If everything had gone as planned, the new adventures of Moana would be playing in homes instead of at local theaters. The follow up to the 2016 animated hit “Moana” went into production to be a television series for the Disney Channel and Disney+. A funny thing happened when early segments of the TV show were screened for workers at Walt Disney Animation Studios. Everyone who saw the beginning efforts loved what was being created but was surprised the work was not being done for the big screen. Co-director Jason Hand says, “The unbelievable beauty of every single shot, the cinematic nature of it, I think in our guts we were thinking this should be a movie soon. “I think all of us felt like once we knew we were designing this movie for the biggest screens in the world, I think you see it in the third act, it's massive.” What they ended up with is the film that is now showing in local movie theaters. "Moana 2" takes audiences on a new voyage with Moana, Maui and a brand-new crew of unlikely seafarers. After receiving an unexpected call from her wayfinding ancestors, Moana must journey to the far seas of Oceania and into dangerous, long-lost waters for an adventure unlike anything she's ever faced. There was always going to be some type of sequel to “Moana” because internally there was a great excitement to continue the tale of the young hero started in the first feature film. It was Jared Bush, Chief Creative Officer, Disney Animation, who was behind the final decision to switch from a television project to the feature film. “By the time she finished her journey, she became a wayfinder and there was always this question of, now that she knows how to go out on the ocean, what will she go out to find next,” Bush says. “About three years ago, three and a half years ago, we started talking about what that next journey might be for her and the natural question is ‘Are there others out there to find other people?’ “Certainly, there are. And so, I think in this story, thinking about how we could continue Moana's journey of identity and discovering who she is. You sort of figure out your identity and then life changes and you have to redefine yourself.” Moana – again voiced by Auli'i Cravalho – does not go out on her new adventure alone. Along with her faithful sidekicks of her chicken and pig, there is expert fixer Loto (Rose Matafeo), cranky Kele (David Fane), Moni (Hualalai Chung) and Maui (Dwayne Johnson). Not going along on this journey is composer Lin-Manuel Miranda as the team of Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear have taken over writing the songs for the film. Their album “The Unofficial Bridgerton Musical” won them the Grammy in 2022 for Best Musical Theater Album. Bear says, “I think it was important for us to kind of have like one foot in one foot out and pay homage to the world of ‘Moana’ that we know while also allowing the characters voices to grow. If you think back to yourself from 16 to 19, that is a very big shift, and you are a very different person. “We wanted Moana's voice to evolve and Maui's voice to evolve. We want the soundtrack to expand, and we meet new characters, we want it to sound different.” They wanted the music to capture the spirit of the Island community and that was done through the selection of instruments native to the region. Those instruments can be heard in such original tunes as “Get Lost,” “We’re Back” and “Can I Get a Chee Hoo?” and Music wasn’t the only change. During the years between the two films, technology improved to the point that the ability to animate water – a headache in the past - got easier. Co-director Dana Miller describes the visuals in the sequel to be better than in the original. “We're able to put more up on screen,” Miller says. “I think this time the characters are actually more advanced. I will say the performances in this film are unlike anything I've ever seen in our studio. “They really have a level of subtlety and that really comes down to the actual craft and the animators behind it. They're incredible actors actually.” All of the work by cast and crew is now available in theaters after the team was told the work they were doing at the start was too good to be limited to a TV series. Now the film version is predicted to earn more than $105–115 million in the United States and Canada over the five-day Thanksgiving weekend.