This entertaining sequel to Disney’s Polynesian adventure from 2016 gets off to a slow start as the heroine and her cohort bring the uninitiated up to speed.
Last time around, Moana (Auliʻi Cravalho), the wayfinder of the title, took on gods and monsters with reluctant assistance from the preening demigod Maui (Dwayne Johnson). This follow-up resets with another call from Moana’s ancestors to seek out populated islands or face extinction. This existential threat requires – cue the Jaws joke – a bigger boat.
Moana and her trusty animal companions Pua (the cuddly pig) and Heihei (the dullard rooster) are joined by Rose Matafeo’s aspiring shipwright, David Fane’s grumpy elder and Hualalai Chung’s sketch artist. Their mission is to break the god Nalo’s curse on the hidden island of Motufetu, a voyage characterised by run-ins with the coconut-shelled Kakamora, a bat-winged goddess, and, of course, Maui.
The plot is a retread. The addition of a cutesy little sister is unnecessarily saccharine. The uncanny character designs are creepily plastic and doll-like. Happily, the azure skies, the best boat chases since Live and Let Die, and sensitively rendered Oceanic mythology keep Moana afloat.
Fair play to Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear, the songwriters drafted in to replace Lin-Manuel Miranda: Moana 2 can’t quite match the showstopping highs of the original film’s How Far I’ll Go, but the songs are consistently, toe-tappingly good.
The big guns, appropriately enough, are provided by Johnson: the film’s best scenes lean into the chemistry between Moana and Maui. But even this appealing duo can’t compete with the ditzy, scene-stealing cockerel, squawked into life by Alan Tudyk.
Moana 2 is in cinemas from Friday, November 29th
