The embargo has lifted, and reviews are starting to pop up for “Moana 2,” which was originally greenlit as a Disney+ series before the mouse house decided to rework it into a movie cash grab in late 2023.
The Disney animated sequel currently has a 57 Metacritic, and 70% on Rotten Tomatoes. I walked out of the film halfway through, so you won’t be getting a reaction out of me. I’m not a fan of the 2016 original either — which did garner strong reviews and has a very loyal fanbase.
It’s not like reviews will matter much when it comes to this movie; All of the parents will be bringing the kiddies to screenings this holiday week, and weekend, so the likes of Vulture or The AV Club panning “Moana 2” is irrelevant to parents who just want their kids to lay low on tantrums, and just calmly sit down for two hours.
“Moana 2” opens in 4,200 theaters on Wednesday and is projected to collect $135M in its first five days of release. Those ticket sales would register as the biggest Thanksgiving in box office history. The current record-holder is 2019’s “Frozen II” ($125m) As far as non-animated fare goes, the current champ is 2013’s “Hunger Games: Catching Fire” ($109M).