Moana 2 just adds one good song to the Disney series

Moana has grown on me. I can't say I liked Disney's musical Pacific Islander at first glance – when it first came out in 2016, it seemed lively yet cluttered. But as the film's songs penetrated the zeitgeist, I returned to the film with an ear for Lin-Manuel Miranda's infectious, rat-sharp lyrics and the deep story that resonates through Opetaia Foa'i's drum-backed Samoan and Tokelau-language melodies. And then everything fell into place. As with any great musical, the film is Was the soundtrack.

Moana 2 might grow on me too – honestly, my feelings for it could only grow from the point it started. It's been less than a day since I saw the long-awaited sequel (Disney only showed the film to press 17 hours ago), but unlike the overwhelming “let me hear that again” experience Moana For the first time, I don't have that lingering gut feeling that I've missed something. In the end, Moana 2 is a vehicle for a banger, a feel-good throwback and a few songs we'll never talk about again, which isn't enough for a brand new song Moana.

Most musicals don't get sequels. Why should they do it when they can be restaged, re-watched or re-watched? Those who get the sequel generally either rely on Jukebox, which is in good faith, with some success (Mama Mia! here we go againnow with more ABBA!) or immediately sink into non-existence. (REST IN PEACE Annie 2: Miss Hannigan's Revenge.) But Moana 2 averts disaster thanks to a new songwriting duo throwing everything at the wall.

Abigail Barlow, a pop singer-songwriter who did this A big hit on TikTokand Emily Bear, a Grammy and Emmy Award-winning piano prodigy and protégé of Quincy Jones, succeeds Miranda with youthful energy and awe for the previous film. (Which makes sense: Both women would have been teenagers at the time Moana But while Miranda's songs advanced the emotional arc of the original, Barlow and Bear's tracks must keep up with a disjointed script that takes literal shortcuts to get Moana from her South Pacific home island of Motunui to a mystical undersea mountain ravaged by a god's curse .

Designed as a series for Disney PlusThe sequel, which was eventually adapted into a feature film, has more in common with the now-defunct Disneytoon Studios' direct-to-video output than with the unwieldy sequel ambitions of Frozen 2. (Sidebar: “Into the Unknown” good!) I have nothing against Walt Disney Animation – after all, David Lynch turned a scrapped series into a game changer Mulholland Drive. But in terms of a near musical masterpiece, Moana 2 comes across like Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmasa sidequel with more of the same and a few smaller new additions. (Although somehow with less character work than Disney Aladdin and the King of Thieves?)

Like those DTV sequels, Moana 2 adds tons of new characters, all introduced in “We are back” a quick replacement for Moana's opening number, “Where you are.” When we reunite with the teenage chief Moana (Auli'i Cravalho), she's the star of Motunui, and everyone in the village is raving about her, complete with cosplay from a group of Moana-like kids that Maui (Dwayne Johnson) casually voices “Moanabees.” But Hamilton Star Christopher Jackson is definitely not back to lend his voice to Moana's father Tui (voiced by Temuera Morrison in dialogue scenes), and with him comes a narrative perspective for the new film. “Where You Are” lays the foundation for Moana’s adventure beyond the reef Moana. “We’re Back” is a victory lap The most streamed Disney Plus movie of all time.

Barlow and Bear get to the point: the foregrounding of Moana and Cravalho in the music. Moana fronts the ensemble-driven “We're Back” and later takes lead vocals on a redux from Miranda “We know the way” from the first film. She is now the Wayfinder, Oceania's true leader, and she has the lung capacity to prove it. your big song, “Over and beyond,” For Cravalho, it feels like a perfectly serviceable pop hit that works hard enough to earn the track a spot on Disney radio for all eternity.

The film's strange pacing dulls the impact of Cravalho's powerful vocals. Screenwriters Jared Bush and Dana Ledoux Miller spend so much time with Moana, talking about her needing to set sail (again) before finally setting sail (again), that “Beyond” feels like a chore. And rarely does the story support Moana's empowerment as much as the music. She's a mortal who opposes divine activity, and she can't actually make waves (Hm) against their supernatural enemies. That's why she's constantly making mistakes, begging the ocean for help, or learning new lessons from characters whose power she can't touch. But she's very good at singing about how powerful she is.

The big surprise of Moana 2 is a song that seems completely detached from pretty much everything else around it, stylistically or story-wise. Midway through her expedition, Moana meets the magical bat lady Matangi (Awhimai Fraser, the voice of Elsa in the Māori edition of). Frozen), who has the makings of a classic Disney villain. Matangi's number, “Go away,” is a fiery pop song with Motown elements that Fraser wails like there's no tomorrow.

Foa'i, I'm working with you again Moana Composer Mark Mancina provides the other highlights with additional tracks that spotlight the Polynesian language and culture. A scene in which Moana and some village children perform a sort of Māori haka is a delight, as are occasional extensive scenes of ocean exploration, accompanied by singing from Foa'i's daughter and her boyfriend The Vaka Bandmate Olivia Foa'i. In a film that feels hemmed in by close-ups and crammed-in set pieces, the group's music gives way Moana 2 a much needed epic quality.

There are… devastating clunkers. “What could be better than that?” is a hyperactive group song in which Moana and her new ship crew sing at double speed and act as if they are haunted by the world Smile Demon. At one point, Moana's brainy engineer friend Loto (Rose Matafeo) lays down some quick lyrics, an attempt to imitate Miranda's rap-infused work, which pound so hard they become pure mush. Even avid fans of Gilbert and Sullivan's I Am the Model of a Modern Major General might feel a cerebral hemorrhage at this relentless number.

And the less we say about Maui's new song, “Can I get a Chee Hoo?”the better. “You're welcome” It's looking more and more like a minor miracle for Dwayne Johnson, who descends into sub-Rex Harrison levels of chanting for a sport Jock James sings masked as a song. When the synthesizers started, I tapped out.

Ultimately, I don't know anything about how Moana 2 was made, and I don't care what it took to turn a TV show into a movie: I'm here to see what a musical can do. In the case of a Disney original, these are dynamic vocal and instrumental performances staged with vivid imagination. But the recordings continue Moana 2 sounded a bit tinny, a bit flat in capturing the vastness of Moana's ocean and the uphill battle she faces as she battles a god for her people's inheritance.

I hope Moana 2 grows the same way for me Moana did. (For what it's worth, every 6-year-old in my audience stood up and applauded at the end, so what do I know?) But if Disney wants to make the rare musical threequel – and based on this sequel, a Moana 3 could easily follow the planned live-action adaptation of the original film – it needs to give a couple like Barlow and Bear the same freedom and screen space as a man like Miranda, rather than demanding more of it. As Moana would say: go beyond that.

Moana 2 hits theaters November 27th.