On November 27, Disney Productions released the newest addition to the Moana story. “Moana 2” featured all of the beloved characters from the first film while introducing many new characters like her little sister Simea and a new character named Matangi, who is a demi-god just like Maui.

I won’t spoil the movie, but in my opinion, the story is pretty good. I personally think there are better stories that have been made, but there have definitely been worse as well. The message I got from the movie is that there is more than one way to go through life.

It’s a stark difference from the first “Moana,” where I couldn’t really tell what the message was. She did save her people from the darkness and turned into a wayfinder, but I felt it was unclear if the message was her finding herself or if the message was to always help your family. Additionally, this movie didn’t really add on to the previous movie like I had expected, but to me, that doesn’t affect how much I enjoyed the movie.

“Moana 2” also featured a multitude of different types of songs with many different meanings and purposes. One of my favorites was sung by Awhimai Fraser, who voiced the other demi-god, Matangi. The song she sings has a beat that is similar to gospel songs I heard in churches when I was little.

This song obviously wasn’t a gospel song; however, it was still really nice to see elements of gospel music used in the background as if the song was a gospel song.

I also liked how there were a wider variety of newer styles in the music as opposed to the first movie. Lin-Manuel Miranda was the star writer of the songs for the last movie, but I think the difference in tone can be credited to the fact he chose not to sign for the sequel. The music in the first movie featured purely drums, guitars, and naturally made instruments.

My guess would be that they chose these instruments in the previous movie to try and emulate the traditional Pacific Islander music and culture. This time, the music included more horns and modern instruments, which is a noticeable contrast to the last movie.

From a viewer’s standpoint, I think that a movie that expresses and uses Pacific Islander culture should have only music made by Pacific Islanders, but from a musical standpoint, I did enjoy the difference in stylistic choices when it came to music.

This movie also had a good amount of jokes that were definitely geared towards a younger audience, with very few jokes sprinkled in for the older viewers. I saw this movie with my friend, and both of us were laughing for the majority of its runtime.

Overall, I think Disney has done a good job with the “Moana” series. Without spoiling the movie, I don’t predict there being a third “Moana” movie, based on the ending of the sequel.

I think Disney has gotten a little sloppy with their storytelling in the past years; however, Moana’s story has deviated from this trend of mediocre movies, and I would rate it a solid 7/10. In my mind, Moana’s story should be closed right where it is. The story had a nice ending that satisfied her story as a whole and I hope Disney keeps the story as it is.