The 4Forty2nd: The Lost Battatlion Review!

The 4Forty2nd: The Lost Battalion recounts the most decorated unit, their sacrifices, and challenges of a Japanese American regiment during World War II. A special Wondercon edition of the webcomic was available at Tony Moy’s table. The webcomic is available at Webtoon and tapas. Check the website at: www.4forty2nd.com. Moy depicts the story in beautiful water colors. He had told me at the con that he thought to use only watercolors for parts of the comic and went on to full paint the comic book. The cover features a soldier, scars on his face, in steel M1 helmet and the rest of the soldiers behind him in blue with the rain. There was a war film on the 442nd, Go for Broke! (1951) that Van Johnson as Lt. Michael Grayson. 

It begins with president Franklin Roosevelt formed the 442nd on February 1, 1943, a picture of the president at his desk, then a somber picture, washed in blue of the soldiers, made up of Japanese Americans who were sent to interment camps the year before. Executive Order 9066 sent 120,000 Japanese persons to the camps. Those who refused to serve were called the No No Boys, the subject of the novel, No-No Boy (1957) by John Okada. It refers to questions 27 and 28 on a Loyalty Questionaire asking if they will willing to serve combat duty and if they would swear allegiance to the United States and forswear allegiance to the Emperor of Japan. Moy continues the narrative noting that the segregated unit was made up of Nisei, second generation Japanese from Hawaii and the mainland Uunited States. The 100th Infantry Battalion was from Hawaii. 

We see three of the 18,000 medals of the unit. Then, the families in the internment camps, a coppery brown picture of a wife and her children behind barbed wire. World War II ended on September 2, 1945 and the last internment camnp closed on March 1946. The Civil Liberties Act in 1988 gave a formal apology and reparations for the internment. This moves to a European map rendered with greens and blues in April 21, 1945. The narrator states the U.S. 5th Army were fighting the German 10th and 14th Army in Northern Italy. There were 2,000 German positions with machine gun nests and bunkers. This focuses on the Apenninnine Moutnains in San Terenzo, Italy pointing to the top of the boot. We see a snaking black and red line that was the Gothic Line, ten miles of defense, this was the stopping point from reaching Hitler. We see the narrator, Lieutenant Inouye, recount that he  and E Company of the 442nd, are ordered there.  

Daniel K. Inouye earned the Medal of Honor and was later a senator for Hawaii until he had died in 2012. We see the Italian mountain, Mount Folgorito, and then a closeup of Lt. Inouye giving orders. What is stark is the soldiers in black and white against a blue sky with the greens and browns of a forest. Inouye is checked on by Morita, possibly Richard Morita. Actor Pat Morita was made an honorary member of the 442nd for the Karate Kid films. Morita says in da pidgin, Hawaiian slang, that the lieutenant looks on edge. Inouye is focusing on the three machine gun nests. He says intelligence say that there is a ravine they can use to approach the machine gun nests. There is some good character work with the faces. They can use grenades while the rest of the soldiers keep the machine gunners pinned down. Morita says that Inouye is troubled by something else. We see in narration that weeks ago that the Germans were in negotiations to end the war. A nice picture of Inouye gritting his teeth. 

Internally, Inouye thinks that they have fight with everything to push for the end of the war, to “go for broke.” This was the motto chosen by the 442nd from the Hawaiian phrase for going all out. We see two silver dollars, given to Inoye when he left by his father, he keeps them in his jacket pocket. The silver dollars went with him from his training in Missippii to the Italian battlefields. We see the soldiers on the move, light colors of green and browns. We see Inoye carrying his rifle in the liberation of French Villes. At a small town, possibly Bruyeres or Biffontaine. He is shot, but the bullet was stopped by the silver dollars, he calls his “personal angels”! Inouye then says two weeks ago he lost his jacket. Closeup of his face. The soldiers move on the bunker and then cxrawl through the grass. He says that in hindsight, the war would end in 18 days!, then we see a nightmare scene in very light colors of dead soldiers. 

    Tony Moy at his Wondercon table, author’s photo. 

We shift to February 6, 1943 where we see two birds, red-crested cardinals native to Hawaii, Inouye brings up the “early bird catches the worm”, but says he thinks it is persistance. This goes to the U.S. recruitment office at the Aliʻiōlani Hale Palace. It is the former home of the Hawaiian monarchs and then became capitol building of the Provisional Government. I recommend the film, Princess Kaiulani (2009) with Q’orianka Kilcher, playing the princess who composed “Aloha’Oe” under arrest at the palace. There is orangish skies above the palace with the statue of King Kamehameha. The recruitment officer is exasperated that he has returned every week. Inoye says he is healthy and works at the Civil Defense Aid Station, but the officer says he should be grateful for not being sent to war and has him marked 4F. 

Five+ Silver Dollars out of Five! 

#The4Forty2ndTheLostBattalion, #TonyMoy, #GoForBroke, #VanJohnson, #FranklinRoosevelt, #NoNoBoy, #JohnOkada, #LtInouye, #Morita 

Wondercon Saturday!

 The second day of Wondercon was busy with some great artists and a panel with some epic annuncements. One of the highlights of a con for me is to gring Hero Initiative books. The latest is the Superman 100 Project especially considering the upcoming James Gunn film. It is fun to look up the various artists who contributed artwork to the book. Norm Rapmund drew a full color Superman in heroic pose! Dustin Nguyen has a boyish Superman with blue and red colors! There is a section with wraparound covers to have full horizontal images. This is a chance to have artwork of a favorite character, get some of them signed, and most important is you value creators’ artwork, this helps them when they are in need with health care and other costs. Check out 100 Project books and other merch at: https://www.heroinitiative.org/ 

    The panel of Tarzan’s Creator Celebrates 150 Years!, WonderCon, author’s photo. 

Denys Cowan had a sketch of a powerful Superman in the Superman 100 Project! I had also brought along an issue of his series Dominque Laveau: Voodoo Child. It was written by  Selwyn Hinds and follows Domnique Levau working to rebuild Tremé after Hurricane Katrina. A supernatural creature, a Loup Garou, has killed her fellow students and now hunts her! It is also available as a trade paperback collecting the seven issue series. One of the interesting panels at Wondercon was Tarzan’s Creator Celebrates 150 Years! It featured the Edgar Rice Burroughs Inc. personnel, James Sullos, president, Cathy Wilbanks, vice president of operations, and Christopher Paul Carey, vice presiddent of operations, and Wolf Larson, head of ERB Entertainment! 

Pocket Universe Productions announced that Ian McDiarmid has joined the cast of John Carter of Mars: The Audio Series. He plays the Man in the Atmosphere Factory who reveals secrets of Barsoom to John Carter. Also at the panel was the Woola stuffie which was based on artwork by John Coleman Burroughs, the son of Edgar Rice Burroughs, ten legs of furry adorableness! The OverPower card game which had a Kickstarter campaign is going to have tournaments in August! The Edgar Rice Burroughs double playmat was revealed with artwork by Joe Jusko! One of the sets is Edgar Rice Burroughs and the World Legends. Also announced is the never before published Autobiography of Edgar Rice Burroughs. 

#WonderCon, #HeroInitative, #Superman100Project, #NormRapmund, #DustinNguyen, #DenysCowan, #SelwynHinds, #DominqueLaveauVoodooChild, #TarzansCreatorCelebrates150Years, #EdgarRiceBurroughsInc, #JamesSullos, #CathyWilbanks, #ChristopherPaulCarey, #WolfLarson. 

Wondercon Day One!

Wondercon has some incredible artists and retailers who make a great convention! It is currently going on at the Anaheim Convention Center, today, and this weekend. Info at: https://www.comic-con.org/wc/. After picking up my badge, I went directly to the Golden Apple booth, also there was Nicole Maines who is in Yellowjackets and played Dreamer in Supergirl. They always have a great selection of items at the convention at their store. They offered 3 trade paperbacks, Vol. 1-3, $100 for Vol. 1 and $75 for Vol. 2 and 3, and 4 slipscase hardcovers, $300 and $400,  of Brzrkr signed by Keanu Reeves. They come with a COA. This was to benefit Golden Apples’ non-profit comic organization. Note that there is a Brzkr movie to be directed by Justin Lin for Netflix. 

    Some paintings displayed at The Art of James Mulligan booth. 

Today was the first day and the same number will be available Saturday and Sunday at 2 p.m. I was first in line and waited until 2 p.m. Thanks Golden Apple and Keanu! In line, a Hawkman cosplayer walked by with a great K-9 from Doctor Who! I always like to visit the Stranger Comics. They currently have a Kicksterter for four new issues; Niobe & Dura #3, Morka Moa #5, Tales of Asunda Vol. 2 #3 Confessions of a Demon, and Tales of Asunda Vol. 2 #4 Love and Death. Need to catch up on the titles and get exclusives, chekc out: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/sebastianajones/niobe-and-dura-1-3-and-tales-of-asunda-v2-1-4. Later, an incredible cosplayer came dressed up as Niobe! Next, I walked over to the booth of The Art of James Mulligan, seeing logos of Disney, Lorcana, and Lucasfilm. 

I almost thought his painting of Stitch, “Hoaloha Love” was with Nani, but it was Moana hugging Stitch. There was also a Mulligan painting of Grogu, looking menacing with a lightsaber and a Darksaber! He has three Lorcana cards; Flounder - Collector’s Companion and Transformed Chef - Castle Stove, both from Ursula’s Return, White Rabbit - Royal Herald from Shimmering Skies. Check out his artwork at: https://www.etsy.com/shop/Theartofmulligan. One of the best parts of Artists Alley is finding the unexpexted comic book or projecxt. In this, I was stunned to see The 4Forty2nd: The Lost Battalion by Tony Moy. The 442nd Infantry Regiment fought in World War II, made up of Japanese American soldiers who fought while their families were in internment camps.

    Niobe cosplayer at the Stranger Comics booth!, author’s photo. 

Their motto was “Go For Broke”, a Hawaiian Pidgin expression that means “Give your all.” The 442nd was assigned to the European theater and showed incredible bravery in the Battle of Monte Cassino in Italy. The 1st Battlion from Texas was cut off by the Germans in 1944. The 442nd at the cost of great casualties rescued them. This is the subject of the webcomic. There is a Go For Broke Monument, a tribute to the 442nd , at Little Tokyo next to the Japanese American National Museum. There is a 1951 war film, Go For Broke!, that starred Van Johnson who would later become known for the superhero series, Green Hornet (1966-1967). Moy had at his booth, a Wondercon edition of the webcomic. Two episodes of the comic and information is available at https://www.4forty2nd.com/. Well researched and beautiful art in watercolor. There are so many fantastic creators, displays, and collectibles at this year’s Wondercon! 

#Wondercon, #AnaheimConventionCenter, #GoldenApple, #NicoleMaines, #Brzrkr, #KeanuReeves, #StrangerComics, #NiobeAndDura, #MorkaMoa, #TalesOfAsunda, #TheArtOfJamesMulligan, #HoalohaLove, #Lorcana, #FlounderCollectorsCompanion, #TransformedChefCastleStove, #UrsulasREturn, #WhiteRabbitRoyalHerald, #ShimmeringSkies, #The4Forty2ndTheLostBattalion, #TonyMoy

Jump to Lightspeed Review!

Jump to Lightspeed, the new Star Wars: Unlimited set, is out and adds pilots and ships to the Space battles! The fourth set from Fantasy Flight Games is designed by Danny Schaefer and Tyler Parrott. It was released to game stores on March 14th. It has moved away from the Two-Player Starter Set, $34.99, and into two Spotlight Decks, $24.99 each. This is Han Solo vs. Boba Fett! It may be cheaper for one deck, but I like the two player decks. Plus, it is $49.98 for both decks and the two-player has 10 exclusive cards. New for me was getting the Prerelease Box, $33.93, which has 6 booster packs, 2 prerelease promo cards, counters, and a deluxe deck box. I highly recommend getting the Prerelease Box. 

Again, this is based on opening up a booster pack, 16 cards, it had as a leader card, Admiral Ackbar: It’s a Trap!, with incredible art by Amélie Hutt. It has Admiral Ackbar at this command console with the background slightly out of focus with the colors! If there would be a card The Base is the Resistance Headquarters. Electromagnetic Pulse is unusual it deals 2 damage to a Droid or Vehicle, but I think it would Exhaust it. I really like Tandem Assault an Event card that has an attack by a space unit and gives +2/0 to a ground unit for an attack. This shows the Battle of Scarif, but I think the Battle of Endor would also apply. The TIE Bomber gives 3 indirect damage which has the player assigning the damage to base and units. An interesting mechanic. 

Jump to Lightspeed Han Solo and Boba Fett Spotlight Decks, PreRelease Box, and cards from a Booster Pack! 

Royal Security Fighter, 2/2, has Grit it get +1/0 for each damage on it! Gold Leader: Fastest Ship in the Fleet, 5/5, is Shielded which prevents damage, but you remove the Shield token placed on it. Also, attacker gets -1/0 attacking the Falcon! This is my first card of the Millennium Falcon. The artwork for the starships is stunning, it has the Falcon flying forwards, TIE fighters fire upon it, two explosions to the side. The artwork is dynamic like the space art from the top science ficition artists, in this case, EJ DelaCruz. The last three cards in a pack are Uncommon, a Rare, and a foil. The Poe Dameron: One Hell of a Pilot card was Hyperspace, borderless art and has Piloting, this is an upgrade to a friendly vehicle. In Poe’s case a +2/+3. Hutt is also the artist! 

The Rare is Lightspeed Assault, defeat a space unit to deal damage to an enemy. Then, it deals indirect damage so the player chooses base or units that take the damage, ouch! The foil is Hopeful Volunteer. This set contains most of the characters, ships, and events from the first Star Wars movie to Ahsoka which covers the first three sets. My favorite of the Leader cars is Grand Admiral Thrawn: How Unfortunate. It was in the first pack I opened from the Prerelease Box. It was also a Showcase Foil. The rarity is similar to Enchanted cards in Lorcana and I saw its price at $165! The spaceships have fantastic art; the Chimaera: Reinforcing the Center is beautiful, the same with the Razor Crest, Blue Leader: Scarif Air Support has some incredible colors, and Fireball: An Explosion with Wings is awesome! There is some errors, the Red Squadron Y-Wing card, the Red Squadron was made up of all X-Wings, Gold Squadron had Y-Wings. 

    The Grand Admiral Thrawn Showcase Foil card! 

There are concepts that need to developed with Star Wars: Unlimited. There is no Porkins in Jump to Lightspeed! The Chewbacca card is confusing to me. He is +3/+3 with the Piloting upgrade. Chewbacca’s place on the Falcon is that he is the navigator so he is adjusting the shields, moving the shields is something that I discovered with the 1993 X-Wing computer game. What Red Leader meant "Switch your deflector shields double front" is all shields to the front believing the turbo laser fire would be heavy, leaving the back undefended! I would like an Angle the Deflectors card, that adds a Shield token to a ship. The Falcon itself is a patchwork ship. There should be less to pay for Han’s crazy maneuvers. Then, it is also vulnerable to bad Events, you can search your deck for two Events, like Hyperspace Malfunction, which Exhausts the ship. A card like One of the Big Ones Asteroid can hide ships. Asteroids should be Event cards that cause +1 to +3 damage, enough to destroy TIE Fighters. Then, of course missing from the fourth set is the Space Slug called the Exogorth. 

The counter of course is Mynocks which cause +1 damage to a ship. Of course, we need Seismic Charges from Attack of the Clones, destroys an Asteroid or counters an Event. Not many missiles in the game yet or even a Proton Torpedo! Spare Parts Canisters, an Event card that saves a ship from destruction. Landing Claw enables a ship to cling to an asteroid like Obi-Wan or like Han with the Star Destroyer. So it hides there, retrieve it from the Discard pile! For the Jedi, Deflecting Blaster Fire, with a lightsaber blade. Puts a Shield on a Unit. For the Sith, Dun moch is a Sith technique to dominate the spirit. The card should Exhaust a Jedi while in play, but it could be cancelled by an Event card like Strength in The Force or until defeated. Constant attack and counter with The Force. There has to be a Rule of Two card that takes out Sith if two or more are played. Jump to Lightspeed has some of the iconic ships and characters, adding to the space arena gameplay, with brilliant art! 

Five Resources out of Five! 

#JumpToLightspeed, #StarWarsUnlimited, #DannySchaefer, #TylerParrott, #SpotlightDeck, #PrereleaseBox, #AdmiralAckbarItsATrap, #AmelieHutt, #ElectromagneticPulse, #TandemAssault, #TIEBomber, #RoyalSecurityFighter, #GoldLeaderFastestShipInTheFleet, #EJDelaCruz

#PoeDameronOneHellOfAPilot, #HyperspaceMalfucntion, #OneOfTheBigOnesAsteroid, #Exogorth, #Mynocks, #SeismicCharges, #ProtonTorpedo, #SparePartsCanisters, #LandingClaw, #DeflectingBlasterFire, #DunMoch, #StrengthInTheForce, #RuleOfTwo  

Snow White Review!

Snow White is a fantasy film with a charming performance by Rachel Zegler! It has just a touch of magic for young people, families, and those who are still open to wonder! The director is Marc Webb who also directed the brilliant rom com, 500 Days of Summer (2009), and The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014). Erin Cressida Wilson is the screenwriter and her past credits include the thriller, The Girl on the Train (2016), It is of course based on first animated movie, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937). The Disney film was an adaptation of the fairy tale published in 1812 by The Brothers Grimm in Grimms’ Fairy Tales.  

We have a narrator (Andrew Barth Feldman) telling the story of Snow White and we see the white book of the fairy tale. Feldman was in Ratatouille: The Tik Tok Musical (2021) and also played Antoine in the series, High School Musical: The Musical: The Series (2021-2023). There is a hedgehog on the cover, a little sleepy or it is Sleepy?, wakened by a squirrel, and then some bunnies. We have a king (Hadley Fraser) and queen (Lorena Andrea). Fraser was in Les Misérables (2012) and he also performed on stage for the musical. Andrea was Ariel’s sister, Perla, in The Little Mermaid (2023). There is a winter storm and their daughter is born in carriage in the middle of the snow storm. Snow White gets her name from that cold winter. A nice touch. 

In the kingdom, there is songs as the people go about gathering apples for pies, I like the introduction of apples into the beginning. This includes young Snow White (Emilia Faucher) with the song, “Good Things Grow.” Faucher played Misha in the comedy drama, CODA (2021). The catchy, uplifting new songs are by the song team of Benj Pasek and Justin Paul. The duo has written the music and lyrics for the musical, Dear Evan Hansen (2015) and also the songs for the musical, The Greatest Showman (2017). It becomes a swirl of color with dancing in the courtyard. Impressive choreography by Mandy Moore, who worked on La La Land (2016) and also costumes by Sandy Powell, the costume designer for Cinderella (2015). 

Snow White sees that there is a shy girl peeking out from a column and goes to place a garland on her. They go to a wishing well and the king tells his daughter about being “Fearless, Fair, Brave, and True”, the words that are inside of a silver locket that he gives her. It is through the perspective of the wishing well that we see the queen disappear, the narrator says that she was ill and had died. Then, through the castle entrance comes a woman (Gal Gadot) in a black dress, Gadot is known for the lead role in Wonder Woman 1984 (2020) and voiced Shank singing a song in Ralph Breaks the Internet (2018). It is unusual that one of the movie’s themes is about knowing a person, but we don’t get the names of the Good King and Queen nor the Evil Queen. She only cares about her beauty and consults with the Magic Mirror (voiced by Patrick Page). Pike Phillips for the movie musical, In the Heights (2021) was played by Page. 

He declares her “the fairest one of them all.” The other question is her origin, a princess for an unknown country?, what happened before she arrived at this kingdom? The queen says that there is a threat from the Southern Kingdom. The king is about to ride with his men to deal with it, but first places a silver locket on Snow White with the "Fearless, Fair, Brave, and True" words engraved inside the locket. We are told that the king has died after he left the kingdom. The Evil Queen becomes cruel and has turned “farmers into soldiers.” She doesn’t see Snow White as a problem as long as she is the “fairest one.” We see Snow White mopping the castle floor and this resolves to the adult Snow White (Rachel Zegler). Maria was notably played by Zegler in West Side Story (2021). She starred as Lucy Gray Vaird in The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes (2023). The narrator says, "she nearly forgot herself." 

Snow White’s attention turns to noise in the kitchen, a young man (Anthony Burnap) is in the kitchen putting a potato into a sack. Burnap starred in the drama mini-series, Under the Banner of Heaven (2022). He also starred in the play, The Inheritence, winning the Tony Award in 2020. His character, Jonathan, is similiar to Flynn in Tangled (2010), a roguish man with ideals and not a prince. Jonathan tells her, “Snow White hasn’t been seen”, which is why everyone has lost hope. He slips away, but is caught by the queen’s guards. The queen orders the guards to bind him to the gate as punishment. Later, Snow White goes to see the queen at her table while she snaps lobster legs. She asks for kindness to the people with Jonathan’s release. They go to a mirrored wall and the queen shows her a rose that she says is like kindness and the rose withers away. Snow White leaves and goes to the well singing “Waiting on a Wish”, a powerful “I want” song. 

Five Wishes out of Five! 

#SnowWhite, #MarcWebb, #ErinCressidaWilson, #BenjPasek, #JustinPaul, #RachelZegler,   #AndrewBurnap, #GalGadot, #JeremySwift, #MartinKlebba, #TitussBurgess, #JasonKravits, #AndyGrotelueschen, #GeorgeSalazar, #AnsuKabia, #AndrewBarthFeldman, #HadleyFraser, #LorenaAndrea, #EmiliaFaucher, #PhillipPage

The Last Signing at Dark Delicacies!

One of the most venerable and well loved stores in Burbank had its last signing with What Fresh Hell Is This? Dark Tales with its author, Del Howison. Del of course the co-owner of the store with Sue and also co-edited the anthologies with Jeff Gelb; Dark Delicacies (2018), Dark Delicacies II: Fear (2007), and Dark Delicacies III: Haunted (2018). The line for me was impressive since it wound around all over the store! The short story collection, What Fresh Hell Is This? Dark Tales was sold out at the time!

Author Del Howison, at the What Fresh Hell Is This? Dark Tales signing, Dark Delicacies, author’s photo. 

They have always had copies in stock, but this signing was special. There is a Retirement Sale with 30% off “most items.” Backstock DVDs/BluRays 43 each or 2 for $5. I only scanned the items while in line. April 5th will be when Dark Delicacies will close its doors at 5 p.m. This is a special store for signings, there was a shelf filled with signed CDs, and just being in that store is incredible. Dark Delicacies opened in 1994 and will soon become an online store. More info at: https://www.darkdel.com. Don’t miss going in and find that unique item! I made certain that I got the t-shirt.

#DarkDelicacies, #WhatFreshHellIsThisDarkTales, #DelHowison, #DarkDelicaciesIIFear, #DarkDelicaciesIIIHaunted 

Moana 2 Review!

Moana 2 is a good sequel made from the Disney+ series and given a big screen polish, a return that doesn't tread new territory, but the film does return favorite characters! It is directed by the team of David G. Derrick, Jr., storyboard artist for the first film, he is joined by Dana Ledoux Miller, who co-wrote the story and screenplay. The other director is Jason Hand, who was head of story for Encanto (2021). The other story writer and screenwriter is Jared Bush, who wrote the screenplay for Moana. Bek Smith is also a co-story writer who worked on Maleficent: Mistress of Evil (2019). It is streaming now on Disney+. 

A single voice goes up that is joined for a stirring chorus whic h may be the contribution by original lyrcist, Opetaia Foa’i.Also returning is composer, Mark Mancina. We move through the sea to the pointed shell and a hermit crab washed up on a beach. As it switches shells, a shadowy figure races and then jumps over a chasm. She turns and it is Moana (Auli’i Cravalho) who encourages an exhausted pig, her friend Pua, to hop over the chasm. Cravalho returns to her star making turn after playing Janis `Imi’ike in the Mean Girls (2024) musical. Moana ends up strapping Pua on her back along with her paddle. She climbs up the steep cliff with him only to see HeiHei (Alan Tudyk) on the other side. Tudyk stars as the lead in the sci fi comedy, Resident Alien. All a return of our favorite characters. 

Moana walks up a hill to look at the sunrise, puts a shell from her necklace down, and then blows her conch shell. She says to Pua that she hopes other people are out there. A little comic relief has her ending up back in the jungle. Moana finds in a shaft of sunlight, a bit of pottery on top of Heihei that has shows designs of an island with people. The chorus returns. Excited, Moana runs back to her outrigger canoe, a Va’a, her footsteps cause a watery symbol in the beach water like on the sail. Her return home has the new song, “We’re Back”, these songs are by the songwriters of The Unofficial Bridgerton Musical (2024) which they won the Grammy for Best Musical Theater Album. 

At her island, she is joined by her parents, Chief Tui (Temuera Morrison) and Sina (Nicole Scherzinger). Morrison had reprised his part in Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom (2023). Scherzinger starred in the tv movie, Annie Live! (2021). A storyteller, Moni (Hualālai Chung), recaps to the village children the story of Moana (2016) and her adventures with Maui. Chung was in a 2024 episode of Rescue: Hi-Surf. Also, excited about Moana’s return is ship builder, Loto (Rose Matafeo). Starstruck was a comedy series starring and created by Matafeo. New characters for the story. Chief Tui greets his daughter in another canoe and begins to race her. Moana races past him and other villagers out on their canoes. 

All of the villagers gather on her return home. She has brought a basket of new fruit which she gives to the elderly Keke (David Fane). Loto goes to work on the Va’a’s sail. Moana shows her father the pottery that is proof of others people. She says that she has to find the stars that are on the pottery. Breaking from the crowd is Moana’s new little sister, Simea (Khaleesi Lambert-Tsuda), Moana explains that she left for three days. She takes Simea to the cave she had found in the first movie. Moana shows her sister cave drawings showing the first navigator, Tautai Vasa, and mentions that the people of the sea could be united. Simea wonders about Maui. We see a wry hawk flying across the ocean at night, he dips into the clouds shapeshifting into his demigod form with glowing fish hook. The return of Dwayne’s Johnson’s character. 

Behind a glowing globe almost like the moon, Maui is in a cave, he wants a portal opened to “the island.” A mysterious Matangi (Awhimai Fraser) talks about her boss, Nalo. Fraser starred in the New Zealand drama series, Ahikaroa. She says he involved the Wayfinder, Moana, but he tries to leave her out. A swarm of bats pass him and form into Matangi’s shape. This is our new villain. A celebration is held at Moana’s village. Chief Tui says that it is to offer his daughter the ancient title of Tautai, the first one in a thousand years. A quiet ceremony follows and then a lightning bolt strikes through the hut! It gives Moana a vision of the two peaked island under the stars. Tautai Vasa (Gerald Faitala Ramsey) searches for it, Motufetu. 

A storm rocks his canoe and out of the clouds is the lightning face of the god of storms, Nalo (Tofiga Fepulea’i). Moana falls into a sea of stars and then sees a whale shark with glowing patterns on him. She ends up on an empty island, now Tautai Vasa takes a glowing form and tells her that it is her future. He tells her to “brave the storm” and find Motufetu which is “farther than he’s ever gone”, but she will be guided by a “fire from the sky.” Tautai Vasa leaves to the moon lit sea in his whale shark shape. Moana tells her parents that she must find the island. Later, Moni unrolls his scrolls, he has discovered that Motufetu is at the “where the channels of the ocean came together.” I like this bit of lore.  It connected the people until it was cursed by Nalo. 

They are interrupted by a light or “fire”, a comet, in the night sky. Chief Tui worries about Moana taking a journey that Tautai Vasa couldn’t complete. This upsets Simea who runs away crying. Sina consoles Maui before everyone leaves her to contemplate. Moana does this in the song, “Beyond”, but if she hesitates, then everyone dies. Yes, her sister is upset, but the better picture is the safety of everyone. She checks on Simea, at her lowest point, she is visited by the glowing manta ray that turns into Gramma Tala (Rachel House). The recent sci fi comedy series, Time Bandits, had House playing Fianna. Moana announces to the village that she will take the voyage and then runs up the hill to finish her song. Sina tells Moana that she needs a crew. Loto is ready to build a bigger canoe like Argus, the ship builder of the Argo in Greek myths! 

Moana goes to Keke next to his crops and he sets himself up for joining the crew. Next, she goes to a painting of Maui and is surprised by Moni who has the same profile. Moana of course needs a historian and someone with stories to help their journey. Now he is part of the story. She finds Simea who wants to stowaway in a basket. Moana takes her baby sister to the shore and shows how the ocean is her friend, parting around them. She says that she will always be with her through the ocean. Simea gives Moana a tiny sea star to carry with her, adorable, note that starfish is an old name for the animal. All of the village has come out to chant and drum for her farewell, kinda cool. Her new black sail has the peaks of Motufetu, along with her crew, Moana sets off following the comet.  

Three Paddles out of Five! 

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