Disney’s Moana 2 movie was released on November 27th, 2024. After the humongous success from the first Moana movie, which came out in the fall of 2016, there was lots of excitement and a high bar to reach with the release of the sequel. There are many mixed opinions on whether or not the movie lived up to the legacy of the first film, but there is an overall consensus that it was a good movie. 

Most people say that the movie was good, but did not quite reach the very high bar that the first movie set. The profits for each film also agree with this conclusion. The first movie was such a success that it made about $700 million in profit, whereas the sequel made around $500-600 million. Junior Sophia Fazel says she thinks that while the movie was definitely enjoyable, “it felt a little rushed” and was “worse than the first movie.” Junior Saniya Sharma agrees with Fazel. She says that while, “Moana 2 was a really good, heart-touching movie,” she “definitely liked the first one better”, meaning she too liked the movie but still felt that the first one was better.  

In addition to Sharma and Fazel, Freshmen Eila Moran and Ashika Papishetty both feel that Moana 2 was a good movie, but that Moana 1 was still superior. Moran says the first was better, “because it had a better storyline”, and Papishetty says it was better since, “the plot was more interesting and the characters were new, which enabled the readers to get to know them along the way”. 

In addition to the overall consensus that Moana 1 was better than Moana 2, there is also a consensus that the movie felt rushed. Fazel says that “[the producers] definitely rushed the movie a bit”. Papishetty also says, “there was a plot, but the things leading to it felt rushed” and that she “felt like the movie went by really quickly”. This makes sense, considering the film was initially supposed to be a TV series that would air on Disney Plus, and was only recently turned into a full movie. 

There was definitely a communal agreement that the movie did not quite beat its former film, and that it was a bit rushed. However, the Disney company definitely gained lots of press and viewers thanks to the new release, and it was overall a huge success for the company.