Moana Review

PG: Peril, Some Scary Images, and Brief Thematic Elements

Disney

1 Hr and 43 Minutes (+7 due to a new animated short named Inner Workings)

Voice Cast: Auli'i Cravalho, Dwayne Johnson, Temuera Morrison, Nicole Scherzinger, Jemaine Clement, Christopher Jackson, Alan Tudyk 

REVIEW: It has been since 2002 that Walt Disney Animation Studios released two films within the same year. With 2D animation, it would be a much easier process. Now we are in 2016 where everything is computer generated. The last traditionally 2D animated Disney film was Winnie the Pooh which was released in 2011. This year Disney Animation has released Zootopia, an effectively relevant social statement of a film and now their second film Moana, a musical film that goes beyond any character they’ve introduced before.

On a mystic island in Polynesia, the young princess of the tribe, Moana from Motunui Island, is a born navigator who sets sail in search of a fabled island of mysterious secrets. During her journey, she teams up with her hero and legendary demigod Maui.

THE GOOD: When you have a Disney animated film from Ron Clements and John Musker you know it is a must see film. If you don’t know Clements and Musker are the directors of some of your favorite Disney films of the past. From The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Hercules, and The Princess and the Frog, they have brought us stories of characters of different backgrounds, cultures, and mythologies. With Moana (their first computer animated feature), they showcase the culture of the Pacific Islands in Polynesia. They texturize their culture through movement, story, and song all in detailed thought and ultimate respect. Moana is Disney going back to telling a princess story, but taking the Deadpool route by being meta at the same time. It is all the director’s filmography rolled into one film. It has the animation techniques and mythology of Hercules, the designs of The Little Mermaid, and some other stuff.

 It is hard not to give an animated Disney film credit where credit is due to its animation. With Zootopia we are bought into an entirely detailed world relying on its story and production design. With Moana, the animation relies more on design of characters and style of animation. It mixes different styles of 2D animation and let it loose in this computer generated world. They use 2D textures on three-dimensional bodies to express humor, scary imagery, and style . Some of the 2D is used for visual gags most notably Maui’s moving tattoo Mini Maui that plays as his inner conscience and some of it is used to breathe life in musical numbers. There is a Maui musical number that has Dwayne Johnson singing in a background of paper like cut out 2D animations that are visually appealing. With the 2D animation of the tattoos on Maui, it embodies (no pun intended) the same Greek vase art style of Hercules. If it is not surprising you with theanimation style, the environment of nature is showcased in more effect than anything you’ve seen before. The ocean isn’t only a plot device, but it is also a character. The production design of the islands Moana travels to down to the natural resources such as water, rocks, and plants are shown in much detail and realism to extent that I’ll welcome a live action remake In 30 years if Disney wants to do it. Even the characters have a distinct look to them. Some facial features may look like recycled designs from Tangled, Frozen, and to an extent Lilo & Stitch, but then some designs are uniquely creative.

What really makes up the film is the characters especially on Moana herself. What I love what Disney has been doing in their films besides their animation department is the strength of female characters. Since Frozen, Disney used individuality to bring out character traits in their female leads which are strengthened even further with this new princess. The film is really her coming of age story of finding her identity between her responsibilities of growing into royalty and her personal desire to see the world. She is young yet tough and carries for herself. She doesn’t rely on others except on herself. She is the strongest female character Disney has created to have a film named after since Mulan. It is even great Disney found a Hawaiian high schooler named Auli'i Cravalho to voice their teenage character and her voice performance is as powerful as her character herself.

With Maui, you have a demigod with the personality of Jack Sparrow. He is skilled with his way of sailing, but is very self-centered but has a way of delivering funny lines of dialogue that poke fun as Disney norms in animated films. The film even has action sequences that are more fun than any given action sequence in the past several Pirates of the Caribbean film. When Maui and Moana have to team up their friendship grows organically. 

THE BAD: The film does hit the similar plot points of any given Disney film. The story is a bit routine, but it takes some turns that get extremely weird and out of place. Mainly only one scene with a crab voiced by Jermaine Clements that leads to a Flight of the Concords type musical number. You can see the climax coming from smile away and then the Deus ex machina. It is at the end of the day another Disney film, but it's one that will lift your spirits.

The music in the film by Opetaia Foa’i, Mark Mancina, and Lin-Manuel Miranda is great. Like most Disney songs they get stuck in your head and you’re thinking of it till days in and out until you own the soundtrack. This is one of those films. The only issue with it is its musical cues. When a character is just in a middle of a sentence a song just begins. It’s very inconsistent, but then it just happens. But by Dwayne Johnson’s song, you’re in love and bopping your head.

THE RENDY: One of the biggest inside jokes I love about this film is Alan Tudyk as this chicken named Hei Hei. What Disney Animation have been doing since Wreck-It Ralph is having Alan Tudyk voice different characters as their good luck charm similar to John Ratzenberger in every Pixar film. Yet, they have Tudyk play a chicken. That’s it he’s a chicken. No words of dialogue just a cluck, buck, BCAWHH through the entire film. So just seeing that chicken through the entire film just had me dying in laughter knowing that it is Alan Tudyk.

I saw this on November 9th which was a very hard day. I needed a Disney movie to make me feel better which this did. Only a Disney film can make me feel good after a long day and this was worth it by putting a smile on my face from beginning to end.

LAST STATEMENT: Disney’s 56th animated feature Moana is another film from Musker and Clements that effectively works with toe-tapping tunes and brilliant styles of animation to help tell a story of a strong heroine and her epic journey of self-identity. 

Rating: 4/5 | 86%

Super Scene: Tamatoa’s after credit scene joke.