Why Moana 2’s Rotten Tomatoes Score Is So Much Lower Than The First Film’s 95%

Eight years after the original Moana was a great success with all audiences, Moana 2 it got a significantly lower score on Rotten Tomatoes. The sequel to Disney’s 2016 animated film was highly anticipated when the Mouse House announced that a planned Moana The TV show was reworked into a feature film. This was done with a mostly new creative team, although Moana 2The voice cast features returning stars Auli’i Cravalho and Dwayne Johnson. From the first Moana is highly regarded as one of the best modern animated films, the pressure was on the sequel to deliver an equally lauded adventure.

Disney maintained the review embargo for Moana 2 until hours before the first preview screenings to kick off its theatrical release, and the initial critical consensus is good — but not great. Moana 2 has a score of 67% on the Tomatometer based on aggregator counting over 100 reviews. This means the sequel’s score is still in Rotten Tomatoes “Fresh” territory, which is good. However, the drop of almost 30% compared to MoanaThe 95% Rotten Tomatoes score is remarkable. There are valid reasons for the lower score.

What Critics Are Saying About Moana 2 in Reviews

The main story is great – but the villain is not

Looking through Moana 2In the reviews, there are some common points that lead the film to the current soundtrack on Rotten Tomatoes. The film’s strengths are the animation and the way it develops Moana’s story. with caring and emotional relationships. Mae Abdulbaki’s review for Screen speech noted the last point saying: “[Moana’s] has new dreams and fears to face that give her character development a lovely, thoughtful boost and the story its higher stakes. Ross Bonaime’s review for Collider highlighted the strength of Maui and Moana’s relationship, calling it “one of the most charming elements of this sequence.”

Where Moana 2 According to most critics, it suffers from its villain(s). The film positions Matangi and Talo as the biggest threats, but in fact only the latter is a true antagonist – and the film doesn’t do enough to fully explore any of the villains. Tyler Taing’s review for Discussing Film said the missing villain “renders all conflicts completely inconsequential.” Going one step further, Alison Willmore’s review for Vulture criticized the film for a “lacks clear stakes, or meaningful drama, or antagonists with any personality.” There is also the quality Moana 2soundtrack, which divided critics.

Moana 2 doesn’t live up to the expectations of the original

The first Moana is one of Disney’s best

Part of the problem for Moana 2 is the fact that it is a continuation of Moana. The 2016 animated film was a breath of fresh air from Walt Disney Animation. Thanks to the powerful, emotional journey that Moana takes and Lin-Manuel Miranda’s incredible soundtrack, it became a huge sensation that still resonates with audiences today. Moana It’s an incredibly fun ride bolstered by its strong comedyand the adventure that Moana and Maui live can be replayed infinitely. The film is considered a “family adventure for all ages” after all, by Rotten Tomatoes.

This is an almost impossible barrier for Moana 2 to meet, however. With its unusual development path and behind-the-scenes changes, the odds were always against the sequel – but that doesn’t dampen expectations. Sequels are often bigger and better than their predecessors. Moana 2 It’s definitely bigger than the original film, but it’s not better. The story feels more crowded thanks to Moana’s crew, but they and Matangi are underdeveloped. While Moana was able to focus solely on its titular character and Maui, Moana 2 there are more things going on and he suffers.

There’s also the nature of the film’s soundtrack. Lin-Manuel Miranda delivered one of the best Disney soundtracks of recent times (if not of all time). Moana 2 had to deliver more songs, and it was up to Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear to recreate and evolve the sound of Moana. ‘We’re Back’, ‘Beyond’ and ‘Can I Get a Chee Hoo?’ are some of the standout musical numbers in the film, but the songs as a whole do not live up to expectations – as several comments note.

How Moana 2’s Rotten Tomatoes Score Compares to Disney’s Modern Animated Films

Moana 2 is nearing its end on Rotten Tomatoes

The story of Moana 2The Rotten Tomatoes soundtrack becomes a little more complicated when compared to other modern Walt Disney Animation Studios films. Looking back at the films the studio has made since Moanathe sequence has Disney’s second-lowest Rotten Tomatoes score in the last eight years. Just last year’s movie, To wishis less than Moana 2. Fortunately, the Moana the sequel managed to at least remain “fresh” after Walt Disney Animation’s “rotten” first film.

Moana 2 It’s also notable for how it specifically compares to Disney’s animated sequels. Ralph Breaks the Internet scored one more point than Wreck-It Ralphbut Frozen II it was 12% smaller than the original. Moana 2 now has the biggest drop on Rotten Tomatoes among Disney’s modern animated sequelsand is the second in a row to perform substantially worse with critics. This isn’t ideal for Disney, considering three of its confirmed upcoming animated films are sequels.

What Moana 2’s Lower Rotten Tomatoes Score Means for Disney

Disney’s animated films still struggle with critics

Disney is in a precarious situation right now based on Moana 2 Rotten Tomatoes score. Walt Disney Animation Studios has not had a film certified Fresh since 2021, when Raya and the Last Dragon and Charm both achieved this recognition. Moana 2 was seen as a film that could help get the studio back on track with a strong critical and financial performance. There is no doubt that Moana 2The box office will be huge and will help Disney in that regard, but the studio’s standing with critics remains uneven afterwards Strange World and To wish.

The potential problem for Disney is that they are not afraid to make more sequels. Zootopia 2 is next released in 2025, and the sequel is almost certain to have a worse score than the original film – which has a 98% on Rotten Tomatoes. There should be an original film released in 2026, but then audiences and critics will be Frozen 3 in 2027 – and Frozen 4 some time later. While all of these films are based on major original films, Disney’s animation studio is now becoming overly reliant on sequels. The quality needs to improve then.

However, the weight of the current critical state of Disney’s animated films Moana 2 It’s not entirely fair. It was never intended to be a film project, but the TV show was reworked into a film soon after Disney saw To wish struggles at the box office and with critics. Moana 2 it didn’t have a normal film production, so some problems were to be expected when condensing a multi-episode story into a single narrative of less than two hours. Since Disney isn’t doing this with upcoming projects, future animated films could fare better with critics.