In May of 2024, Disney announced that it would begin to focus on making sequels in the future as opposed to original animated films, a decision that became a cause for concern among many fans.

Would Disney focus on making timeless, carefully made films or simply try to get as much money as possible by banking off of the name value of its most popular franchises? As one of the first sequels to be released since that announcement, “Moana 2” represented an indicator for what to expect quality-wise out of Disney and Pixar projects in the coming years.

Unfortunately, the future seems ominous.

Moana 2 is forgettable, bland and shallow, a far cry from the soulfulness and emotional weight possessed by its predecessor. One of the things that made the original “Moana” so enjoyable was Moana’s internal conflict while on her journey to return the Heart of Te Fiti and save her village. In addition to her struggle in convincing Maui to side with her and her obstacles in the form of different creatures like Tamatoa and the Kakamora, we also see her overcome her sense of doubt that she isn’t ready for the task ahead of her and that she will let her people down.

In “Moana 2,” the premise is similar at first. Moana must find a sunken island called Motufetu in order to help unite all of the people of the ocean to ensure the survival of both her tribe and all of the other villages scattered across the sea, who would otherwise die off from a lack of resources if they could not find each other. In order to recover it from the depths, she must enlist Maui’s help once again and battle past a malevolent thunder god called Malo in addition to other obstacles.

The main difference, and where “Moana 2” fails, is that we see no trace of the character depth that was present in the original movie. In the original film, it was incredibly fulfilling to see Moana discover her own identity and achieve her dream of becoming a wayfinder that her overprotective parents had long denied her. But here, Moana is essentially presented as a perfect protagonist. We don’t see any sort of character development or flaws that she has to work to overcome. She is temporarily burdened with a sense of doubt and fear at one point, but that feeling is never explored and disappears minutes later after a quick musical number from Maui.

Like any children’s animated movie, “Moana 2” tries to present an overall theme or life lesson for audiences to digest, but in this instance, it does not work. I struggled to pick out a theme to take away from this movie because Moana herself doesn’t learn anything. She doesn’t grow or develop as a character; she simply starts out as an ideal depiction of a heroine and ends in that same place.

While this absence of depth might not seem that important in a movie that is intended for kids, it entirely misses the point of what makes other Disney Pixar films such as “Encanto,” “Toy Story” or even the original “Moana” so timeless. Those movies were more than just children’s films. They had themes and elements in them that could resonate with adults, dealing with things like loss, imposter syndrome and belonging in a way that kept the story entertaining for kids but genuinely emotional and heartfelt for older audiences. These movies can be treasured by entire generations of people because the viewer can grow up with them and come away with a new understanding after each watch as they age. “Moana 2” simply lacks this level of maturity. Even though it has its emotional moments, especially during the ending, there is little for older audiences to latch onto and become invested in. The relatability and sentimental value of the movie is lost in favor of it being made more palatable to kids.

Moana isn’t the only character who lacks depth in “Moana 2.” The side characters are even more one-noted and shallow. On her journey to reunite the people of the ocean, Moana recruits a crew to help her. We have Moni, the loveable moron who is obsessed with Maui; Loto, the smart character who constantly tries to make modifications and updates to the crew’s boat; and Kele, the cranky old man who is scared of the ocean. All of these side characters have a stereotype and one defining personality trait stapled to them, but basically nothing else. On top of that, Maui and Moana don’t reunite until around halfway through the film’s 100-minute runtime, which I think is very detrimental. Their dynamic was one of my favorite parts of the first movie, so the fact that it’s missing for so much time makes “Moana 2” feel boring in comparison.

Another thing that makes “Moana 2” feel dull is the music, which is definitely a step down from the quality of “Moana.” The original movie had iconic tracks like “All We Need,” You’re Welcome” and “Shiny,” which are still fun and catchy to this day. By contrast, I don’t remember even a single lyric from any of the songs in “Moana 2.” While none of them were bad enough for me to want to cover my ears and walk out of the theater, the movie definitely suffered from losing the expertise of Lin-Manuel Miranda. The songs were one of the highlights of “Moana” and one of the things that made it such a successful movie, but here they feel more like a chore to sit through.

For all of the shortcomings of “Moana 2,” it’s impressive that it even made it to theaters in the first place. Originally, Disney had intended for it to be a series on Disney+, but executives who were impressed with the project and were perhaps also trying to initiate Disney’s renewed focus on sequels moved it to be a theatrical release. As a result, “Moana 2” was announced earlier this year, which is usually extremely unusual for an animated film.

This tight turnaround resulted in several apparent issues when seeing the movie in theaters. The pacing feels off and it’s very easy to tell where the episodes were originally intended to start and end. The animation doesn’t hold up to the level of quality usually seen in other animated films or even the original “Moana,” looking much more stiff and unexpressive. Most worrying of all is that the short turnaround of “Moana 2” going from a show to a completed movie most likely meant that the animators working on this movie were severely crunched and had to endure immense levels of pressure. Because this movie is almost certain to rake in revenue for Disney (it’s already surpassed the Thanksgiving box office record by earning $225 million after being out for 5 days), it could possibly set a worrying precedent for how Disney treats its animators and how much quality it puts into its future animated movies.

If “Moana 2” had been released as a series on Disney+ as originally planned, then I’m sure that I would have been fine with it. But its lack of character development or depth as well as clear downgrades in the animation and music departments simply don’t hold up to the level of scrutiny that comes with a theatrical release.

If you want to see “Moana 2”, I would recommend waiting until it comes out on streaming. If we allow lower quality sequels to become rewarded via box office success, then we risk losing all of the storytelling and visual aspects that make animation such a unique and magical medium.