‘Moana 2’ Lets a Young Woman Save the World. Just Don’t Call Her a Princess

“Still not a princess!” exclaims the young woman who’s about to go save her friends (and likely the world), reunite her scattered community and go down in the history books. “Well, a lot of people think you are,” replies her fellow hero-slash-comic-relief. To wit: Moana may be the daughter of a tribal chief on the South Pacific island of Matunui, and thus could be considered royalty be virtue of her parentage. But she is primarily a wayfinder, tasked with navigating the seas in search of new islands and, this time out, isolated island populations. It’s a big responsibility. And once again, Moana finds herself having to rely on her wits, her skills, and the wisdom of her ancestors to defeat a divine threat that could spell the end of their way of life. No one is sitting around polishing tiaras and waiting for their prince to come, in other words.

Still, guess who’s got merch in their name and likeness, sitting on the shelves next to Ariel, Jasmine and the rest of the gang? A cynic might say that Disney simply borrowed an exotic regional trappings, some ancient indigenous mythology and a South Pacific color palette for their 2016 hit Moana to sell the same old princess-story song and dance, now remixed with a strong backbeat of female empowerment. Someone more clear-eyed, however, would ask a) wasn’t it about time that long-overdue remix happened to this particular genre; b) if generations of kids from California to Katmandu grow up knowing and respecting Polynesian culture because of an animated kids movie with a glam-rock singing crab, how exactly is that a bad thing; and c) why wouldn’t you make a 21st century Disney-princess movie in all but name, yet without all that 20th century Disney-princess baggage, if you could?

Eight years ago, the original movie hit screens blessed with good will, great Mouse House Inc. marketing and two big names — Dwayne Johnson, playing the demi-god Maui, and Lin-Manuel Miranda, who contributed and co-wrote a handful of songs — in the hopes of adding another character to the canon. Now, along with bragging rights in regards to pushing new role models forward, Moana 2 saunters into multiplexes with a built-in fanbase and brand-name recognition already on its side. They have a winning formula, a solid young female hero in place, and a lead with some kick-ass pipes (Hawaiian actor Auli’i Cravalho, currently killing it on Broadway in Cabaret). Hence, no one wants to rock the camakau too much here, and the overall sentiment seems to be something like Sequel 101: You loved the first movie, so here’s a second movie that’s a lot like the first movie. This is the good news if that’s what you’re after. If not, well: It’s one hour and 40 minutes.

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Once again, we’re back on the island of Matunui, with Moana exploring every chance she gets and enjoying her friendship with the anthropomorphized, high-fiving ocean. Returning after a three-day journey with Pua (pet pig, cute, cuddly, drooly) and Hei Hei (pet chicken, bug-eyed, dumb as rocks, nightmare fodder), she’s come across a half-broken cup with unfamiliar markings. It’s proof that there are other communities out there, scattered to the four winds. If Moana can find them, she can unite them all under the umbrella of one Pacific Island people. But first, she has to break a curse by setting foot on a magical island, hidden within a raging storm caused by the kind-of-a-jerk deity Nalo. Once Moana does that, her homeland will become one among many. Enlisting her burly friend Moni (Hualalai Chung), the village’s resident engineer-in-training Loto (Rose Matafeo) and the elderly farmer Kele (Next Goal Wins‘ David Fane) as her crew, she sets sail to fulfill her destiny, etc.

Meanwhile, somewhere near the psychedelic portal of the gods, Maui is mixing it up with a slinky femme fatale type named Sina (Nicole Scherzinger), who is largely characterized by her love of bats and Morticia Addams evening wear. She’s got the demi-god trapped and trussed up for reasons soon to be revealed. All you need to know is that yes, Maui and Moana will eventually team up; yes, Moni’s over-the-top worship of Maui will be a recurring homoerotic punch line; yes, someone will refer to Pua and Hei Hei as “bacon and eggs,” because low-hanging fruit is the easiest to pick; yes, the tiny, mischievous coconut pirates known as the Kakamora are back, and more Kakamorian than ever; and yes, the team must overcome many obstacles, hardships and near tragedies before learning to work together, and push their limits, and other such inspiring platitudes.

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Is Moana 2 better than the straight-to-video sequels Disney used to grant their most popular titles back in the day? Of course it is, and the animation of these sun-dappled Pacific Island landscapes, the aqua-blue gulfs and roiling ocean waves, and the purple-hued meteorological phenomenons couldn’t look more awe-inspiring. There’s a Godzilla-sized clam that the gang must journey into like Jonah in the belly of the whale, and trust us when we say that it most definitely won’t bring this to mind, nope, no sirree Bob. Cravalho’s voice is still a powerfully wielded weapon of choice, though with Miranda AWOL (Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear are on songwriting duty this time around), there’s isn’t a single new earworm on the level of “We Know the Way” or “You’re Welcome.” The closest you’ll get is “Get Lost,” which literally sounds as if someone AI-crossed “Shiny” with “Friends on the Other Side.” (Editor’s note: Let us never speak of the Johnson rapping in “Can I Get a Chee Hoo?” ever again.)

What’s more confusing is the lack of a true Disney villain, and while a killer storm blessed with more purple rain that a Prince impersonator convention might make for sly climate change commentary (or not — maybe we truly are reading too much into this), the fact that the big boss battle feels too vague is not something that plays in Moana 2‘s favor. “I kinda miss the lava monster,” Maui says at one point, to which we can only add: Hard same. But again, some sort of Ursula 2.0-type baddie isn’t why people will be flocking to this by the thousands. They want a dose of that old Moana magic. Most of the folks who brought you the original are happy to oblige and collect the receipts. What else can they say but, “You’re welcome?”