‘Moana 2’ review: Sequel hits big screen unable to shake its small-screen DNA

You wouldn’t know from its looks that “Moana 2” originally was developed as a series for Disney+.

In theaters this week, the sequel to Walt Disney Animation Studios 2016 hit “Moana” — so beloved that it’s reportedly the most streamed movie of all time on Disney’s streaming service — boasts the type of spectacular digital animation we’ve become accustomed to from the House of Mouse. “Moana 2” boasts brilliant colors, dazzling specular highlights and stunningly executed sequences.

However, you might suspect the original small-screen destiny for “Moana 2” from its narrative. While telling what certainly can be considered a complete story, the film is plenty interested in setting up yet another adventure for the appealing islander heroine — just as you’d expect from a streaming series designed either to keep going or to promote a future film.

Set three years after the events of “Moana,” its sequel sees the franchise’s namesake character (voiced again, enchantingly, by Auli‘i Cravalho), leading the people of her island, Motunui, with former leader Tui (Temuera Morrison, “The Book of Boba Fett”) — her father — ready to bestow upon the already-celebrated wayfinder a sacred island title.

Moana is honored, but her mind is on exploring — we catch back up with her on another island, pig pal Pua in tow — in the name of finding other people who call her beloved ocean home. A clue found on that island is followed by a vision in which one of Motunui’s original wayfinders, Tautai Vasa (Gerald Faitala Ramsey), instructs her to seek a lost ancient island by following fire in the sky.

Come that fire does, and Moana puts together a crew for this journey important to the future of her people: Loto (Rose Matafeo), a spunky engineer who builds and is constantly tweaking the island’s canoes, including the large one needed for the coming task; Kele (David Fane), an older master farmer who has no real interest in the sea; and Moni (Hualālai Chung), a young man who has learned the island’s history and is designated as a story keeper.

Pau and the colorful chicken from the first adventure, Heihie (a returning Alan Tudyk), are along for the ride, as well.

Moana wishes she also had the help of her big, shapeshifting, nemesis-turned-demigod pal, Maui (Dwayne Johnson), but, as she says, he’s off “demigod-ing.” When we reconnect with the man with the personality-infused tattoos, he has his hands full with Matangi (Awhimai Fraser), a mysterious, magic-wielding and bat-friendly woman who will encounter Moana and give her guidance (and help hammer home a major thematic idea of this story: that it’s worth looking for a new way, even if it means getting lost at first).

Soon enough, Maui, Moana and her ragtag bunch are together to take on Nalo (Tofiga Fepulea’i), the god of storms, who will bring lightning and more in a fight to keep them from finding the ancient island.

Oh, and along the way, the gang runs into some cheeky old foes, who have something special in mind for the heroes.

Arriving in cineplexes not even a week after big releases “Wicked” and “Gladiator II,” “Moana 2” has plenty going for it and is certainly worth the price of another movie ticket.

And yet you can’t help but notice myriad little shortcomings, which may be attributable to the shift from series to film.

For starters, “Moana 2” doesn’t give meaningful subplots to any of the secondary figures. Thanks in part to comedian and actress Matafeo, you’re left wanting more of the energetic and confident Loto. (Perhaps SHE could be the focus of a Disney+ series?) There’s certainly more meat on the bone with the quirky Kele, and while the fanboy fawning of Moni when it comes to Maui is as funny as intended, we can’t shake the feeling the Disney folks are putting off a romance between him and Moana for a third movie.

We certainly don’t think we’ve seen the last of Matangi, who disappears midway through the proceedings, or Nalo. (Hint: Stay into the movie’s credits for a tease of what may be to come.)

And while co-writers Jared Bush, who penned “Moana,” and Dana Ledoux Miller — the latter credited with directing the movie along with other first-timers Jason Hand and David G. Derrick Jr. — work to establish how crucial Moana’s success is for the future of her people, the stakes never truly feel that high. The need to find other islanders doesn’t compare with the blight that threatened the island in “Moana.”

Like that film, this one is infused with music. Here, it’s credited to Abigail Barlow, Opetaia Foa‘i and Mark Mancina. The songs are mostly enjoyable — the propulsive early number “What Could Be Better Than This?” sets a cheerful mood — but feel mostly forgettable. There’s nothing matching the quality of the Lin-Manuel Miranda penned “How Far I’ll Go” from the first film, and the semi-annoying Johnson-delivered “Can I Get a Chee-Woo?” is a weak replacement for his “You’re Welcome” from “Moana.”

As we see how far the animated Moana will go, here’s a helpful reminder fans can look forward to the live-action reimagining of the first film, set for theaters in 2026 with Johnson as Maui and Miranda returning to contribute music.

You’re welcome.

‘Moana 2’

Where: Theaters.

When: Nov. 27.

Rated: PG for action/peril.

Runtime: 1 hour, 40 minutes.

Stars (of four): 2.5.