25
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Disney announces Moana 2 set to release November 2024
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- Title
- 'Moana 2' Set at Disney With Surprise 2024 Release Date
- Authors
- Katcy Stephan
- Published
- Feb 7 2024
- Word count
- 432 words
Always sad to see sequels instead of new IP for
PixarDisney Animation, but Moana has some of the best music of any animated film.I've been staring at the water, long as I can remember, never really knowing why
I know I should be a perfect daughter, but I come back to the water no matter how hard I try
love this song so much, probably my favorite "I want" song of any Disney movie
I liked Moana, too, but I am wary of Moana 2. Im afraid of it being another Frozen 2 where it’s basically “the gang gets together again and does stuff” but it’s not super meaningful.
Frozen 2 had insane production problems where the script kept changing throughout. Although this originally being a Disney+ show doesn’t bode well either.
I watched the “Into the Unknown” behind-the-scenes documentary and I was shocked that it got green-lit for release on Disney+. It does not inspire much confidence in their processes. The studio was just making shit up as they went along, with no clear plan for how anything was supposed to come together.
Considering the first Frozen was a huge commercial success, you’d think Disney would be meticulous about shepherding its sequel from concept to release. This was their flagship IP, after all. Instead it just seemed like the execs were asleep at the wheel while the studio spun its wheels on aimless rewrites and self-congratulatory, disconnected set pieces.
All things considered, Frozen 2 was okay in spite of the dysfunction. Maybe that’s just how they always do things at Disney? I’m still surprised the doc was allowed to cast so much light on how the sausage was made. I can only assume nobody realized how unflattering it was because this is just the normal way things get done over there.
I think Jennifer Lee is to blame and I think she’s been a pretty bad lead for Disney animation. Not quite as bad as say Kathleen Kennedy has been for Lucasfilm, but still pretty bad.
Under Lee Disney Animation released Strange World and Wish, two consecutive bombs for Disney Animation. She was the creative lead behind Wish, which received some of the worst reviews in Disney history.
Shes just someone who lacks both creative and business sense. Shes a terrible writer and should not have been allowed to be part of the writing process for any film.
Frozen 2 got lucky since it was riding the hype of the first film and also the hype of being a Disney product at the time. But outside of Encanto there hasn’t been much of a hit from Disney Animation.
I haven't seen Strange World, but to my knowledge it's fairly decent to mediocre, and was more a victim of bad marketing than bad quality.
Wish though... That one is just one of the most meandering and bland films I've heard of, just fails in execution in so many ways. Only read the Wikipedia summary, and even that made it feel blaringly bland. What's especially bad is that the original concept seemed to be better than the final film: evil monarch couple, the star transforms into a magical boy who communicates through pantomiming...
Alright, those are the only two details I know about the original concept, but those two details alone are big improvements over the final product. The concept art of the boy and Asha is just so magical. It makes it clear how much the whole film got heavily reworked and shaved down by executive meddling.
You're so right in pointing out how great the music in Moana is!
That's one of the things that made the "old" Disney films so good: excellent lyrics and songs.
Both How far I'll go and You're welcome are stellar songs. Others like "Shiny" with the giant crab are also surprisingly good.
I like those two songs, as well as Mancina's score for the movie, but I can't stand Shiny. There's something fundamentally wrong with it; it's like the vocals don't match the beat or something. It's like two songs playing at the same time and it drives me crazy.
One of the things that I like about musical soundtracks is that they can pack a lot of meaning into the songs, and Know Who You Are is one of the best examples. It's only about a minute long but I can't help love it because I already love the message of having conflict solved with compassion and understanding.
Seconding the aversion to Shiny. As a fan of Moana, the soundtrack, and Jemaine Clement, I've never been able to describe what I find so grating about it but I don't fully understand the praise. I don't skip it everytime but I never seek it out
Shiny is in an interesting position in the movie. Or more accurately:
The crab fits within the movie, seeing as how we're dealing with the ocean. And because he collects all these valuable things, the song fits the character. However, the song itself doesn't really fit in the movie- the rest of the movie is about your typical themes like overcoming adversary and challenging your limits to great things... And the crab just sings about how he collects shiny baubles.
But that's precisely the contrast, right? He doesn't have the bauble because it's inherently meaningful or important, it's only for its surface characteristics. In a very real way, Tamatoa is the island that Moana is trying to escape, a place where she wasn't valued for anything true about who she was. So as Moana is taking the bauble to a place where it can fulfill its purpose so too is she doing the same for herself. "Shiny" is the antonym to "Where You Are." One is about community fulfilment and one is about personal satisfaction, but they're both ignoring Moana and her journey.
I absolutely loathe Shiny but love the rest of this soundtrack. How Far I'll Go is probably my favorite Disney song.
I know exactly what you mean about Shiny, it's so bizarre!
It's so incredibly uncomfortable to listen to, I love it. I've never been able to take it apart and figure out exactly why. The accompaniment is super busy, Clement's voice is slightly too dull to hear, there's not a great beat, or even much of a harmonic progression, the lyrics are stagnant and meandering, the tone is trite, etc. It's a perfect storm and it makes it sound sharp to me, like just listening to it hurts me a little.
For my money it also stands out as the character is actively attempting murder while singing about fashion.
I don't think they meant to make it like that. I don't think you could if you tried. But it does make me feel a certain way.
It makes me feel ✨shiny✨.
That's what makes it a great villain song though. It is discordant, the character singing it is vapid, self-obsessed, cowardly, etc. The song communicates all of that. He doesn't seem confident or have much of an aesthetic vision. Everything is just sort of thrown together and the only thing that does come through is there is sort of an undertone of menace in there. It doesn't make you dislike or fear Tamatoa in the way that, say, Be Prepared makes you kind of apprehensive about what Scar is about to do. But you do get to see him the way Moana and Maui see him. Kind of clownish and pathetic, but still dangerous.
The song that is way out of place is the weird "torch song" rendition of You're Welcome they put in the credits. The tone has nothing to do with the lyrics. And what the fuck even is this video?
I'd put Coco on par with it for music, though the style is very different.
But you're right in that Moana has something special about it that I think will be hard to reproduce. The scene where the baby Moana is tested/chosen by the ocean captivated my son from the first time he saw it.
Lin-Manuel Miranda is kinda a dork, but he absolutely rocks Disney songs. Every movie he's worked on has been great
That’s all theater kids. Even the ones with talent.
In all fairness, Disney and Pixar alike have thrown out a lot of new IP lately. It's just unfortunate that it happened in the worst time in cinema history. And I'm sure both studios are taking the entirely wrong lessons from such issues instead of dismissing it as an outlier among outliers.
Moana is Disney Animation not Pixar
ah thanks, fixed!
As a older audience Im ok with sequels. World of Moana is interesting, songs is beautiful.. so I cautiously optimistic.
I'm Pacific islander and I'm fucking stoked a new Moana movie is coming out. I'm Micronesian, not Polynesian, but idgaf, I'll take whatever representation I can get.
Hoping this one is about voyaging to other islands and meeting other island cultures (I'm not biased I swear)
Not knowing anything about your religious beliefs, connection to traditional folklore, or overlap between Polynesian and Micronesian traditions, do you know anything about how Native Hawaiians felt about the film's depiction of Maui?
I thought he was a good character for the role he plays in the movie, but I think Maui is a very significant figure in native Hawaiian folklore. I feel like I'd be somewhat uncomfortable, as a Hindu, if a foreign studio just made a show depicting someone like Hanuman in that way though, I'm not really sure if they incorporate him into contemporary religious practices the way Hindus do Hanuman.
Shamelessly stolen from Threads, but a direct to consumer sequel from an animated Disney film cut together from used to be a TV show with none of the key talent? Disney's really playing to that 30 year nostalgia crowd.
Is Disney Ok? They seem to have creatively died