moana 2

MOANA 2

Directed by David Derrick Jr., Jason Hand  & Dana Ledoux Miller

Another week, another sequel! 2016's MOANA was an instant Disney classic upon release. A gorgeous and colorful musical comedy adventure that launched the career of Auliʻi Cravalho and gave The Rock another stock in his portfolio. So how does the follow-up fare? Considering this was originally conceived and developed as a Disney+ show then retooled into a feature film, it's pretty good. 

Set 3 years after the original, we follow Moana exploring the ocean looking for other tribes that have been lost at sea. There's a whole story about an angry rain god and a sunken island they must find to unite the people. Despite a commendable effort, you just can't quite shake the Direct To Video Sequel smell off this one. Original voice cast returning definitely helps as Auliʻi Cravalho is a star and really made Moana her own. The Rock is fine, I guess. Just doing his thing. There's some forgettable songs but thankfully no Lin-Manuel Miranda to be found.

What does matter is from the first moments to the very last, my breath was taken away by the ridiculously beautiful and stunning visuals. Fluid eye popping animation throughout, I was constantly saying WOW (it looks particularly good in DolbyVision). Just for the visuals alone it's worth a recommendation. Moana (the character) is badass and I look forward to seeing her in hopefully a more cinematic adventure.

⭐⭐⭐ Out of 4