Moana 2 adds one good song to the Disney canon, but not much else

Moana grew on me. I can’t say I loved Disney’s Pacific Islander musical at first glance – when it originally came out in 2016, it felt vibrant yet overstuffed. But as the film’s songs permeated the zeitgeist, I returned to the film with an ear for Lin-Manuel Miranda’s stirring, rat-a-tat lyrics and the deep history that vibrated through Opetaia Foa’i’s drums in the Samoan and Tokelauan language. . And then it all hung together. As with any great musical, the movie was the soundtrack.

Moana 2 can grow on me too – honestly my feelings for it could only grow from where they started. It’s been less than a day since I saw the long-awaited sequel (Disney only screened the film for the press 17 hours ago), but unlike the underwhelming, let me hear that again Moana for the first time I don’t have the persistent feeling that I missed something. In the end, Moana 2 is a vehicle for one banger, a feel-good throwback and a few songs we’ll never talk about again, which doesn’t feel like enough for a brand new Moana.

Most musicals don’t get a sequel. Why should they, when they can be re-staged, re-watched or re-played? Those that do get the follow-up treatment generally lean on bona fide jukeboxes, with some success (Mama Mia! Here we go againnow with more ABBA!) or immediately disappear into non-existence. (TEAR Annie 2: Miss Hannigan’s Revenge.) But Moana 2 averts disaster, thanks to a new songwriting duo that throws everything against the wall.

Abigail Barlow, a pop singer-songwriter who has big hit on TikTokand Emily Bear, one Grammy and Emmy-winning piano prodigy and protege of Quincy Jones, follows Miranda with youthful energy and reverence for the previous film. (Which makes sense: both women would have been in their teens at the time Moana But while Miranda’s songs drove the original’s emotional arc, Barlow and Bear’s songs race to keep pace with a disjointed script that takes literal shortcuts to transport Moana from her South Pacific home island of Motunui to a mystical underwater mountain who has been afflicted by a curse from God.

Created as a series for Disney Plusand ultimately reworked into a feature film, the sequel has more in common with the direct-to-video output of the now-defunct Disneytoon Studios than with the unwieldy follow-up ambition of Frozen 2. (Sidebar: “Into the Unknown” good!) I’m not holding the TV-to-movie pivot against Walt Disney Animation — after all, David Lynch turned a scrapped show into a Mulholland Drive. But regarding a damn musical masterpiece, Moana 2 it comes out like this Beauty and the Beast: Enchanted Christmasa sidequel with more of the same and a few small new additions. (Although with somehow less character work than Disney’s Aladdin and the King of Thieves?)

Just like those DTV sequels, Moana 2 adds numerous new characters, all of which are introduced “We’re back,” a cheerful replacement for Moanathe opening song, “Where you are.” When we call back to teen main character Moana (Auli’i Cravalho), she’s the star of Motunui, and everyone in town fawns over her, complete with cosplay of a group of Moana-like kids who Maui (Dwayne Johnson) casually dubs “Moanabees .” But Hamilton star Christopher Jackson is definitely not back to lend his vocals to Moana’s father, Tui (voiced by Temuera Morrison in dialogue scenes), and with him comes a narrative perspective that sets the stage for the new film. ‘Where You Are’ set the stakes for Moana’s adventure beyond the reef Moana. “We’re Back” is a victory lap for Disney Plus’s most streamed movie of all time.

Barlow and Bear pick up one thing: the foregrounding of Moana and Cravalho in the music. Moana anchors the ensemble-driven “We’re Back” and later takes over lead vocals from Miranda in a redux of “We know the way” from the first movie. She’s now the Wayfinder, the true leader of Oceania, and she has the lung capacity to prove it. Her great song, “Past,” feels like a completely serviceable pop hit for Cravalho, who works hard enough to secure the song’s place on Disney Radio forever.

The film’s odd pace mutes the effect of Cravalho’s powerful singing. Screenwriters Jared Bush and Dana Ledoux Miller spend so much time with Moana talking about how she has to leave (again) before she finally leaves (again) that “Beyond” feels like a chore. And the story rarely supports Moana’s empowerment the way the music does. She is a mortal who opposes divine activities, and she cannot actually make waves (ahem) against her supernatural enemies. So she’s constantly screwing up, begging the ocean for help, or learning new lessons from characters whose power she can’t touch. But she can sing very well about being powerful.

The big surprise of Moana 2 is a song completely separate in style or story from almost everything else around it. Partway through her expedition, Moana meets the magical bat woman Matangi (Awhimai Fraser, the voice of Elsa in the Māori edition of Frozen), who has everything of a classic Disney villain. Matangi’s number, “Get Lost,” is a fiery pop song with a Motown backbone, which Fraser wails like there’s no tomorrow.

Foa’i, back to work with Moana composer Mark Mancina delivers the other highlights with more songs that put the Polynesian language and culture in the spotlight. A scene in which Moana and some village children perform a kind of Māori haka is a treat, as are the occasional scenes of marine exploration, scored with singing from Foa’i’s daughter and colleague. In Vaka band member Olivia Foa’i. In a film that feels limited in close-ups and framed set pieces, the group’s music gives Moana 2 a much needed epic quality.

There are… devastating clunkers. “What’s better than this?” is a hyperactive group song in which Moana and her new ship crew sing at double speed and act as if they are being chased by the Smile demon. At one point, Moana’s savvy engineer Loto (Rose Matafeo) jots down some quick lyrics, an attempt to imitate Miranda’s rap-infused work, which pounds so hard they turn into pure mush. Even avid fans of Gilbert and Sullivan’s “I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major-General” may experience a brain hemorrhage during this brutal song.

And the less we say about Maui’s new song, “Can I get a Chee Hoo?”the better. “Don’t mention it” is starting to look more and more like a minor miracle for Dwayne Johnson, who descends to sub-Rex Harrison levels of speaking-singing for a sporty Jock James vocals disguised as a song. When the synths came on, I tapped out.

Ultimately, I know nothing about how Moana 2 was made, and I don’t really care what it took to turn a TV show into a movie: I’m here for what a musical can deliver. In the case of a Disney original, those are dynamic vocal and instrumental performances performed with animated imagination. But even the recordings are on Moana 2 sounded a little tinny, a little flat, when they have to capture the vastness of Moana’s ocean and the uphill battle she faces when she has to face off with a god over the inheritance of her people.

I hope Moana 2 grows on me, the same way Moana did. (For what it’s worth, all the six-year-olds in my audience stood up and applauded at the end, so what do I know?) But if Disney wants to do the rare musical threequel — and based on this sequel, a Moana 3 could easily follow the planned live-action adaptation of the original film – it should give a couple like Barlow and Bear the same freedom and canvas as a man like Miranda, rather than demanding more of the same. As Moana would say, move on.

Moana 2 debuts in theaters on November 27.