Auli’i Cravalho’s Polynesian princess embarks on a quest to save other islanders oppressed by evil god Nalo – but this frictionless sequel lacks genuine passion

Originally planned as a TV series, now a feature film, Moana 2 is the sequel to Disney’s smash-hit family animation Moana from 2016, and really it’s a vacuum-packed slice of digital IP content, a perky ChatGPT iteration of love, laughter and belonging.

Hawaiian-born actor Auli’i Cravalho returns to voice the role of Moana, the teen heroine on a Polynesian island. In the first film, she was chosen by her wayfinding ancestors and the mysterious forces of the ocean to restore the natural order of things, disrupted by the swaggering but somehow adorable demigod Maui, voiced by Dwayne Johnson. Now it’s a few years later and Moana is a much respected young woman on the island, admired and imitated by the female inhabitants that Maui calls “Mo-wannabes”.