Moana spent years staring at the edge of the water, never really knowing why. She eventually learned that her yearning to discover what lay beyond the reef of her island home was because her people used to be oceanic voyagers. But they stopped exploring when Maui, a demigod, stole the heart of Te Fiti (the mother island goddess), releasing Te Ka, a lava monster who wreaked havoc across the ocean.
Moana teamed up with Maui to find and return the heart of Te Fiti. In so doing, they calmed Te Ka (who, it turns out, was just who Te Fiti became without her heart). And the ocean was finally safe to traverse again.
Well, Moana’s been doing just that. As her village’s Windfinder, she’s been sailing across the sea, searching for new islands and new peoples.
As of yet, she’s had no success. Sure, there are plenty of other islands in the area. Some even show evidence of other tribes having lived there once. But nobody has responded to her conch-shell calls.
Then, Moana receives a vision from her ancestor Tautai Vasa, the former Windfinder of her island. According to him, Moana’s mission is doomed to fail unless she can find the legendary island of Motufetu. In ages past, the island served as a central connection point, a place where all the currents of the ocean (and all the peoples) met. Unfortunately, Nalo, the god of thunder and chaos who hates humans, sunk the island to the depths of the sea, cutting off the currents and preventing passage from one island group to the next.
Moana learns that unless she finds Motufetu and breaks Nalo’s curse, her people will eventually wither away and die alone in isolation. And not just her people, but the people of each island she’s yet to discover.
The voyage will be long and dangerous. In fact, it could take a lifetime to succeed—if Moana is indeed able to succeed at all. But she won’t let her people down. And so Moana chooses, once again, to leave all she loves behind to learn what lies beyond the horizon.
Moana is a great leader of her people. She’s brave, motivating and capable. She recruits a small crew to join her on her voyage to Motufetu—all brave and capable individuals themselves. And although the going is rough at first, with Moana’s encouragement, they all learn to work together and to protect each other as they search for their quarry.
When Maui joins the group, he still carries a few of his narcissistic qualities. However, it quickly becomes clear that this is all for show. Maui has been changed by his adventures with Moana. It turns out he’s actually been searching for Motufetu himself, hoping to find the island and break the curse without putting Moana in danger (since Nalo hates humans so much).
Once it becomes clear that Maui can’t succeed alone, he’s excited to join Moana’s crew (though he is a bit skeptical of their fellow crewmates). And when Moana starts to lose her way, Maui returns the favor she once paid to him: He lifts her up and helps her remember who she is. He reminds her that she is strong and courageous. And he tells Moana that he believes in her.
Moana has a new little sister, Simea, who doesn’t want Moana to leave their village. Simea fears her big sis might not come back. Moana doesn’t necessarily want to leave either. But both sisters act bravely, choosing to put the good of their people above their personal desires.
Moana and Maui each risk their lives to save others. Everyone who joins their quest does so knowing they might not survive, and that even if they do, they may never see their loved ones again.
As this adventure unfolds, Moana learns an important lesson about pivoting and rolling with the punches when things don’t go quite as planned.
Much like the first Moana film, this movie is loosely based on Hawaiian mythology. This time around, the narrative adds several new gods and goddesses as well as the spirits of Moana’s ancestors.
Maui, of course, is a demigod who claims to be more than 3,000 years old. He uses a magical fishing hook to transform himself into a variety of animals. Tattoos cover his body, showcasing his greatest deeds. And one tattoo of himself (sometimes called “Mini Maui”) can move, often serving the role of Maui’s conscience.
It doesn’t have a name, but the ocean is very much treated as a deity here. It often helps Moana on her journey, guiding her to the right path and retrieving crew members who fall overboard. It also helps Moana and Simea to keep in contact when they’re apart.
Nalo is a full-blown god who is much more powerful than Maui or the ocean. He set a curse upon Motufetu, sinking it to the bottom of the sea and surrounding the waters and sky above with a super storm. He uses this storm to attack Moana and her crew when they arrive, sending waves and lightning-filled waterspouts to wreck their boat.
Nalo is seemingly assisted by Matangi, a sort of underworld goddess with an entourage of bats. She lives in an island-sized clam that swallows everything within its radius. And her powers allow her to fly and hang from surfaces like a bat herself.
The gods and goddesses employ several strange and dangerous monsters that try to kill Moana.
Moana’s ancestors frequently appear to her as spirits, talking to her and showing her visions of the past and future. Some can also take on the forms of animals. (Her grandmother swims through the ocean as a manta ray; former Windfinder Tautai Vasa is a whale.) And they are treated almost as deities.
These ancestors prove to be very powerful indeed, bringing someone back to life by turning that person into a new demigod with powers to control ocean waters. Moana’s ancestors also send a comet to guide her to Motufetu. Later, she’s able to open a portal that takes her directly to the island.
There’s mention of destiny.
We see an old man’s exposed rear end after he falls, and another guy is freaked out when his face almost hits the man’s buttocks. Maui scolds Mini Maui after the tattoo gives him a “purple nurple.”
A young boy from Moana’s village winks at her flirtatiously—a gesture that visibly makes Moana uncomfortable given their age difference.
Female characters sometimes wear outfits that expose midriffs. Male characters often don’t wear shirts at all. Maui notes that he’s the only person still wearing plant leaves as clothes. A woman says a man “looks good.”
Moana 2 is filled with many intense moments of peril—which might just be the biggest concern here for parents with young or sensitive viewers. We’re shown that Tautai Vasa and his crew sailed into the super storm controlled by Nalo. Later, Moana is shipwrecked on an island, and she finds the remains of their boat, showing her that they didn’t survive.
Moana and her crew are attacked by the Kakamora (small, pirate-y creatures that wear coconut shells as armor). The Kakamora paralyze humans using darts coated in neurotoxins. However, Moana and her friends are spared when the Kakamora realize they are searching for Motufetu, too. They even give Moana some of their neurotoxins to use as a weapon.
Those neurotoxins come in handy very quickly when Matangi’s giant clam threatens to swallow them all. They paralyze the clam, but it still shuts on Moana’s boat. (One of the Kakamora boats is swallowed too, but its passengers are presumed dead, since this occurred before the toxin was used.) Inside the clam, the crew encounters monsters who try to eat them. The creatures are unsuccessful, but we see the skeletons of hundreds of others who weren’t so lucky.
Elsewhere, the crew gets attacked by sea serpents, and someone nearly dies but is saved by Maui.
Maui makes several jokes about wanting to eat Moana’s pet pig and rooster—though they’re only jokes. He also sports a necklace with the teeth of several creatures he’s defeated. A shark nearly eats one of Moana’s pets. Someone faints.
Nalo attacks Moana and her friends, trying to drown them and strike them with lightning. He manages to capsize their boat, though everyone is OK. But then he strikes Maui with lightning. The encounter strips Maui of his tattoos and nearly kills him, but Moana’s friends drag him to safety.
[Spoiler Warning] Someone eventually is killed by one of Nalo’s lightning bolts. But that character is brought back to life.
Someone is called a “windbag.”
None.
Maui spends some time tied upside down in Matangi’s clam. He’s periodically splattered with some sort of edible green goo during this internment. It’s not dangerous, but it’s certainly gross. A strange creature employed by the Kakamora sneezes out the toxin they use on their weapons.
Maui forces Mini Maui into his armpit and then uses his hand to make a fart sound, dazing the tattoo. He makes a joke about receiving a “butt dial” from a phone, explaining the joke will make sense in another 2,000 years. There’s a joke about warts.
One of Moana’s crew members is a bit cynical. We learn Matangi is unable to leave her clamshell home, a sort of banishment from Nalo.
If you watched and enjoyed the first Moana film in 2016, you won’t find that much has changed in this action-packed, musical sequel.
There’s more mythology to contend with, but nothing out of the realm of the first film. What we do get is a broader introduction to other gods and goddesses within the Moana universe. (Although we do witness the creation of a new demigod at the hands of Moana’s ancestors and the ocean.)
Some families may choose to give this franchise a pass for that reason, as the worldview here is obviously not a Christian one. Others—again, those who enjoyed the first film—will approach the story’s new characters much the way we might with Greek, Roman or Norse mythological demigods. Along the way, there might even be a chance for some compare-and-contrast conversations about the spiritual ideas we see here.
Moana 2 takes this franchise’s young princess—though she’d never call herself that—on another perilous adventure to discover new lands, skies and seas. And Moana worries not only that she’ll lose herself on the journey but that she’ll fail her mission, too.
However, Moana’s friends never let her doubt herself for long. They’re motivated by the young Windfinder and step up their game to ensure her success. And Maui helps Moana remember who she is: brave, kind, strong and just stubborn enough to never give up.
Intense moments of peril might frighten some younger kiddos—especially since several characters nearly lose their lives. And if your family doesn’t want to contend with the mythology at play here (loosely based on Hawaiian tradition), then it’s likely a nonstarter.
But families who’ve already navigated the waters of Moana likely know exactly what to expect in this sea-quel.
Emily studied film and writing when she was in college. And when she isn’t being way too competitive while playing board games, she enjoys food, sleep, and geeking out with her husband indulging in their “nerdoms,” which is the collective fan cultures of everything they love, such as Star Wars, Star Trek, Stargate and Lord of the Rings.
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