Moana 2 debuts to mixed reviews
Disney's Moana 2 debuts in theaters today, eight years after the original animated musical first released. Given the success of the first film, the sequel will almost certainly do impressive numbers at the box office — which is why I'm not at all concerned about the mediocre reviews the sequel is getting.
Reviews for the highly anticipated Moana 2 dropped today and the sequel is not quite living up to its predecessor. The film currently sits at a 69% on Rotten Tomatoes which is good, but certainly not great.
It's far lower than what 2016's Moana score. The original film was hailed as a "family-friendly adventure for the ages" as it debuted to a near-perfect 95% with critics and an equally impressive 89% among general audiences.
As for the sequel, well, critics aren't quite as enamored by Moana's latest adventure.
"Riding high on a wave of stunning animation even when its story runs adrift, Moana 2 isn't as inspired as the original but still delights as a colorful adventure," the critics consensus reads.
Now it's worth noting that as of this writing, there are only 85 reviews submitted, so the score could fluctuate in the coming days as more write-ups come in. But at this point, it's looking unlikely that Moana 2 will live up to the hype set forth by its predecessor, at least from a review standpoint. I have no doubt the film will rake in hundreds of millions at the box office by name alone.
Moana grossed $248.7 million domestically and a worldwide total of $687.2 million. It was also the second most streamed film of 2021 with a view-time of 8.9 billion minutes, according to Deadline and Nielsen. Suffice to say, the popularity of Moana has only grown in the years since.
That said, I'm not terribly surprised by the mediocre reviews. Nothing about this sequel felt fully fleshed out, especially since it actually originated as a Disney+ series before being turned into a feature-length theatrical film.
From the premise to the previews we've seen so far, it looks like a run-of-the-mill Disney sequel. It very much reminds me of those straight-to-VHS sequels Disney released in the 90s.