Moana 2 opens in theaters on Wednesday, November 26.

The stakes seem higher in Moana 2: After saving her home from destruction, the adored titular wayfinder has a new mission: to reconnect with the groups of people scattered across the ocean by an evil deity. But more than building on the world she previously explored, the sequel plays like a beat-by-beat repeat. Moana leaves Motunui, has a number of encounters with allies and villains, and then faces a powerful natural entity in a final confrontation. And while stars Auli’i Cravalho and Dwayne Johnson and writer Jared Bush are back on board for Moana 2, the original directing and songwriting teams are not, resulting in more of the same minus the freshness of the first film.

Moana is reunited with the shape-shifting demigod Maui and sails to the ancient island of Motufetu, accompanied by a crew of her fellow islanders. At home, her younger sister Simea waits for Moana’s return, which increases the emotional responsibility on the protagonist’s shoulders. Of the countless directions in which Bush and directors David G. Derrick Jr., Jason Hand, and Dana Ledoux Miller could have taken the oceanic story, they chose to reproduce the original blueprint with only minor variations on the story. There’s also not much visual difference from what legendary directors John Musker and Ron Clements and the animators of Moana achieved with water effects and photorealistic vistas. There’s still some worthy spectacle in Moana 2’s most intense action scenes, especially one where the group faces a raging storm. But no formal risks are taken in terms of character design or animation style. The filmmakers at least manage to come up with one early standout segment, where they very briefly engage in evocative, dream-like imagery, while Moana has a bleak vision of things to come.

Moana’s adorable pig Pua gets to come along on the trip this time, although he doesn’t have much to do other than pose for a few reaction photos. The same goes for the wide-eyed chicken Hei Hei, whose comedic role has less impact as Alan Tudyk’s frantic cackles compete for screen time with a boatload of nondescript human sidekicks. These new friends include an expert builder/designer, a farmer and a muscular admirer of Maui with a talent for painting. None of them outshine the main characters, and they all stay on the fringes of the story, with the occasional humorous one-liner and absolutely no conflict.

But Moana 2’s central weakness is its music, a lackluster collection of songs that lacks the spark of “How Far I’ll Go,” “You’re Welcome,” “Shiny” or any of the other fan favorites from returning composer Opetaia Foa ‘i and Mark Mancina wrote with Lin-Manuel Miranda. Even the gloomy main track ‘Beyond’ sounds like an anticlimax. Miranda may have reached a point of overexposure in recent years, but his talent for an earworm — remember, he’s also responsible for Encanto’s chart-topping hit “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” — is sorely absent here. What makes Moana 2’s forgettable melodies even worse are the film’s desperate attempts to recall the franchise’s musical glories through dialogue: characters repeatedly wonder how far they’ll go; at one point Maui says ironically, “You’re welcome.”

Moana 2 gallery