Moana 2 seems to solve the recent villain crisis that Disney Animation has encountered. Taking place a few years after the events of the first Moana, this film will see the titular wayfinder go on another quest across the seas.
This is a perfect opportunity for the film to develop her universe since fan-favourites are returning while the characters that will appear in Moana 2 are poised to be developed in interesting directions. One of the most interesting of these new characters is Matangi, one of the film’s antagonists.
Matangi played by Awhimai Fraser is poised to become one of Disney’s only villains in a decade since they have been quite hesitant about it after 2010’s Tangled. Disney villains had interesting, and at times very engaging, arcs in the past fourteen years, but the downside to that was that we became less and less attached to them.
Even Wish’s topped-off attempt to “fix” that with Chris Pine’s King Magnifico did not work, yet again. This is what Matangi, who is presented as an antagonist, can bring to the table in the new Disney sequel that seems to be lacking in Disney movies for the past decade.
Moana 2’s Matangi Is Already More Exciting Than Wish’s King Magnifico
Matangi, featured in Moana 2, does not seem to have the same issues as the more recent Disney villains like the Wish’s King Magnifico. Instead, Matangi appears prepped and ready to be one of the major antagonists of Moana 2 per Moana 2’s directors hand, Dana Ledoux Miller and David Derrick Jr. Trailers have shown her confronting Maui and apparently trying to find means of defeating him.
Character designs reveal that she shares striking resemblance to Moana but had her distinct appearance giving her the ability to carry an emotional range. Apparently, Matangi is the opposite of Moana and the film’s directors intended it so that this was the case.
In an attempt to disempower the Moana ideal, Miller stated, “Matangi fights Moana’s urge to see the world and whole people.” “We started thinking about what is the opposite of connection – it is disconnection. What does it mean to be isolated – it was from there, that we really started to think about who the foe would be,” explains these words.
This emphasizes Matangi’s role as the direct emotional foil for the protagonists which will create excellent drama in the film. In context of films after Corona, Moana 2 appears to have a solid framework for antagonists and a lot of villains.
Disney Hasn’t Had A Memorable Villain In A While
In the past twenty years, Walt Disney Animation has had an interesting perspective for their villains. While this has made the antagonistic characters more complex, it has also meant that the franchise lacks any out right unforgettable villains. For four consecutive films (Wreck-it-Ralph, Frozen, Big Hero 6 and Zootopia), the audience was treated to villain characters who were revealed only towards the end of the plot.
This also meant that they did not have the opportunity to be dastardly or villainous much. Moana and Raya and the Last Dragon however did have villains, but focused on trying to give depth to their villains. This came at the expense of the over the top theatricality that more traditional Disney villains would have.
Ralph Breaks the Internet, Frozen 2, Encanto and Strange World instead derive their antagonistic forces from the main protagonists. Wish was lesst a return to form, being the first Disney animated movie since Tangled to feature a willfully evil character.
However, the time which should have enabled him to develop from a solid performance of Chris Pine to reach the memorable darkness of characters like Maleficent or Scar ended up being wasted. He was too one-dimensional and while there was an attempt to develop him, this only made his evil turn feel forced. Magnifico was simply too bland to be considered an evil character, which is probably one of Wish’s greatest disappointments.
What Moana 2’s Villain Has That Wish Didn’t
In Wish, there was a cool Asha’s father, Magnifico, with some amazing and original ideas revolving around him, but his deterioration happened a little quick and his bond with Asha a bit too thematically easy.
A brilliant Disney antagonist, in almost all Animated movies, is somebody who stands starkly against the hero while simultaneously making a fashion statement with his character and not completely losing his personality.
The most notorious Disney villains, Maleficent and Gaston, for instance, are multi-dimensional because of being flat. This solidified vision of character gave the creative people space and time to focus on ensuring that the one note worked creating strong and memorable antagonists for the film.
In most cases, Characters possesses a single trait or tendency, however, Magnifico seeks to have it all – depth & thoroughness – and does a poor job at both.
As a result, Matangi seems to potentially be a terrific villain in Moana 2. She has been established to be Moana’s enemy without actually hiding her weaknesses. This should provide the filmmakers with more options to highlight her rather than trying to disturbingly incorporate her, allowing her, even more space to becoming iconic.
Her position as an enemy to Moana would bring about great conflict and tension as well as give people that strongly despise her. At times, having a generic bad guy is a good thing, and quite possibly, this is where Moana 2 is slowly heading towards.
