Moana 2, The highly anticipated sequel to Disney’s hit 2016 animated adventure received lukewarm praise from critics.

Set in ancient Polynesia, the original film introduces audiences to Moana, the strong-willed daughter of a local chief, and Maui, a shape-shifting demigod. It also contained songs by Hamilton Writer Lin-Manuel Miranda. The film is currently being remade as a live-action film.

The new animated sequel, which picks up the story three years later, sees Auli’i Cravalho reprise her voice as the title character, with Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson returning as Maui. The songs are from Unofficial Bridgerton Musical Creators Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear.

The film began as a spin-off television series and was criticized by several critics for maintaining a lackluster episodic structure and failing to impress as a standalone film.

“It needs to be described in more detail Moana 2 like an episode of a mediocre one Moana “It is a television series (as the sequel was originally intended) in which the characters remain relatively static and merely react to crises that arise every week,” wrote William Bibbiani The Wrap.

“There’s nothing particularly bad about that Moana 2Bibbiani continued. “But there’s nothing particularly bad about the fact that you have to write Moana 2‘ means something still went wrong.

Kevin Maher from The times also discovered unwanted traces of the revised television series. “The narrative stumbles forward in episodic fits, beginning with self-contained plot tidbits that have little bearing on the rest of the story arc, which is regrettably flaccid,” Maher writes in his two-star review. “An Adventure with Matangi plays like a filler episode that would have been cut long before a series came to streaming.”

He concludes: “It’s just a shame that the (…) film is different.” Moananever really finds its way.”

India block of Evening standard was more positive, giving a five-star review and praising the new songwriters. “Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear prove to be skilled and emotional songwriters who can channel the style of Lin-Manuel Miranda (who did not return as lyricist for the sequel) to maintain continuity without drifting into pastiches,” writes Block.

She also highlighted the film’s appearance, saying, “The animation is even more beautiful, so you can see every grain of sand and every drop of sea spray.” Given such good artistic quality, one wonders why a live-action remake (scheduled for release in 2026) is even necessary.”

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Rolling Stone Critic David Fear, meanwhile, argued that the film was better than the “direct-to-video sequels that Disney was using for its most popular titles at the time.”

But he hinted that audiences might still want to lower their expectations. “The overall vibe seems to be something like Sequel 101: you loved the first movie, so here’s a second movie that’s very similar to the first,” writes Fear. “That’s good news if that’s what you’re looking for. If not, then: It’s an hour and 40 minutes.”