Moana 2

[D23ExpoVisitor25]

I'm not sure I believe that. I mean, Moana 2's press roll had the same "She's not like normal princesses" just like there was with the original film, Raya, Wish, the remakes, etc. Anyway, there was nothing overtly political about Strange World, Raya, Encanto, Wish, etc. unless the mere existence of diversity is considered political.

Exactly the mere existence of people of color is considered political by YouTube fascists

Thank god at least Tiana avoided this backlash, or at least didn’t get backlash on the level we’ve been dealing with for 9 years now.

[Mooky]

Just saw it. I'm not a big fan of the original but I do appreciate its themes and Ghibli-esque sensibilities. It's simple and effective. The sequel on the other hand is a whole mess. The animation is better than it has any right to be, but the story is all over the place. The new characters are annoying, I don't even remember their names other than the artist guy. They reminded me of the similar crew in Lightyear whose names also escape me. I was hoping to be proven wrong, but just as I thought, Simea was nothing more than a cute new marketable character – the contrived reason for Moana's hesitation to leave the island and I guess someone she can dump Moana 1 plot exposition on. Her parents could have filled that same role in the story. Their parting is supposed to be heartbreaking and potentially permanent, yet they're later shown communicating via water emojis.

Speaking of contrivances, that's what the plot hinges on. Nothing is organic. Moana's quest doesn't really evolve from the end of the original movie, it's because she has a scary vision. The vision (and a curse, because of course there is a curse) is promptly explained by some scrolls which apparently nobody bothered to look at until the plot demanded there should be scrolls that explain everything. Matangi is initially presented as evil, but why exactly? If she wanted to bring Maui and Moana back together, I'm sure there were less complicated ways to do it. It's not like they had a falling out and she needed to stage a reconciliation. I like her design but she was a total waste. She should have been either the main villain or the new ally from the start, no ridiculous twists and turns. The fake-out death was expected. I don't even know what to think of the ending with all the tribes showing up at Motufetu. Like how? At least do a little time jump to account for the time it would take them to get there.

Save for Beyond, songs are forgettable. They're servicable for what they are, I guess.

The fruit bats are cute, I'll give them that but only because I like fruit bats.

It's just a really poor excuse for a theatrical movie. This should have remained a Disney+ exclusive. But... it's going to make a gazillion so I guess that's all that matters in the end.

[PatchofBlue]

And for another person above saying "liberals even think Disney has gone to much woke"

It's not true at all, leftists think that Disney is trying to appeal both sides, and by that they're not appealing to any

For example Lightyear, the 6 seconds lesbian kiss, for right wing people that's a disaster, a horrible thing omg lesbians existing in a movie

And for leftists 6 seconds is not enough and feels like bait for queer people to show up and support, like that female cop that had a wife or in general any "new gay Disney character"

I guess I could have used more precise language. I know that there are a lot of lobbyists who haven't think Disney hasn't been pushing things far enough, but I see that kind of thing more on message boards like this or YouTube vids.

I'm referring mostly to what I'm seeing among people with official outlets a la the Variety article I shared. It's been a part of a trend that I've seen over the last year or so, maybe even longer, where paid critics and writers seem to have decided that Disney was in over its head for ever trying to use their films to actively propel social movements, like Strange World's bombing was a direct result of having a guy kiss another guy on the cheek in a Disney movie and it served them right for forgetting that their job is and always has been to entertain us and nothing more.

Anyways, Mooky, I agree with your assessment of the movie almost down the line.

[D23ExpoVisitor25]

I know Pokemonbinary is believing the budget for Moana 2 is being hidden from us by Disney.

Well, it's not.

The budget for the film is $150 million.

Here are the sources for proof:

1. https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-a ... -streaming
2. https://collider.com/moana-2-domestic-b ... n-joker-2/
3. https://screenrant.com/moana-2-budget-b ... omparison/

[Farerb]

Moana 2's entire thing is to follow the same plot of the original but with a worse execution. I wrote a few points about it.

1. The Ocean doesn't have that magical quality it used to have in the original:







and it didn't even come across in the score like it did in the original.

2. Moana and Maui lack the witty banter they used to have in the original, instead we get superfluous characters that add nothing to the story and I always find those sort of characters annoying and unmemorable (I didn't like them in Raya or Encanto or Wish too).

3. Not sure what Moana's conflict was really about, or sure this is a special journey and she might not return but then it ends up being unremarkable. In addition they basically ignored the entire ending of the original movie where the entire village goes on a voyage and we see Moana teaching them to sail. They act as if she's the only one who does that.

4. There's also a juvenile tone to the film so I'm not surprised that people compare it to the Disneytoons DTVs, even though I think it's still slightly better than those, but not by much.

5. I thought that green creature was off putting and felt like it was from a completely different movie (like Strange World).

I don't really have anything else to add. I didn't hate the film, I didn't like it either. I honestly don't really feel anything. I guess I can say that it was watchable and better than Wish, but still unremarkable.

[Jules]

Haven't watched this yet.

Since many of you are disappointed, do you think keeping Moana 2 a streaming series would have solved its problems, or would they have been present anyway?

[Farerb]

Haven't watched this yet.

Since many of you are disappointed, do you think keeping Moana 2 a streaming series would have solved its problems, or would they have been present anyway?

I'm not sure because we don't know much about what their plan was for the TV series. How many episodes and how long each episode was supposed to be. I remember reading 6 episodes when each episode is 20 minutes.

I think pacing wise it would have improved. Adding new characters to a TV series makes sense and they would have benefited from further development and not just be there for the jokes.

There was a moment where the guy who paints fanfiction (I can't believe they actually used that word) almost dies and it's pretty much shrugged off afterwards. We see how Moana reacts to it and Maui comforting her (not him) but his reaction is almost nonexistent. In a TV series we might have seen this better explored.

However, Musker and Clements still wouldn't have been involved so

Honestly, I didn't have any expectations from this, so I can't say that I was "disappointed", but maybe others wouldn't have expected much from a TV series and we might have seen the series receiving a better reception.

[Pokenonbinary]

Haven't watched this yet.

Since many of you are disappointed, do you think keeping Moana 2 a streaming series would have solved its problems, or would they have been present anyway?

As a TV show it would have still been mediocre honestly

They repeated everything from the first movie, not a single original thing

[Sotiris]

Moana 2 anime promos:
https://x.com/DisneyStudioJ_A/status/18 ... 2229783726
https://x.com/DisneyStudioJ_A/status/18 ... 4869788711
https://x.com/DisneyStudioJ_A/status/18 ... 7612588219
https://x.com/DisneyStudioJ_A/status/18 ... 7727574026

[D23ExpoVisitor25]

Haven't watched this yet.

Since many of you are disappointed, do you think keeping Moana 2 a streaming series would have solved its problems, or would they have been present anyway?

As a TV show it would have still been mediocre honestly

They repeated everything from the first movie, not a single original thing

The first movie didn’t depower Maui and kill off the main character to the point where the ancestors had to save them both nor did the first movie have a human crew join Moana on her adventure.

So, no this claim is cap.

[D23ExpoVisitor25]

Moana 2 as of today is officially at $600M worldwide ($300M domestic and $300M overseas): https://x.com/BORReport/status/1865790004829843602.

Perfectly balanced as all things should be.

So it has $400M left to go before making $1B worldwide.

It’ll get there by year’s end or new year’s beginning.

But how far it’ll go (no pun intended) above that is anyone’s guess.

[Jules]

Thank you for your replies, everyone.

I am hoping that Moana 2's reported mediocrity will simply be an outlier in WDAS' upcoming line-up, and explainable due to the film's messy production, and that its financial success will put the studio in a good position to focus on forthcoming features.

Frankly, I expect Zootopia 2 to be received much better than this. If they screw that one up too ... then I don't know what to say.

[D23ExpoVisitor25]

Thank you for your replies, everyone.

I am hoping that Moana 2's reported mediocrity will simply be an outlier in WDAS' upcoming line-up, and explainable due to the film's messy production, and that its financial success will put the studio in a good position to focus on forthcoming features.

Frankly, I expect Zootopia 2 to be received much better than this. If they screw that one up too ... then I don't know what to say.

You’re right about everything you said.

I’m sure Zootopia 2 will be fine, since that one’s been worked on since 2017, per Ginnifer Goodwin.

Even the untitled original film in 2026 and the next two Frozen films will have had more time to be developed than Frozen 2.

My question is will the success of Moana 2, after turning it from a Disney+ series to a theatrical film, convince and sway Disney to turn Tiana’s Paperman-style animated Disney+ series into a theatrical fully 2D/hand-drawn animated film sequel to The Princess and the Frog for a theatrical release in Thanksgiving 2029, given WDAS’ film schedule for the next 4 years is already full and because the 5 years will give them time to get the veteran hand-drawn animators of Disney that are alive and retired back to WDAS to help the 2D trainees work on what I hope is renamed to “Tiana: Princess of Maldonia and the Frogs” and get the tech back up and running to make it hand-drawn animated (Toon Boom Harmony)?

We’ll just have to wait and see.

I mean if Moana 2, Armor Wars, and The Mandalorian & Grogu: A Star Wars Story can go from Disney+ series to theatrical movies, so should Tiana get a similar treatment, yet one that is respectful too.

So, again, we’ll just have to wait and see.

[The Disneynerd]

I just saw it in theatres an hour ago!
It was really helpful with all the negative reviews to put my expectations extremely low
Surprisingly it was a hint better than I anticipated, but just a hint.
I didnt really notice the "cuts" of where each Episode would end or begin, but overall there werent any high stakes...at all

The Crew wasnt as forgettable as the new characters from Frozen 2 for example, it helped that they had specific character traits that made them stand out, but it was therefore harder to take them serious as their traits were like the only thing that defined them, it seemed extremely shallow that Moni (the "hot guy" yeah thats how the Art book referred him as lol as if )was only the Maui Fan and thats it (hes not a real person) or the extremely annoying nerdy girl that always wanted to smash wood for some reason (she WISHES she was Varian from TangledtS ) and the grumpy Grandpa who was probably the most forgettable one from the crew as they didnt need him at all! Even the stupid chicken was more memorable

The only scene with the Crew i liked was when Moni nearly escaped death and he was kinda traumatized which was the ONLY indication that the journey was risky (but who cares 5 minutes afterwards he insisted to join Moana again they didnt even had to convince him )

Finally Pua came along! (But he had nothing to do as expected)
Moana and Maui here were so boring as they didnt really had passion in anything they did, compared to the first movie, where they were more vulnerable and witty with each other.
Moana had nothing to lose here and there was no risk as she did all that in the first movie. But the best character in the movie was probably the Kakamoro, he said nothing and had more personality than everyone combined

I LOVED how noone was laughing at the popculture jokes lol complete silence on the princess joke, the Butt dial, the only times the Theater laughed Was when the chicken was on screen and the hairflippers.

The stupid Pudding Fish Was so out of place, both visually and with the Kakamora, the only reason he existed Was to make Moana feel perfect 2 seconds after she got like 20 Narcotic injections. Seriously it looks like it came straight out of Hotel Transylvania

Overall not horrible, but not wayyyy better than Wish, especially when you think this will get compared to the original Moana which is farrrr better.
Give me 15 minutes and ill write a better Mini script

There were interesting elements like Maui losing his powers and Moana dying but they didnt impact the story at all as that lasted like 2 minutes. The only Important thing in the whole flick is that Moana turned into a demigod

Haven't watched this yet.

Since many of you are disappointed, do you think keeping Moana 2 a streaming series would have solved its problems, or would they have been present anyway?

Definetly! As we know they had to cut many things like songs and character exploration to make it all fit in the 2 hour spectrum. Would have liked to hear the songs for Moni, the Grandpa or whatever. I hated when Nerdgirl rapped in the speed of light like i couldnt catch ANYTHING she said

Disney to turn Tiana’s Paperman-style animated Disney+ series into a theatrical fully 2D/hand-drawn animated film sequel to The Princess and the Frog for a theatrical release in Thanksgiving 2029

Copy and paste part 20

New rule: everytime this thing, for a theatrical Release in Thanksgiving 2029 gets mentioned im allowed to yap about either my Disney Sequel ideas, Arcane or Sabrina Carpenter (saved Pop music this year)(somehow in relation to disney of course i mean she was in Disney Channel )

[Farerb]

The thing about Pua is that he is not needed on these journeys because he has nothing to do and he's not funny, but if he comes along then something needs to be done with him, and the only thing that that can be done with him is "he gets into trouble and Moana saves him" which is detrimental to the story. Musker and Clements realized that and that's why he was left at the Island and I'm pretty sure they would have removed him from the film entirely but Disney needs to sell Plushies (which admittedly I bought one for my niece).

[D23ExpoVisitor25]

Haven't watched this yet.

Since many of you are disappointed, do you think keeping Moana 2 a streaming series would have solved its problems, or would they have been present anyway?

I'm not sure because we don't know much about what their plan was for the TV series. How many episodes and how long each episode was supposed to be. I remember reading 6 episodes when each episode is 20 minutes.

I think pacing wise it would have improved. Adding new characters to a TV series makes sense and they would have benefited from further development and not just be there for the jokes.

There was a moment where the guy who paints fanfiction (I can't believe they actually used that word) almost dies and it's pretty much shrugged off afterwards. We see how Moana reacts to it and Maui comforting her (not him) but his reaction is almost nonexistent. In a TV series we might have seen this better explored.

However, Musker and Clements still wouldn't have been involved so

Honestly, I didn't have any expectations from this, so I can't say that I was "disappointed", but maybe others wouldn't have expected much from a TV series and we might have seen the series receiving a better reception.

It was actually 6 15-minute episodes, not counting end credits.

[DisneyFan09]

I finally saw it yesterday and I must say that I liked it. Despite how the movie just came across as good, but not great. Still for what it`s worth, I found it to be slightly better than it`s predecessor. Mostly because the music was better as a whole. As expected, the plot was pretty much a rehash of it`s predecessor and the sequel felt like it`s predecessor in tone and scope (even the musical themes in the soundtrack were retreaded). I liked the cinematography and the parts of camera swoops were especially impressibly done. Even the 3D effect was done well. The Polynesian chants sounded even more authentic than they did on their predecessor.
However, the new characters like Simea and Moana`s crew were pretty much useless. They served no real purpose to the story and the plot could`ve easily survived without them. It was truly remarkable how the sequel turned the Kakamora`s on the good side. And to be fair, they weren`t as grating as they were in the original. The same with Hei Hei, actually. The parts at Nalo`s realm reminded me of the similar parts of Treasure Planet. However, while there weren`t any huge flaws of the story, my problems with it stemmed from the lack of a real conflict. As there was no real villain. Matangi was effective enough, but was unfortunately given too little screentime. And I`m glad that Tamatoa was reduced to a mere cameo, despite how it reminded me of how incredibly obnoxious he was. The tribals who were discovered at the end looked somewhat similar to Australian Aboriginals.. Overall, Moana 2 was a perfectly adequate sequel, but let`s hope that the third installment will turn out as good.

[D23ExpoVisitor25]

Disney to turn Tiana’s Paperman-style animated Disney+ series into a theatrical fully 2D/hand-drawn animated film sequel to The Princess and the Frog for a theatrical release in Thanksgiving 2029

Copy and paste part 20

New rule: everytime this thing, for a theatrical Release in Thanksgiving 2029 gets mentioned im allowed to yap about either my Disney Sequel ideas, Arcane or Sabrina Carpenter (saved Pop music this year)(somehow in relation to disney of course i mean she was in Disney Channel )

Only if one of your Disney sequel ideas is for a hand-drawn animated sequel to Hercules for a 2032 release.

[Mooky]

Haven't watched this yet.

Since many of you are disappointed, do you think keeping Moana 2 a streaming series would have solved its problems, or would they have been present anyway?

It would have still been a faulty product but contained to the streaming service, so the impact (or damage) wouldn’t have been as widespread. Not sure if an additional 20 or 30 minutes of total runtime would have made much difference; I’m leaning towards a “no” more.

What I don’t like is the precedent this sets; forget the mediocrity of Strange World or Wish, the money Moana 2 made ensures we will see even more undercooked movies coming from Disney over the next decade. This is pretty much the same line of thinking that ended up birthing DTV sequels. The original classics were huge hits on home video and their sequels were quick and cheap cashgrabs profiting off an existing IP. Just replace “home video” with “Disney+”.

Thankfully, this process seems cyclical, so when they eventually run out of movies to sequelize and potentially crash and burn in the process, it will open the door for a new revival and maybe inject new life into the animation division.

[Farerb]

Disney released the "We're Back" scene from the movie:
https://youtu.be/yKFiMhobOr8?si=mn9Vfy1y0bms5mPo

No Islander except Moana's father has tattoos. That wasn't the case in the original film. I guess it's expensive or time consuming to apply the tattoos.