In November of 2016, children and parents gathered in theaters to watch a movie about Disney’s newest princess Moana, excited to experience Moana’s adventure. The movie was a huge success and shone light on a new type of diverse fairytale about an ancient Polynesian princess.
Flash forward eight years to November of 2024, when the familiar feelings of excitement returned in anticipation of the release of “Moana 2.” The same kids that saw “Moana” in elementary school when it first came out are now in high school or beyond. Because of how much time had passed since the original, the movie had a certain expectation to live up to. The first movie was so well done and had an incredible amount of attention surrounding it, so there was hope that “Moana 2” would follow suit by performing well.
“Moana 2” presents another thrilling journey as Moana travels the ocean after freeing it of its curse in the previous movie. Moana spends her free time exploring other islands in hopes of finding other villages to connect her own people to. After having a vision in which her ancestor reveals why no villages are connected to the ocean anymore, Moana learns she must follow a comet to find the island of Motufetū that once joined all of the other islands of the ocean together. A God named Nalo sank Motufetū to isolate the people of different islands from each other, cutting off their communication and knowledge of the world. He was worried that they were becoming too powerful together and would end up overshadowing him.
The movie follows Moana and her crew uniting with Maui, the lovable Demigod featured in the original film, to take on the evil God and save their village from the danger that will occur if they do not re-float the island and bring together the people of other villages.
The expedition is full of ups and downs, as Moana loses faith and the other crew members waver about their ability to dive into the realm of the Demigods and pass through the deadly traps set by Nalo. However, the movie ends on a positive note, when the characters successfully bring back the island and unite the different villages together. However, it does leave off on a cliffhanger, indicating there is another part of Moana’s story to come down the road.
When revisiting theaters to see a sequel of a movie that was once a childhood favorite, there is an added expectation for the movie to be equally as good if not better than the original. However, after its release, it feels as if the movie was missing something important, as the reality of the second part of the story is not what was imagined.
The built up excitement about a sequel is often more entertaining than what actually occurs in the movie, resulting in the feelings of emptiness after finally seeing the movie. The nostalgia of childhood movies coming back for a second part after the original audience has grown up is dangerous, as it is almost impossible for the film to live up to the ideas many imagined. Although “Moana 2” was a well put together movie, components of magic the first film had were missing in the second movie. The songs were not as catchy or singable and there was nothing truly impressive about the movie that left a lasting impact on viewers. Movie nostalgia makes people yearn for something that only existed years ago, as their imagination of what could be jeopardizes their actual opinion of the sequel.
