'Can I Get A Chee Hoo?': Moana 2 Sails Off To A Strong Start Despite Tepid Reviews

The mixed reviews for Disney’s new Moana sequel clearly haven’t put off cinemagoers from seeing the film.

Moana 2 is currently the number one film at the UK box office – ahead of heavyweight rivals like Wicked and Gladiator II – making a hefty £12 million in the UK and Ireland alone.

This makes it the biggest opening weekend for an animated film this year, which is no mean feat, considering Inside Out 2 was also a hit for Disney over the summer, eventually becoming the year’s highest-grossing film.

It’s a similar story for Moana 2 across the pond, where The Hollywood Reporter has pointed out that the movie raked in $221 million (around £174 million) across Thanksgiving weekend, overtaking last year’s The Super Mario Bros. Movie to give Moana the biggest five-day debut of all time.

It also overtakes another of Disney’s big-screen sequels, Frozen II, to become the biggest five-day Thanksgiving weekend of all time.

Disney Entertainment’s co-chairman said: “Moana 2 has far surpassed our high expectations this weekend and is a testament to the phenomenon that Moana has become.

“We’re fortunate to have an incredibly talented and hard-working creative team at Disney Animation who brought this new adventure to life, alongside our wonderful stars Auli’i [Cravalho] and Dwayne [‘The Rock’ Johnson] and great new music. This is a moment to celebrate, and we’re thankful to all the moviegoers and fans who’ve helped make this a record-breaking debut.”

Still, Moana 2’s release hasn’t been totally smooth sailing.

Even the most positive of reviews for the sequel have said it pales in comparison to its predecessor, and while it presently holds a respectable 64% score on reviews site Rotten Tomatoes (compared to the original movie’s 95%), it’s been less well-received on the social media site Letterboxd, where its score is 2.9 stars at the time of writing.

Some critics have said that the absence of songwriter Lin-Manuel Miranda is particularly felt in Moana 2, while others have argued that it’s lacking in a clear villain compared to the great Disney movies of the past.