We have more confidence in Jason Hand’s story work, particularly on Encanto, than in his directing. Moana 2 is handsome and kindly, but it gives us little reason to care about its adventure.
Fi1m perspective
The water in Moana 2 (2024) slops onto the deck and turns green with the light behind it. We can admire that for quite a while, though it becomes a problem when the sea holds our attention better than the danger. Ian Gooding’s production design gives the ocean its changing moods, while Hand shares the directing with David G. Derrick Jr. and Dana Ledoux Miller. That division of labour matters when considering what Hand brings to a film. The result is a kindly sequel that seldom makes its announced dangers feel real.
Before directing, Hand worked in layout on The Princess and the Frog (2009), contributed story work to Moana (2016) and supervised storyboards on Ralph Breaks the Internet (2018). His approach remains drawing-led, developed through pitching and revision with a story team. By Encanto (2021), he was head of story, with work on the opening number, ‘The Family Madrigal’. That progression gives us a reason to look at how his films introduce people and prepare us for songs, rather than credit him with every attractive image.
Encanto is the stronger reason to take him seriously. Directors Byron Howard and Jared Bush keep their attention on the Madrigals, whose magical gifts leave Mirabel unsure what she can contribute. We were moved by Mirabel’s uncertainty about her place in the family, because the film makes a child’s need to be useful feel painfully recognisable. The warmth and humour let that anxiety emerge without making the household merely cruel. Its eagerness to tidy up difficult feelings remains a fault, but there are feelings worth spending time with.
Moana 2 began as a television series before being reworked for cinemas, and its thin storytelling makes that history easy to believe. Jared Bush and Miller share the screenplay, while Auliʻi Cravalho gives Moana a little more weariness and sings with conviction the material rarely earns. Hand and his fellow directors keep the journey bright and good-natured, but the songs are forgettable and the peril carries little weight. For an evening with children, it will do. Start with Encanto for a better sense of what his story work can contribute.
Biography
Jason Hand is a director and former story artist at Walt Disney Animation Studios. He co-directed Moana 2 (2024) with David G. Derrick Jr. and Dana Ledoux Miller.
Hand attended the California Institute of the Arts. His earlier credits include head of story on Encanto (2021), story artist on Zootopia (2016) and the original Moana (2016), storyboard supervisor on Ralph Breaks the Internet (2018), and layout artist on films such as The Princess and the Frog (2009) and Brother Bear 2 (2006). He has worked at the studio for over twenty years.
He is also directing the forthcoming film Hexed (2026).
