MOANA:
HOW FAR WILL THIS ANIMATED DISNEY FILM GO? VERY FAR!
By Nico Beland
Movie Review:
**** out of 4
DISNEY
Moana
and Maui off on an adventure at sea in Disney’s
Moana
A double win for Walt Disney Animation Studios, we had Zootopia earlier in March which was
critically and commercially successful, the second highest grossing animated
film of all-time (Guess what #1 is, no seriously just guess!), and now for the
Thanksgiving weekend, we have Moana.
The film is the 56th animated movie in Disney’s library as well as their second film to take place in
Hawaii, the first being Lilo & Stitch
in 2002 and the first CG animated film to be directed by the duo, John Musker
and Ron Clements (The Little Mermaid,
Aladdin, The Princess and the Frog).
We could very much be in another Disney Renaissance after the massive
success of films such as Wreck-It Ralph,
Frozen, and Zootopia. Like Frozen, Moana takes several Disney clichés and does new things with them, even a brilliant
stereotype that a pretty girl wearing a dress and has a cute animal sidekick is
a princess, and that’s only one out of many.
Three thousand years ago, the
greatest sailors in the world embarked on a journey across the pacific, and
discovered the islands of Oceania. Life was created by an island goddess called
Te Fiti and the source of her magic is her heart, which is a pounamu stone.
After a demigod named Maui (voiced
by Dwayne Johnson-Fast & Furious
franchise, The Scorpion King, Race to Witch Mountain), who is a
shape-shifter, stole her heart, the voyaging mysteriously stopped and caused
the islands of Motunui have been cursed. A young girl and named Moana (voiced
by newcomer, Auli’i Cravalho) and daughter of the chief of the Motunui island,
discovers that she is literally friends with the ocean and wonders why the
adventuring stop.
She learns that Maui has stolen the
stone and if she can obtain it, Moana can summon Maui and help her save the
village from destruction by the Gods. But she’s not alone on her journey, Maui
with his mighty shape-shifting fish hook, a dim-witted chicken named Hei-Hei,
and the ocean assist Moana on her quest to return the heart to Te Fiti before
the Gods destroy her village.
Overall, Moana is a breathtaking animated feature for the entire family, the
animation is gorgeous, the characters are very likable and poke fun at the
typical Disney tropes, the humor is
decent, and the songs are very catchy. I’m serious, I’ll gladly buy the
soundtrack to this movie because the songs in this are just as good as Frozen’s, especially Cravalho’s song, How Far I’ll Go, it’s something I would
put on my iTunes.
I also like how there’s no real
villain in this movie, which at the same time is a little odd, even Frozen threw in a last-minute villain,
though it made sense as the movie progressed. This one however, it’s just a
misunderstood action that a hero character did that caused the problem, and not
to mention how the climax is resolved is very refreshing for a Disney adventure film.
Moana
is one of my new favorite Disney
movies, just like Wreck-It Ralph, Frozen, and Zootopia and so far, my pick for 2016, better than Finding Dory. It delivers everything I
look for in a great film, memorable characters, impressive visuals, good
storytelling, and so on, it’s something that leads to family fun guaranteed.
The Moana character I consider to be
one of the best female movie characters of all time, she is far from being a
damsel in distress, has an adventurous personality, can fight her own battles,
and she doesn’t need a man to fall in love with. She is also one of my new
favorite Disney Princesses (or
heroines), Aurora should take some lessons from Moana so she can be a good
character.
This is my Go-To family film for the
holiday season, Trolls can wait, Moana is a priority, Disney magic on vacation in Hawaii, with
beautiful visuals and fun characters. Even if some of the visuals look like an
underwater Avatar, they’re in a movie
where you really don’t care.
It’s an adventure at sea with Moana
and Maui that is worth the ride.
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