Moana 2 Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		5.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		4.0

Moana 2 Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman March 6, 2025

While for perhaps understandable reasons which will be discussed shortly Thor Heyerdahl's Kon-Tiki* seems to have fallen off the radar (an ironic turn of phrase considering the navigational "technology" featured within its very pages), the book was once a staple of libraries and even assigned reading, as I can state definitively from my own high school experience. Heyerdahl made the then seemingly "fantastic" claim that it was at least possible that people from South America sailed from their continent to various islands in the South Pacific, though Heyerdahl made the generally rejected assertion that these South Americans, whom Heyerdahl considered rightly or wrongly to be Caucasian, may have actually predated "native" Polynesians, since Heyerdahl thought those indigenous types weren't "sophisticated" enough for long distance travels on the sea. The historical record seems to flip this whole scenario on its head, though, and perhaps reveals a bit of "cultural blinders" on Heyerdahl's figurative eyes, since there is more than ample evidence that many peoples from this general (and undeniably vast) region in the Pacific were completely capable of navigation and long distance travel. And, really, how could it be otherwise? If people did not travel to various isolated islands, how in fact did they end up there? The choices are relatively few, including thinking that maybe those islands were once part of a larger conjoined land mass that later split apart, or that somehow people just magically appeared at these remote locations, a la Venus on the half shell. One way or the other, both Moana and this follow up which was even more of a sensation at the box office than the first film make the probably obvious case that "native" islanders, no matter how they may have ended up on that particular island, continued to be explorers, navigating vast distances across roiling ocean waters to make contact with other islanders.

* Note: The link points to a documentary based on the original book.

It's of course not hard to see the good folks at Disney hewing rather firmly to a template in Moana 2 that has been, well, explored in any number of previous animated outings from the venerable studio. Spunky heroine defying Dad to investigate places no female has gone before? Check. Exotic location that allows the animators and score writers (whether musical or not) to offer at least hints of ethnically appropriate production design and ambience? Check. Occasional intervention by either a real or figurative Deus ex Machina? Check. Little animal friends (furry or otherwise) to tag along and provide comedic shtick? Check. You can virtually draw a straight line from efforts like The Little Mermaid to Pocahontas to Mulan to Brave to offer a roadmap of sorts of just how frequently Disney tends to revisit some of the same story tropes, often "gussying them up" with "exotic" locations in order to give things a little flair and color.

Well, if the bad news is that you've seen Moana 2 before, and not necessarily just with regard to Moana itself, there is abundant flair and color in the visuals and the song score throughout the film. Once again Moana (Auliʻi Cravalho) is on a quest of discovery, and unsurprisingly Maui (Dwayne Johnson) is along for the ride. Yes, the specifics have changed for this particular adventure, but the through line of empowerment, recognition and celebration of cultural traditions, and overcoming obstacles to find a broadened community is pretty much exactly the same as in the first Moana film and frankly probably all of the other films mentioned above. It's at least arguable, though, that this film is even more visually ravishing than the first, which is quite an achievement. The song score is also enjoyable and at least hints at an authentic islander sound.

Moana 2 Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Moana 2 is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Disney / Buena Vista with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.00:1. Any fans of the original film on Blu-ray will almost certainly be just as pleased with this follow up, one which offers another stunning array of absolutely gorgeous tones, and some really nicely rendered and precise looking detail levels. The island setting offers so many lush hues that it's hard to single any out, but I was particularly struck by some of the purples and teals on display. Amazingly bright and vivid blue tones are also prevalent and the many scenes in and around water offer some really nicely modulated cooler hues. Detail levels are impressive throughout the presentation, beginning with the first view of beach sands, but continuing on throughout with regard to textures on outfits or some of the bristly fir on Moana's pig sidekick.

Moana 2 Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Disney's 4K UHD disc offers a Dolby Atmos track, which, along with Dolby Vision / HDR may be enough to recommend that format for those with the appropriate setups, but for those with "only" standard 1080 equipment, the DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 track on this disc is a completely involving and immersive listening experience. Yes, moments like the opening a cappella voices may arguably have more verticality in the Atmos mix, but there's still a really ingratiating spaciousness to the music in particular throughout this track. Ambient environmental sounds also regularly populate the side and rear channels, and some of the enveloping water effects once Moana and her group are out on the wild blue seas are quite impressive. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English, French and Spanish subtitles are available.

Moana 2 Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Call of The Wayfinder (HD; 12:17) documents some real life seagoing.


• A New Voyage (HD; 15:36) discusses the first film's legacy and some of the wishes for this newest entry.


• Songs of the Sea (HD; 13:28) focuses on the film's charming music.


• Join the Crew (HD; 11:40) addresses the addition of a larger cohort for Moana in this film.


• Kakamora Chronicles (HD; 4:33) offers a kind of fairy tale look at the supposedly frightening little sprites.


• Fun in the Booth (HD; 3:08) looks at the voice recording sessions.


• Deleted Scenes (HD; 14:35) includes introductions from the three directors.


• Song Selection allows direct access to any song in the film. There's a Play All option in this submenu.

Disney sent their 4K UHD SteelBook for purposes of this 1080 review, but it looks like the standalone 1080 release comes with DVD and digital copies. The cover image we have does not suggest a slip, though our specs show one.

Moana 2 Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

As I probably cheekily got into in my Heretic 4K Blu-ray review , I was born and raised in Salt Lake City, where I was unavoidably surrounded by the predominant culture/religion there, and as many readers of my reviews know, I make a significant part of my living as a musician, and those two worlds kind of unexpectedly collided when I hired a company to repair a badly damaged concrete driveway at a house I had just purchased. In talking to the crew who showed up, it turned out they were all from Tonga and were all converts to Mormonism, and when they found out about my Utah connection and that I was a musician, they spontaneously broke into some of the most amazingly beautiful choral singing I've ever heard of some of their native folk music. Like the opening strains in this film heard as the Disney masthead appears, the songs were made out of "simple" triadic structures that hovered around the stalwart I, IV and V7 chords, but the sheer joy of the sound these men made will stay with me for a very long time. That same sense of joy, both aural and visual, is one of the abundant pleasures of Moana 2, and if some may understandably wish that the actual story had a bit more heft, there so much beauty to watch and listen to, that at times everything else hardly matters. Technical merits are solid and the supplements very enjoyable. Recommended.