Nov 27 2024 32 mins 14
MOANA 2 MOVIE REVIEW
It’s not usually a good sign when an animation company repurposes a planned tv series into a sequel film to one of their hits. I mean, I think. It’s happened before, right? Regardless, that’s the case with Moana 2. We were nervous because of that, Lin-Manuel Miranda not returning to do the score, and the general unlikelihood of a sequel living up to the original. While Moana 2 certainly doesn’t reach the heights that Moana did as a quality Disney animated film, Chris, Kate, Wright, and Wright’s sister Caroline were surprised to see that it still was pretty good. This time around, Moana’s ancestors call for her to journey far out to sea. There’s a god Nalo who has placed a curse on a sorta keystone island that allowed the people living on various islands in the ocean to visit each other. Moana must gather a crew from her islanders, find Maui and help him out of yet another predicament, and bring everybody together, all while sailing, singing, and battling audience expectations for a film to surpass the original. It doesn’t, but it still goes in the ‘win’ category.
OFFICIAL WEBSITE/TRAILER
DIRECTED BY: David Derrick Jr., Jason Hand, and Dana Ledoux Miller
STARRING: Auliʻi Cravalho, Dwayne Johnson, Temuera Morrison, Nicole Scherzinger, Khaleesi Lambert-Tsuda, Rose Matafeo, David Fane, Hualālai Chung, Rachel House, Awhimai Fraser, Gerald Ramsey, Alan Tudyk
YOUR REVIEWERS
Christopher Lawrence Cox (Founder, Da Boss)
Born in the wilds of northern Virginia, Chris managed to put all of his survival skills to use and barely escaped with his life to Austin Texas in 1992 where ever since he’s dabbled in everything from plumber’s assistant to sandwich maker, from band to bar management. An opportunity to see theatrical release films for free by becoming a critic on a local public access show called “The Reel Deal” turned into a full-time job when Chris and his friends decided to take it to the internet. They built the site Spill.com, adding multiple podcasts and animated features, to no small amount of success. During this time, a fortuitous friendship sprung up between Chris and young Brian Salisbury, who was also a local film critic, and they merged their forces of will, and their laundry list of ideas for shows, to eventually build this community of critics. While Brian eventually followed his heart to a new family, Chris continues on with a cast of colorful folks from all over the country (and a few others). You can also check out Chris in his videocast, along with Martin Thomas and Danni Danger, that One Of Us does with our friends at Bell of Lost Souls: Crossover Event. He also regularly guests on the video game website Rage Select. Follow Chris on Twitter and Facebook and check out his Amazon Wish List.
Kate Chambers (Highly Suspect Reviews, Screener Squad)
Kate is a certified horror fiend and Horse Girl™. Her name isn’t short for anything. A native Austinite, she graduated with a BFA in Film Production from the University of Colorado Boulder then returned to the Lone Star State to make her home amid the cinephiles of the Alamo Drafthouse and the Austin Film Society. In her spare time, you can find her either down at the barn with her noble steed Jazz, watching as many movies as possible (often at work),
It’s not usually a good sign when an animation company repurposes a planned tv series into a sequel film to one of their hits. I mean, I think. It’s happened before, right? Regardless, that’s the case with Moana 2. We were nervous because of that, Lin-Manuel Miranda not returning to do the score, and the general unlikelihood of a sequel living up to the original. While Moana 2 certainly doesn’t reach the heights that Moana did as a quality Disney animated film, Chris, Kate, Wright, and Wright’s sister Caroline were surprised to see that it still was pretty good. This time around, Moana’s ancestors call for her to journey far out to sea. There’s a god Nalo who has placed a curse on a sorta keystone island that allowed the people living on various islands in the ocean to visit each other. Moana must gather a crew from her islanders, find Maui and help him out of yet another predicament, and bring everybody together, all while sailing, singing, and battling audience expectations for a film to surpass the original. It doesn’t, but it still goes in the ‘win’ category.
OFFICIAL WEBSITE/TRAILER
DIRECTED BY: David Derrick Jr., Jason Hand, and Dana Ledoux Miller
STARRING: Auliʻi Cravalho, Dwayne Johnson, Temuera Morrison, Nicole Scherzinger, Khaleesi Lambert-Tsuda, Rose Matafeo, David Fane, Hualālai Chung, Rachel House, Awhimai Fraser, Gerald Ramsey, Alan Tudyk
YOUR REVIEWERS
Christopher Lawrence Cox (Founder, Da Boss)
Born in the wilds of northern Virginia, Chris managed to put all of his survival skills to use and barely escaped with his life to Austin Texas in 1992 where ever since he’s dabbled in everything from plumber’s assistant to sandwich maker, from band to bar management. An opportunity to see theatrical release films for free by becoming a critic on a local public access show called “The Reel Deal” turned into a full-time job when Chris and his friends decided to take it to the internet. They built the site Spill.com, adding multiple podcasts and animated features, to no small amount of success. During this time, a fortuitous friendship sprung up between Chris and young Brian Salisbury, who was also a local film critic, and they merged their forces of will, and their laundry list of ideas for shows, to eventually build this community of critics. While Brian eventually followed his heart to a new family, Chris continues on with a cast of colorful folks from all over the country (and a few others). You can also check out Chris in his videocast, along with Martin Thomas and Danni Danger, that One Of Us does with our friends at Bell of Lost Souls: Crossover Event. He also regularly guests on the video game website Rage Select. Follow Chris on Twitter and Facebook and check out his Amazon Wish List.
Kate Chambers (Highly Suspect Reviews, Screener Squad)
Kate is a certified horror fiend and Horse Girl™. Her name isn’t short for anything. A native Austinite, she graduated with a BFA in Film Production from the University of Colorado Boulder then returned to the Lone Star State to make her home amid the cinephiles of the Alamo Drafthouse and the Austin Film Society. In her spare time, you can find her either down at the barn with her noble steed Jazz, watching as many movies as possible (often at work),
