Commentary: ‘Moana 2’ Pushes The Limit Of Magical Loopholes

Logic plays a big part of stories. In order for it not to lose the audience, it has to adhere to some sort of confine that make rational sense. Stories that involve magic get around this from time to time because magic doesn’t adhere to standard logic. Writers can often simply make up whatever they want to have happen and use magic as an excuse. But it still has to work within the context of the story. Magic just can’t spring up out of nowhere and be used to justify every plot development that works in the protagonist’s favor. Moana 2 certainly pushes this to its limit.

The story takes place sometime after the first film as Moana (Auli’i Cravalho) travels the ocean in search of other islands and peoples. She learns that humanity has been separated because of a malevolent force feeding off the downtrodden humans. In order to save her people, Moana is forced to find a mythical island called Motufetu. Once she sets foot on the island, the curse will be broken, and other civilizations will be able to find their way back to it and be reunited with each other.

The first Moana was no stranger to magical loopholes. Moana’s grandmother seems to visit her whenever she wants even though she’s dead. Plus, Moana has the entire ocean as a sentient ally, which feels a bit like cheating. Also: Maui (Dwayne Johnson) got his hook back just because a god wanted him to. But Moana 2 takes this logic to a whole other level. Moana was supposed to set foot on the island to break the curse, but it was sunk, requiring Maui to bring it to the surface. When he fails, Moana realizes she doesn’t necessarily have to stand on the island. She can merely jump in and swim down to it, breaking the curse just by touching it with her hand. This leap in logic feels awfully convenient for the story, but since it has already been established that magical things don’t have to make sense, it’s hard to harp on it as a plot hole.

Moana 2 is now available on demand.