 3 is in development.[1]
Plot
Following her adventure in Maui and Te Fiti, Moana spends her days exploring new islands in hopes to find other people who are connected to the ocean. She gets a vision from her ancestor, Tautai Vasa, who tells her that the reason why no one is connected to the ocean anymore is because the malicious storm god Nalo wanted power over the mortals, so he sunk a mystical island called Motufetu, which connected all islands, down to the depths of the ocean. Tautai further warns that her island will be deserted if Moana does not find a way to raise the island. She assembles a crew of people from Motunui—craftswoman Loto, Maui fanboy Moni, and grumpy elderly farmer Keke, alongside her pet pig and rooster, Pua and Heihei—to find the island.
Meanwhile, the demigod Maui is seeking Motufetu himself since he had a previous quarrel with Nalo, but he is captured by Nalo's enforcer, Matangi. He is reluctant to contact Moana for help due to fearing for her life. Moana and her crew are captured by the Kakamora, a tribe of savage coconut-like pirates Moana had previously encountered, who reveal that Nalo's actions against Motufetu caused them to be disconnected from their home island. One of them, Kotu, helps the crew paralyze a giant monster clam that takes them to Matangi's lair. While the crew find Maui, Moana meets Matangi but learns that she is not happy serving Nalo. Encouraging Moana to find a different way to escape, she helps Moana escape and reunite with Maui and her friends, before sending them to where Nalo is.
Maui soon reveals that Nalo's realm is deadlier compared to the mortal realm and that fighting him will be a suicide mission. The group is ambushed and are washed ashore on an isolated island. Moana begins to despair, but Maui encourages her to press on. With Moana revitalized, the group plans to have Maui raise the island with Moana touching it, as that is the only way to restore Motufetu and stop Nalo. With the raft repaired, the crew ride off to face Nalo. As the group arrives, Nalo begins to attack; Moana, realizing that Nalo is trying to stop the humans from breaking the curse, has Maui lift the island enough for a human to touch it. However, Nalo manages to strip Maui of his Godhood, forcing a desperate Moana to touch the island under sea; while she manages to, Nalo's storm kills her. Maui jumps in, and with the help of Moana's ancestors, they revive her as a demigod, with Moana gaining a wayfinder's tattoo and Maui, having regained his powers as a demigod, managing to raise Motufetu, reconnecting the ocean with the mortals.
Moana returns home and a celebration is held in her honor. In a mid-credits scene, Nalo is about to punish Matangi for helping Moana with him planning revenge. They are soon visited by Tamatoa, who wants to join their cause to get revenge on Moana for her actions against him.
Why It's Still Welcome
- It's great to see Moana in the limelight again after 8 years.
- Beautiful animation, which is a massive improvement over the first film.
- Everyone is still likable as before:
- Moana is still the adorkable loving character she was in the original, and she explores new islands in hopes to find other people who are connected to the ocean. She actually has a baby sister. Like the original, she goes on an adventure with Maui and Hehhei. She can even be a better character than she was in Moana
- Pua is still cute, and Heihei is still a decent comic relief.
- Pua actually gets to go on the adventure this time, with even Maui making a funny moment where he does hilariously acknowledge that by saying to Moana "Why didn't you bring the pig last time?", much to the look of not-so-happy Moana.
- Excellent voice acting, especially thanks to Auliʻi Cravalho, Dwayne Johnson, Temuera Morrison, Nicole Scherzinger, Rachel House, Alan Tudyk, and Jemaine Clement reprising their voice acting roles from the original.
- A mid-credits scene that sets up Moana 3, which has Tamatoa returning.
- The posters are very stunning and incredible to look at.
- Great directing from the directors David Derrick Jr., Jason Hand, and Dana Ledoux Miller.
- The film's still has humor and is funny like the first, which says a lot.
Bad Qualities
- Most infamously, similar to the Disney direct-to-video sequels of the 1990s and 2000s, this film was originally going to be a Disney+ series named Moana+, but sometime in 2024, the TV series was turned into a TV series to a movie, and since the movie has won a lot of money at the box office, it could encourage Disney to do it to other TV shows.
- The songs aren't agreed to be too great, especially since Lin-Manuel Miranda wasn't involved in composing the songs in Moana 2, and similar to Disney's past film, Wish, it also doesn't help that the songs were composed by TikTokers, the songs try too hard to be like Lin-Manuel Miranda, though this can be excused as he was busy composing the songs for 2024's Mufasa: The Lion King (which ironically enough both Moana 2 and Mufasa: The Lion King start with the letter M, are Disney movies, and came out in 2024).