Many fans were excited to see the long awaited release of “Moana 2” on Nov. 22, the film writers had high expectations to meet. Numerous surprises, like unexpected character growth, were displayed in the film.
When “Moana” first came out I was instantly obsessed with it. I liked how they timed the sequel to real life, it feels like we are growing up with her.
“Moana 2” further explains many events that occurred in the first movie and the expansion of the island. The village of Montunui became more lenient with wayfinding but realized they had new difficulties to overcome.
To start the movie, Moana is exploring the island and finds an artifact with a symbol on it. She brings it to her village where she asks if anyone knows what the symbol is for.
Later, Moana’s ancestors tell her to find Motufetu, an island that brought together different islanders; however, Nalo sunk and cursed it because of Maui. She then pieced together the symbol on the artifact and traced back to Motufetu.
Moana gathers a crew and coincidently finds Maui, leaving behind her baby sister, Simea. Together they voyage around the ocean to find Motufetu and experience obstacles along the way, making the journey more difficult.
To end the movie Maui pulled Motufetu up from under the ocean, and the islanders approached the island. Moana returned to Montunui with her crew, with Maui and the islanders following.
While watching the film I felt like the events were a little repetitive from the last film. Moana had a point in both movies where she felt like giving up but gathered it together and pulled through. While rewatching “Moana” I noticed foreshadowing with Moana getting hit by lightning to reference Nalo hitting her.
Society is always changing and I think the film writers did a good job involving different cultural aspects in the movie. They incorporated numerous traditional polynesian dances, songs, outfits and beliefs.
For “Moana 2” they hired a new song writer, Emily Bear, who wrote the songs and viewers were not expecting the songs to be as good. They were a little underwhelming; they felt like extended versions of the old songs. While Bear wrote the songs this time around, the original songs were written by Lin-Manuel Miranda, Mark Mancina and Opetaia Foa’i.
I enjoyed how the film writers brought the audience into the movie by making jokes that resonated with the viewers and breaking the fourth wall. Additionally, I like how the background characters are more involved and come into the script.
I’ve been a long time fan of “Moana” so I’m glad that there’s a new movie for me to love. My parents also enjoyed it, so I’d recommend it to all ages.
