Featured Image Credit: Disney
Topics: Disney, TV And Film
Kya Buller
The wait is finally over and Moana 2 has hit UK cinemas to the delight of fans.
Hit title Moana was released in 2016 and landed to instant acclaim, becoming a firm favourite of many film buffs and being a huge success at the box office.
The animated musical adventure boasted songs written by Hamilton's Lin-Manuel Miranda and featured huge names including Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson, Auli'i Cravalho, Jemaine Clement and Nicole Scherzinger.
Moana, set upon the Polynesian island of Motunui, introduced the lives of inhabitants of the island, who worshipped the goddess of nature: Te Fiti.
Advert
The balance of the island is thrown off course when Maui, shape-shifting demigod of the wind and sea and master of wayfinding, steals Te Fiti's heart in order to give humanity the power of creation.
Thus setting the scene for Moana 2, which is set three years after the aforementioned events.
An older Moana is now dedicated to travelling around new islands, aiming to seek out people who are connected to the ocean.
After a long nine-year wait, fans in the US got to enjoy a slightly earlier release date (November 27) and rushed to their seats, while us lot in the UK can see it from today onwards.
The reactions are already pouring in - and while Moana was an unequivocal hit, it seems the sequel is struggling to live up to the same rave reviews.
While Moana 2 is now a feature-length film, it was originally intended to be a Disney+ series - and fans claim this is obvious in the final cut.
One person wrote on X: "Moana 2 originated as a Disney+ series and honestly it shows.
"Still perfectly watchable and there’s some fun to be had, but this sequel feels so rushed and disjointed as a finished package. A disappointing step down from the amazing first film."
A second person wrote: "Moana 2 was… a movie. You could tell it used to be a TV show, because it gives off “plot of the week” every 20 minutes. It has an interesting concept which I don’t thing they utilised that well, and the main villain is possibly the worst I’ve seen in a Disney movie. Post credit scene also annoyed me, again, felt like it belonged at the end of a TV show, not a movie."
While a third added: "It is so obvious Moana 2 was supposed to be a tv series. Like I can tell you EXACTLY where each episode begins and ends."