Moana functions pretty well like any other mythical fairy tale type story. Its flavored towards Polynesians but has no other fundamental difference. But that's likely why any followup can't work, because sequels to fairy tales never have the same magic.
Its why nearly every Disney sequel in the past was regulated to DTV lower budget releases. Because they weren't going to have the same level of soul, but could work for super fans. Which based on what I've seen so far, is the only people interested in Moana 2.
Frozen was them showing their own greed at it being a billion dollar franchise machine and them wanting to dip on another movie, and the complete lack of value showed through. Which is why it was the first sequel that got a theater release since, I think, Rescuers 2 in the 80s.
I thought the story was fine, aside from the "call to adventure" mythos being answered by a Girl. I'm confident enough to say that little Girls do not dream of adventuring over the horizon into the unknown to save their people.
At a very young age, I think there is a decent amount of girls who probably enjoy adventure and the like. One of my daughters was one of them before puberty made that gender difference a lot wider. And the "rebelling against your no-fun dad, escaping your tiny town and traveling the world" is such a basic girl personality I think it can appeal across the board.
I don't think its any worse than the majority of Disney's back catalogue in terms of women and their actions. And because its all non-whites they didn't feel the need to hamfist a bunch of other woke writing in it, which allowed a genuine badass male to be her partner for the duration with expected flaws.
Moana functions pretty well like any other mythical fairy tale type story. Its flavored towards Polynesians but has no other fundamental difference. But that's likely why any followup can't work, because sequels to fairy tales never have the same magic.
Its why nearly every Disney sequel in the past was regulated to DTV lower budget releases. Because they weren't going to have the same level of soul, but could work for super fans. Which based on what I've seen so far, is the only people interested in Moana 2.
Frozen was them showing their own greed at it being a billion dollar franchise machine and them wanting to dip on another movie, and the complete lack of value showed through. Which is why it was the first sequel that got a theater release since, I think, Rescuers 2 in the 80s.
I thought the story was fine, aside from the "call to adventure" mythos being answered by a Girl. I'm confident enough to say that little Girls do not dream of adventuring over the horizon into the unknown to save their people.
At a very young age, I think there is a decent amount of girls who probably enjoy adventure and the like. One of my daughters was one of them before puberty made that gender difference a lot wider. And the "rebelling against your no-fun dad, escaping your tiny town and traveling the world" is such a basic girl personality I think it can appeal across the board.
I don't think its any worse than the majority of Disney's back catalogue in terms of women and their actions. And because its all non-whites they didn't feel the need to hamfist a bunch of other woke writing in it, which allowed a genuine badass male to be her partner for the duration with expected flaws.