After the release of the animated action musical-style movie “Moana 2,” controversy has sparked over the varying opinions of the movie and the soundtrack in comparison to “Moana.”

The plot follows Moana as she reunites with Maui after three years and creates a wayfinding crew to find the lost island of Montufetu and break the Nalo curse.

“Moana” was released on a budget of $150-175 million and grossed over $687 million worldwide. One of the movie’s major selling points and what drew more people to watch was the soundtrack. Lin Manuel Miranda’s song “How Far I’ll Go” was nominated for Best Original Song at the 89th Academy Awards and won a Grammy for Best Song Written for Visual Media.

This follow-up to “Moana” was set to be a limited streaming series on Disney+ before it was eventually devised to be a theatrical sequel.

One major talking point of “Moana 2” was the replacement of Lin Manuel Miranda with the composers Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear. Interestingly, Lin Manuel Miranda was never asked to be a part of “Moana 2” due to it originally being a limited series rather than a movie.

Many fans feel that the soundtrack does not live up to the original, while others feel that it gives two young women an opportunity to showcase their talent. The composers are the youngest and first female duo to create a full soundtrack for a Disney animated film. Lin Manuel Miranda expressed his excitement and open arms for them, helping them throughout the writing process.

“The music was not memorable but I would still recommend that everyone go watch it because the movie as a whole was really good,” said senior Zoe Kalapoutis.

Zoe, amongst other students in the community, felt that the music in the first movie was better and had more sing-along songs compared to the second movie, which only had songs during the dramatic moments of the movie.

Despite all of the controversy, the movie has grossed a total of over $719 million while on the same budget as the previous movie, proving to be successful.