Moana 2: Only OK

Saw "Moana 2" on Friday.  It was entertaining enough, but noticeably
a step down from the first one.  In particular, there were no
standout tunes, certainly nothing on the level of "You're Welcome!".

There were also a number of continuity and plot issues.  In particular,
in the first movie, they established that Moana's tribe had basically
forgotten their heritage, but in this one they have a history expert
in the crew who is able to interpret old tapestries (almost like
he is reading them though the culture is not literate), and immediately
make sense of the news Moana brings back from her scouting trip.
Moana also makes a point of adding a comic-relief farmer to the
crew for her follow-up voyage, which might make sense if she were
starting a colony, but he really doesn't get to do anything aside
from comic-relief.  Even when they reach their destination, which
should be fertile ground (ignoring the salt issues) he doesn't plant
anything.  Similarly, a gift from Moana's sister looked like it
would be a key point, and even gets deployed, but not only did what
I expect not happen, but apparently nothing did.

The handling of the villains is also odd.  The immediate threats
turn out to be reverse twists, and the real big-bad barely appears
(in a post-credit scene only), and seems to have no clear motives.
Likewise, the most popular villain from the first movie makes only
a lame cameo in the same scene.

Maui spends half of the movie sidelined though he finally does get
to do "demigod stuff", but there is almost no progress in his
relation with Moana despite her apotheosis.

It's a good looking, entertaining enough movie, but no classic.
--
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