{"id":30165,"date":"2024-11-26T21:09:54","date_gmt":"2024-11-27T05:09:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=30165"},"modified":"2024-11-26T21:09:54","modified_gmt":"2024-11-27T05:09:54","slug":"moana-2-is-beautifully-animated-but-lacks-the-charm-of-the-original","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=30165","title":{"rendered":"MOANA 2 is Beautifully Animated, But Lacks the Charm of the Original"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Running Time: 100 minutes<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This feature from Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures\nopens exclusively in cinemas and on IMAX on November 27th<\/sup>.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

While this reviewer tends not to dole out personal details\nwhile reviewing a movie, on rare occasions I can\u2019t help myself. I attended a\npreview of the sequel Moana 2<\/em> with a three-year-old. Yes, she is\ndefinitely a bit young for this picture, but did enjoy large chunks of the\nfirst one, particularly the songs, and tolerated the more chilling aspects of\nits tense climax. So, she came along for this one. This follow-up follows the\nleads on a new, but in some ways similar adventure that is darker than the\nprevious effort. If this film were being rated solely on its visuals, it would\nreceive a hearty recommendation. However, the story comes up short and the\nfinal product lacks the charm of the original.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A few years after the events of the original story, Moana\n(Auli\u2019I Cravalho) has taken up the position of \u201cWayfinder\u201d for her island\nvillage. Her dream is to discover other human settlements like their own and\nbring everyone together. She begins having jarring visions that suggest, should\nshe not succeed in her goal at some hazy point in the future, all those from\nher homeland will disappear. Moana forms a small crew and sails out to find a\nhidden isle of ancestors called Motufetu, which could help her locate others.\nUnfortunately, the locale has been cursed by a god called Nalo, making the\njourney incredibly dangerous. In order to find her way, Moana asks demigod Maui\n(Dwayne Johnson) for this help.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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As expected, the animation is spectacular. The characters,\nincluding their hair and facial expressions, are even more impressively\narticulated in this effort than the previous entry. There are impressive shots\nthrough the ocean water as it splits and shows Moana walking through dry areas.\nIn fact, every shot involving waves and the ocean looks incredible. The movie\nalso launches the characters on a visually spectacular sailing journey in which\nthey encounter bizarre monsters. A few, like giant eels with bright glowing\nlight sources on their bodies, are striking to behold. There are no criticisms\nto be made regarding the look of the picture.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The screenplay, however, is another matter. My minor quibble\nwith the first picture is that the animal characters were only used for sight\ngags and served no essential story purpose. That hasn\u2019t been addressed in this\nsequel. Again, the animals are largely oblivious to events or in need of rescue\nand it still feels like a wasted opportunity. And the plot itself bears\nsimilarities to the original story as well.  Viewers are told that the\nisland is in danger, but the specifics are vague this time around, which\ndoesn\u2019t add tension to the proceedings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The big miss comes with the Maui character. This fan\nfavorite does have a few fun lines and one decent musical number, but is pushed\nto the sidelines for half of the running time. Again, some of the best moments\nfrom the original involved interactions between the demigod and protagonist.\nKeeping them apart for so long is an ill-advised choice. Instead, most of the\nback-and-forth occurs between Moana and her crew, and less of the humor lands.\nAnd central villain Nalo takes the form of a violent storm cloud, which doesn\u2019t\nallow for any interactions or verbal confrontations between the characters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead, the tone in this follow-up is darker, with Moana\ndoubting her abilities and the seemingly impossible task that is thrust upon\nher. The film doesn\u2019t have as much zip or life to it, lending a grimmer tone\nthat will likely scare younger tots rather than entertain them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The visuals on display are breathtaking, but the overall\nmood didn\u2019t resonate with the child sitting next to me. Towards the end of the\nsecond act, she actually whispered, \u201cDada, let\u2019s go see a different\nmovie.\u201d  It\u2019s clear that she\u2019s definitely the daughter of a movie critic.\nAnyway, the little one did leave (with my wife), while I watched the finale\nalone. Readers should note this film isn\u2019t for any child under the age of five.\nBut truth be told, I didn\u2019t hear much enthusiasm from older members of the audience\neither. Moana 2<\/em> has a few impressive sights, but is weighed down by its\nsomber tone and doesn\u2019t resonate as strongly as the original.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Running Time: 100 minutes This feature from Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures opens exclusively in cinemas and on IMAX on November 27th. While this reviewer tends not to dole out personal details while reviewing a movie, on rare occasions I can\u2019t help myself. I attended a preview of the sequel Moana 2 with a three-year-old. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":30166,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[215,1455,2045,5922,6620,14112,14113,14114,14115,18035],"class_list":["post-30165","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movie-reviews","tag-215","tag-animated","tag-aulii-cravalho-2","tag-disney","tag-dwayne-johnson","tag-moana-2","tag-moana-2-film-review","tag-moana-2-movie-review","tag-moana-2-review","tag-sequel"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30165","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=30165"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30165\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=30165"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=30165"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=30165"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}