I really loved the tropical setting for the new movie “Moana 2” with all the bright green palm trees and plants and also the deep blue of the ocean, which the main character, a girl named Moana, considers her friend. She can control the ocean. I don’t know how she did it.
I also liked how there were so many different fun characters, starting with Moana’s friends, a little pig Pua and a skinny little chicken Heihei. Some characters were alive, like Moana’s little sister, Simea, who is really cute. Some other characters are dead, but still talk. There are actually a lot of dead characters in the movie, like Moana’s grandmother, who shows up to give her advice.
“I can’t see where your story leads, but we never stop choosing who we are,” the grandmother tells Moana in the movie.
In other words, we should not give up, even when things get hard. I will try to remember that lesson.
I don’t really like animated movies that much. I would rather watch a movie with real-life actors. It’s more interesting for me. (My favorite animated show is “Bluey,” because it has dogs in it and dogs are my favorite animal.)
I liked the songs in “Moana 2.” I think my favorite was “Get Lost,” even though it’s a weird person who sings it. I didn’t know if she was nice or mean. She kept the “demigod” Maui tied up, which was mean, but she seemed kind of nice to Moana. “Get lost, cut loose, and lose your way,” she sang. “Keep playin’ safe, you’ll never know. …. It’s time to get lost.”
One part of the movie that was powerful and a little scary came when Moana found the magical island she had been looking for. I forget the name. (My Dad Googled it for me and says the island is called Motufetū.) A mean god, Nalo, who controls storms, put some kind of spell on Motufetū and keeps people away with terrible storms. Nalo also sinks the island under the water.
Moana figures out that if she just sets foot on the island, even under water, she will break the spell. She tries to swim down, but Nalo sends one of his scary-looking lightning bolts down after her. I was nervous when she was just about to touch the island and the lightning was about to strike her.
I didn’t know what happened to her. Her eyes closed and it looked like she might be dead. I thought she would wake up again, but I didn’t know. It was kind of emotional when her grandmother and other ancestors were lined up in a spiral around her, all showing their support and hoping she would wake up. I think my Dad, sitting next to me in the theater, might even have choked up a little. He’s funny. He gets emotional in movies.
When Moana’s eyes open, it was exciting. I was happy that she was alive and happy when Maui lifted the magic island up out of the water. Then people could come together from different directions to the island and be together. That seemed like a good message.
Coco Kettmann is a fourth grader at Live Oak Elementary School, who loves drawing and painting, sleepovers with her friends and Taylor Swift.
