After 2016’s Moana earned a solid $643 million worldwide in 2016, a sequel became inevitable. Eight years later, 2024’s Moana 2 arrived and it blew past the earnings of its predecessor.

The second chapter snagged more than $1 billion, a total that ensures a Moana 3 - after a detour for a 2025 live-action remake of the 2016 flick, that is. I can’t claim I will look forward to the inevitable third animated Moana because Moana 2 offers such a tepid adventure.

Set three years after the prior story, Moana (voiced by Auli'i Cravalho) seeks other cultures that also share her connection to the sea and voyaging. After many attempts, she sees a vision that sets her on a new quest.

Along with a mix of pals, Moana sets out on the water to raise the island of Motufetu and save an entire culture. This comes with a mix of challenges and dangers.

If you go back to my review of the first Moana, you’ll see it didn’t exactly knock off my socks – or any other garments, for that matter. While perfectly pleasant and watchable, it never turned into anything special.

After a screening of Moana 2, however, the 2016 movie feels like a classic. Whatever flaws the original suffers, the sequel multiplies them.

Moana 2 actually began life as a limited-run series Disney planned to run on their streaming channel. Apparently the suits felt the project enjoyed too much potential to simply relegate it to the small screen so it transitioned into a cinematic release during development.

Which paid off for the studio. As mentioned above, the sequel earned a good $400 million more than its predecessor, so Disney clearly made the right decision financially to shift the project from Disney+ to a theatrical release.

But this doesn’t make Moana 2 a quality movie. Despite some positives, it just lacks life and inventiveness.

When I watched Moana 2, I went in without knowledge of its development. Nonetheless, I couldn’t help but feel the movie seemed episodic and without real flow.

Maybe this doesn’t stem from the project’s streaming series roots. Maybe Moana 2 shifted from TV show to big-screen movie early enough in the process that it never got to a five-episode script.

Or maybe it did take a story and screenplay meant to split into a few programs and just mushed it into a single film. The end product sure feels that way, as the various adventures of Moana and her pals come across as collection of separate segments loosely patched into one less than coherent whole.

If Moana 2 mustered fun, laughs and thrills, I wouldn’t mind the clumsy narrative flow. Unfortunately, everything about the movie seems mediocre.

Not bad, per se, as Moana 2 manages just enough action and engagement to keep the viewer with it. But at no point does the movie actually threaten to become more than vaguely entertaining.

The returning characters feel rehashed and without anything to renew our affection toward them. The new roles lack spark and seem like they exist just to fill space more than embellish and enhance the story.

The stabs at comedy largely fall flat, and the action scenes fail to accelerate any pulses. Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear replace Lin-Manuel Miranda as songwriters and their ditties seem much more anonymous and forgettable.

Moana 2 does look great. It boasts lavish art and top-notch animation.

But excellent visuals can’t make Moana 2 a delightful comedic adventure. Uninspired and dull, the movie falls flat.

Footnote: a heavily sequel-teasing tag scene appears early in the end credits.

Moana 2 appears in an aspect ratio of 2.00:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. The movie delivered an excellent visual presentation.

As expected, sharpness soared. At all times, the film offered terrific delineation, without a smidgen of sharpness to be found along the way.

No signs of jaggies or shimmering occurred, and I saw no edge haloes. Of course, the computer-animated project lacked any form of source flaws.

Moana 2 boasted a broad palette that looked dazzling. The colors consistently seemed vivid and dynamic, as they virtually leapt off the screen.

Blacks appeared deep and dense, while shadows seemed smooth and clear. Everything about this image delighted.

Though not quite as good, the movie’s DTS-HD MA 7.1 soundtrack worked pretty well. Elements on the sea allowed for a nice mix of auditory elements to crop up around the room.

In addition, a few more action-oriented scenes became reasonably involving. Music also worked well, as the score and songs used the various channels in a compelling manner.

Quality satisfied, with speech that always appeared natural and distinctive. A major aspect of the mix, music seemed full and rich as well.

Effects showed good accuracy and range, which meant deep bass as required. Though not a dazzling mix, the audio of Moana 2 fit the story and brought life to the proceedings.

Six featurettes appear here, and Call of the Wayfinder spans 12 minutes, 17 seconds. It offers info from director/writer Dana Ledoux Miller, directors David G. Derrick Jr., and Jason Hand, senior cultural manager Kalikolehua Hurley, Polynesian Voyaging Society crew members Jonah Apo, Lucy Lee and Kai Hoshijo, and Polynesian Voyaging Society navigator Ka’iulani Murphy.

During “Call”, we learn about the real boat-voyaging that influenced the sea-faring aspects of Moana 2. We enjoy a pleasant look at this culture and their endeavors.

A New Voyage goes for 15 minutes, 36 seconds. Here we get remarks from Miller, Derrick, Hurley, Hand, directors of cinematography layout Behzad Mansoori-Dara and Rob Dressel, directors of cinematography lighting Sucheta Bhatawadekar and Adolph Lusinsky, head of animation Amy Lawson Smeed, producers Yvett Merino and Christina Chen, head of animation Kevin Webb, and actors Dwayne Johnson and Auli'i Cravalho.

In this reel, we get thoughts about aspects of the first movie as well as cast and crew and the development of the sequel. Expect a few facts and a lot of fluff.

With Songs of the Sea, we locate a 13-minute, 28-second program. It features Miller, Hand, Derrick, Cravalho, Johnson, Chen, songwriters Opetaia Foa'i, Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear, and composer Mark Mancina.

As implied by the title, "Sea" looks at the movie's music. As with "Voyage", "Sea" mixes a few decent notes with tons of happy talk.

Join the Crew occupies 11 minutes, 40 seconds. Here we locate info from Derrick, Hand, Hurley, Cravalho, Marino, Miller, Webb, Chen, and head of animation Amy Smeed.

We get thoughts about characters, cast, performances and animation. Though a little more substantial than the prior two reels, extensive praise continues to dominate.

Next comes the four-minute, 33-second Kakamora Chronicles, as Hualālai Chung in character as Moni tells us about the movie's coconut pirates. It offers some cute exposition.

Fun in the Booth runs three minutes, eight seconds and shows short clips of the actors as they work. I like this kind of material but “Booth” presents the footage at such a frantic rate that it doesn’t fare as well as I’d prefer.

Including intros from Miller, Derrick and Hand, three Deleted Scenes fill a total of 14 minutes, 35 seconds. None of these sequences feels memorable or adds anything notable to the film.

That said, at least a couple - like "Odd Birds" - show some spark. The intros give us some basics about them and why they didn't make the cut.

A massive box office hit, Moana 2 becomes watchable but wholly mediocre. While lovely to look at, it feels underwhelming in all other ways. The Blu-ray boasts excellent picture quality along with very good audio and a moderate mix of supplements. Maybe the inevitable Moana 3 will hit the spot but the second chapter lacks spark.