Moana 2 (PG)
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This is the sequel to Moana. It was originally supposed to be a miniseries on Disney+, but got reworked into a movie. It's set a few years after the first movie, and Moana is now a wayfinder. She searches for any signs of people other than those of her island, Motunui. One day she finds an artifact on another island, which is the first time she's found evidence of other people. When she returns home to her family, including her little sister, Simea, there is a ceremony in which Moana is given a new title, Tautai, or master wayfinder. During the ceremony, she is struck by lightning, and has a vision of her people's last Tautai. From him she learns that the peoples of the ocean were once connected, but had been separated by a curse from a storm god named Nalo. He had sunk an island called Motufetu, which Moana must find in order to break the curse and reunite all the peoples. She assembles a crew including an engineer named Loto (who I really liked), who constantly has ideas for improving their canoe; a historian and Maui fanboy named Moni; and a grumpy old farmer named Kele. They set out following a comet that is supposed to lead them to Motufetu.

Meanwhile, Maui gets captured by Matangi, who I assume is some sort of goddess or demigoddess or something. She works for Nalo, but is also his prisoner. But she sings some helpful advice to Moana, when she meets her. Eventually Moana and her crew find Maui, and he joins them. He plans to use his hook to drag Motufetu to the surface, so they can land on it. And... they all go through some very dangerous ordeals on their quest. But I don't really want to spoil any more details of the plot. I'll just say that after a bit of tragedy, there is a very happy ending. But there's also a mid-credits sequence that seems to set up a possible third movie.

I didn't like this movie as much as the first one, but I still thought it was pretty good. Maui had a line that demonstrated a knowledge of the distant future, as well as one that I think kind of broke the fourth wall, and I quite liked that. (It kind of reminded me of the Genie from Aladdin.) There were also some decent songs, though nothing quite as memorable as "How Far I'll Go" from the first movie. (And that title was worked into the dialogue more than once.) It did take me awhile to really get into the movie, but the more the story progressed, the movie I came to like it. And I actually kind of love the ending (but not enough to rate the movie overall as "loved"). And I guess I don't know what else to say. It was just a reasonably fun movie, and I think it would make a decent middle installment of a trilogy. Oh, and I watched Break Room of Geeks's review of the movie after writing my review, and I mostly disagreed with what they had to say about the movie. (I can tell they'd have no respect for my ability to recognize quality or the lack thereof.) Which is disappointing, but not really surprising. Whatever, I say to each their own, and try not to disparage anyone's taste in movies just because it sometimes differs from my own.