The sequel to the hit Disney animated movie Moana, Moana 2 came out today with every indication that it is going to be a huge hit for Disney.

According to IMDB, “After receiving an unexpected call from her wayfinding ancestors, Moana must journey to the far seas of Oceania and into dangerous, long-lost waters for an adventure unlike anything she’s ever faced.“

Moana 2 is a perfectly fine movie. I thought this had a lot of positives to it. I just would say that it does not reach the level of the original, and that is okay.

The biggest issue was that you could absolutely tell that Lin Manuel Miranda was not involved in this new film. His music was some of the best parts of the original Moana, but these songs in Moana 2 are, at best, passable. There were even a few of the times when the lyrics of the songs were weak.

Dwayne Johnson and Aulii Cravalho are great voicing their characters. They are definitely the strength of the film. The story of Moana heading out trying to find other groups of people was solid and made sense.

I’m not sure how much I loved the secondary characters that were brought aboard Moana’s crew. They were kind of annoying at times, but it was okay. I did enjoy the wrap up of the movie and the third act felt better than the first couple of acts.

Of course, the film looks incredible. The animation is beautiful and the designs of the film were sensational. The storms were amazing and looked fantastic.

I thought Moana 2 was a fun movie, but it was not terrific. It was definitely enjoyable overall. I did not think it matched the original, and the songs were not memorable. Moana 2 was good enough.

3.4 stars