Compared to the original Disney musical Moana, which largely just follows wayfarer Moana (Auli‘i Cravalho) and cocky demigod Maui (Dwayne Johnson) for most of the movie, Moana 2 boasts a pretty expansive ensemble cast. The Moana sequel, now available for digital rental or purchase, introduces a wave of new characters, originally designed for a TV-series version of the story. Among them are Moni (Hualālai Chung), a Maui fanboy who loves to draw self-insert fan art of him with his favorite hero; Loto (Rose Matafeo), a cheery inventor who confidently proclaims that the only two certainties in life are failure and death; Keke (David Fane), a grumpy farmer who somehow ended up on a boat-based quest despite not knowing how to swim; and Moana’s adorable little sister Simea (Khaleesi Lambert-Tsuda).
Unfortunately, that’s a lot of cast for the movie’s breezy 100-minute run time, so they all get a bit lost in the shuffle. And no one’s shafted more than Matangi (Awhimai Fraser), the trickster goddess who commands an army of bats and arguably has the movie’s best song. She’s a character archetype that Disney desperately needs more of: a morally gray female character who doesn’t have the same cookie-cutter face as so many of its past heroines, and doesn’t fit into a princess, wise mentor, or Disney villain box.
[Ed. note: Spoilers ahead for Matangi’s role in Moana 2.]
When we first glimpse Matangi, she’s holding Maui hostage in a strange pocket realm. She seems to be a straight-up villain, working for the all-powerful, human-hating god Nalo. She hides in the shadows and cackles menacingly. But when Moana meets her, Matangi fully reveals herself — and claims she actually wants to defy Malo and leave her prison. She aids Moana, teeing up an epic hero/anti-hero team-up… that doesn’t actually happen in Moana 2. Like Nalo himself, it’s apparently being saved for Moana 3.
Even though Moana repeats Matangi’s musical advice (“Get Lost”) like a mantra throughout the back half of the movie, Matangi herself disappears until the post-credits scene. A shame, because from the moment I heard her voice off screen, I wanted more of her.
That feeling intensified when Matangi actually made her appearance. She’s captivating to watch, twisting fluidly like her body is a swarm of bats, and floating with a different physical logic than the rest of the characters. Her facial features in particular are striking — stronger and bolder than the dainty features of most Disney heroines. At the same time, she isn’t shoved into Disney’s typical matronly guide role or given exaggerated villainous features.
Not only does she look starkly different from typical Disney female characters, she also gets to be something other than a hero or a villain, a role that Disney movies’ historically black-and-white morality usually doesn’t have room for. While Matangi does help Moana, her motives aren’t entirely altruistic. She wants her own freedom, and doesn’t want to serve Nalo anymore.
The recent Disney character she most resembles conceptually is Namaari, the heroine’s “childhood friend turned foe turned belated ally” in Raya and the Last Dragon. Namaari is another female character who isn’t outright good or bad, though her motivations, namely keeping her own people safe, are vastly different from Matangi’s. But still, because she’s not immediately cast as the ingénue heroine, she gets to look distinct from and act differently than the adorkable Annas, Ashas, and Rapunzels of Disney’s canon.
While Moana 2’s other new female character, Loto, is fun, she fits the adorkable archetype to a T — just ramped up to be even quirkier and more hyper than the stock version, with the same big eyes and Moana-like facial features. And Simea is basically just small Moana. But Matangi is different, from her statuesque figure and angular features to her wily duplicity and intriguing motives.
Her brief interaction with Moana is one dang memorable song, but also a tantalizing hint of the possibilities for a relationship between a bighearted, idealistic heroine who follows the rules and a trickster goddess who yearns for freedom above all. Disney movies so rarely focus on meaningful relationships between female characters that hinting at one and not taking it anywhere is particularly frustrating.
The heavily teased third Moana installment could tee up a bigger role for Matangi, giving her more interaction with Moana, setting her up as the movie’s tritagonist, and maybe letting them form the kind of meaningful relationship that helped make Frozen such a standout hit. But that’s still far off — and given Disney’s long-standing lack of morally complicated characters, who knows whether the follow-up show or movie would ever elevate Matangi to that role. For now, I’ll just wistfully replay her big song over and over again and dream of what could be.
Moana 2 is now available for purchase or rental at Amazon Video, Apple TV, Fandango at Home, and other digital platforms, and will be available on 4K UHD, Blu-ray, and DVD on March 18. The Disney Plus release date has not yet been announced.