Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] I'm back. And welcome back to Movie Deputy Reviews, where we are bringing you the most in depth interrogations into these movies. And as promised, I am here today with Moana 2, the sequel to the beloved 2016 movie Moana by Disney. Now, I want to preface this review a little bit. I am giving this movie a very guarded, innocent rating. This is an innocent rating because some of this is a little bit intense for the youngest of audiences. So I would recommend having somebody there with the young children watching this, at least for the first time, to see if it's too much for them.
[00:00:46] When I went to see the final cut of this in the theater, there were quite a few young kids in the audience, and there were a. A good number. I wouldn't say a considerable amount, but a good number of the children that were crying and saying the certain parts of this movie were scary. And then there were other children in that same age that were just fine. And this didn't bother them at all. They loved it. So it's just important to introduce this as, like, a guarded, innocent rating that I'm giving Moana Part 2, just because some of these scenes are a bit more intense. What we have seen before now, what we see here is we know Moana. She restored the heart of Te Fiti in the last one. Don't worry, no spoilers in this one. She is going further out exploring, because she is being given these premonitions in her dreams, and so she needs to follow them because she knows there's more people out there. You know, kind of like the whole water world type scenario where they know they're not the only people out there, so they have to go and explore and find more people. Well, that's basically what she is determined to do. And so she's leaning heavily on her ancestors and of legends and lore of her island to guide her in this. Now, mind you, she has grown. She is now a young adult, and her family has grown. She now has a little sister. Don't worry, no spoilers. So don't worry, no spoilers here. And so kind of with that, everything that's kind of grown along with this, now she is hoping to have some help on this journey, and she ends up having some people from the island that go with her to help her on this. But it's not as cut and dry as it would seem. The people that she choses and the reason why she chooses them, it doesn't make a lot of sense at first, but it makes sense as the story moves forward.
[00:02:49] Now, they stayed really true to the innocence of her character. And when they bring Maui back again, no spoiler so I'm not gonna ruin anything for you. But when Maui comes back, he is a little bit different as well.
[00:03:04] And so they decide to partake on this journey and Maui joins them. And of course, there's the humor there. There's the humor that you just cannot get away from, which is. It's just fun loving and heartwarming and just wholesome. It really is.
[00:03:21] But when they come across some of the things that they need to.
[00:03:28] How do I want to say avenge, but it's more the things that they need to conquer in order to go forward, they end up needing the help of an enemy to all of them who turns out it really was not an enemy all along. And so it just kind of things that make you go, hmm. And it really. It's kind of a fun way of a twist of a character that you saw in the last movie. And don't worry, I'm not going to give it away which one that is.
[00:03:58] So when they finally do get to the point where they realize that there really are more people out there and they find the clues to that, so they. They track on even further. And in doing so, they put themselves in danger. And some of the things that they come across, like some of the scenes get a little intense for the youngest of audiences. That's why I'm giving this the guarded, innocent rating on that.
[00:04:26] So it's just.
[00:04:29] It's fun loving, but it's a lot more serious than the last one. It's definitely enjoyable. We don't get as many of the memorable songs as what we had in the first one. We don't have the just the cozy, warm, where you feel like the movie is giving you a hug type feeling from the last one. You don't. We don't quite get that with this, but it continues the story and it carries it forward.
[00:04:55] You're probably wondering why I'm at score wise on this now. I gave the original Moana an 8.5 out of 10 on the deputy scale. With the sequel Moana 2, I am giving it a 6.75 out of 10. There are definitely some memorable moments, but there are also more flaws than can just be overlooked. I'm not talking like traditional type flaws. I mean, of course there's production flaws and draw and like just in the design and the. Just the whole. The way the whole movie plays out, but some of the flaws are in the story as well. Now, am I saying this is not enjoyable? Absolutely not. This is still one that I will probably watch and rewatch over and over again. And I'm sure many of you will as well. It's just you probably caught in my last review yesterday where I was talking about this kind of Frozen, the first Moana movie, is kind of like the first Frozen movie. It was aimed at the younger audience and it just kind of plays up to that young audience, but again, is enjoyable for all ages. When they did Frozen 2, it's kind of like they did with monitude. It grew with the characters. So if you were like preschool age, kindergarten, early elementary age, when these move when the originals came out, and then you move forward the amount of years it took to bring the sequel, the movie is aging up with you. So it's not gonna be the same sweet, just innocent for all ages, little kids that the first one was. Because the movie has grown with the kids that were the kids young enough for the first movie. If I'm just saying, if that makes sense. I'm hoping that makes sense. It does. In my head at least.
[00:06:36] So if you have ever been a fan of Moana, please check this out. If you have never seen Moana and you want to check this one out, please watch the original one first, as there are a lot of references to the first movie that you are not going to understand unless you have seen that one. So that's just something I just want to touch on it. When you go see this, there is another bonus scene in the credits that is definitely worth sticking around for. It's kind of a play on the previous bonus scene that we've seen.
[00:07:07] And then in this one, in the. In the final credits, it said, in loving memory of Michael Dobson. So I'm not sure who that is, but I know they put that in there for a reason. So I always like to acknowledge that in this one, if you are of a more mature mindset when you're going to see this, there are some jokes with not full on double entendres, but there are some ones in this one that kind of push the boundaries for Disney just a little bit, but not so much that it's inappropriate, which I can appreciate. One of the jokes I'm referring to, and it's a kind of a funny point in the movie and you'll understand it when you hear it. And don't worry, this will not be a spoiler, but Maui says to somebody is, you look like a kidney stone and you look like someone who knows what that is.
[00:07:59] I literally snorted. I was laughing so hard at that, just because, okay, I didn't deliver it like it's done in the movie, but the way that it's done, it's like I literally was taking a drink and I'm just like.
[00:08:14] I mean, we've all had those kind of laughs where it just kind of gets in you just.
[00:08:21] And so this one does have a lot of those in here. So I hope that you do take a chance on this one. It's definitely worth it. If you have Disney plus and you have a big family, feel free to wait till it comes out. It's definitely. I mean, it costs so much money to go to the movies nowadays that you want to really get your money's worth, and I completely get that, especially with the economy and everything. So if you like the reviews, you always know which buttons to push. And be sure to check out our YouTube channel, as our reviews go live over there considerably sooner than what they go live on all of the other podcast platforms here. And that's actually going to be changing after the first of the year as well, so be sure to stay tuned for that. And as always, I will be back soon. Bye.
