Knock on Wood

A lot of things depend on context. Since I write about movies, I’ll make an appropriate analogy: if you were to watch La La Land shortly after getting unjustly fired from a job, you’d probably be pretty down in the dumps, and the film’s undeniable magic would be a much harder sell. If you were to watch the very same movie after winning the lottery, you’d be on cloud nine. The experience depends on the context, as it does with much of what happens in life.

Yesterday, I saw Moana 2 with my family. You’d think that after the slam dunk that was Moana proved itself a massive success, both critically and financially, a sequel would have been produced as soon as possible. But Disney being what they are, nothing could ever be done by the book – why would they? Pursuing what lies down the road less taken could yield more interesting results. In that regard, I respect their process.

But when I found out that Moana 2 began its life as a straight-to-streaming TV show, I groaned. Probably out loud. Since the advent of Disney+ in 2019, rushed animated follow-ups have come to replace the direct-to-DVD model that yielded some iconic childhood favorites of my generation (The Return of Jafar, The Lion King 2, et al), and it seems to have become an excuse to sacrifice quality in order to produce a palatable product for the masses. History doesn’t repeat, but it does rhyme, and those aforementioned animated sequel series are just the direct-to-DVD follow-ups in a new skin. At their core, they’re all the same – a sequel, prequel, or “interquel” that follows or precedes the events of their predecessors in a fun, harmless, and overall bland way that doesn’t impede the original’s legacy while not being overly memorable on their own merit.

Enter Moana 2. Though it was released on the big screen, it was originally made to be a Disney+ series, and you can see the seams. You’d think that after eight years of development, and especially after the first film had such a unique identity, the finished product would be honed and polished in a way that conforms to Disney’s seemingly rigorous standards. But instead, Moana 2 somehow feels hastily thrown together, glued into a hodge-podge of contrived story mechanics, corporate songs, and a very baseline story that doesn’t feel worthy as a follow-up to one of Disney’s best animated movies of the 21st century.

What’s worse, you can feel where each episode would have started and ended. Every 20 minutes, our main characters find themselves in a new location, with a new foe to overcome, and a contained adventure that brings them closer to the eventual climax. The way every side character is introduced and then brought together feels very made-for-television, and one song every quarter of an hour cements what I already knew (and this is the kicker) – I think this would have made a very good series.

Obviously, I would have preferred a big-screen sequel that increased the stakes and consequences from the first movie, but in weekly installments on Disney+, I think I would have enjoyed this story a lot more. Various messages and morals are constantly (verbally) repeated, and in a five- or six-episode series, it would have been nice to hear it about once or twice a week, but in a 100-minute film, we hear it way too often, and it feels like we’re being beaten over the head with something we could have easily intuited. It’s because of this that Moana 2 feels like it doesn’t trust its audience, despite being a sequel to one of the most nuanced and heartfelt mainstream animated films of the past decade.

Even though it can’t possibly hope to stack up to its predecessor, Moana 2 is not necessarily a bad movie. It’s just okay. And for the sequel to a movie I love dearly and have rewatched many times since 2016, okay can’t cut it. But what we got was a cute movie with absolutely gorgeous animation and – I will give it credit here – a deep, evident respect for the Oceanic cultures it portrays. I could complain about everything that made me roll my eyes about this movie, but it’s currently on track to make almost $300 million in its opening week, and how can I argue with that? People are turning out for it. It’s a hit, and Disney (and other studios) will undoubtedly learn all the wrong lessons, as they frequently do.

Perhaps knowing that Moana 2 originated as an episodic series – there’s that context! – didn’t do me any favors. We’ve come to expect a certain standard of quality depending on the circumstances – first, it was those direct-to-DVD sequels, now it’s Disney+ – but while this could have worked very well week-to-week, in one sitting on the big screen, it’s not nearly as effective. The idea of the film didn’t seem appetizing, and the film itself didn’t exactly win me over. But when I’m in a packed movie theater with my entire family on Thanksgiving Day, watching it alongside my grandmother (who first took me to see Moana when I was 13 years old), any complaints I might have almost start to slip away. Moana 2 is a perfectly serviceable sequel that has proven itself to be a big hit with the general audience, and I think that’s just delightful.

Moana 2 is playing in theaters nationwide.