Moana

Voices of: Auli'i Cravalho, Dwayne Johnson, Rachel House, Temuera Morrison, Jemaine Clement, Nicole Scherzinger, Alan Tudyk
Directed by: Ron Clements, Don Hall, John Musker, Chris Williams
Rating: PG
Genre: Animation, Adventure, Comedy
2016

Times Seen:
Tim: 2

Summary:
To stop a terrible curse, a young girl (Auli'i Cravalho) embarks on a dangerous journey into the open sea.

Review:

Tim: There's a lot of things to like about Moana, but somehow, all of the individual pieces don't quite add up as much as we'd like. I found this to be a good movie- certainly a deliverer of the Disney magic. However, the movie isn't effective enough to really launch itself into the upper tier of Disney films. It's entertaining and thankfully promotes much-needed diversity, but the movie isn't destined to be one of the true classics. It's good, but never great.

One of the greatest aspects of this film is that it features an all-Polynesian cast of characters. This shouldn't be discounted- Disney has taken a few tentative steps towards including more diverse characters in their films, but it's still pretty white. It was wonderful to see Polynesian characters highlighted in this film. I loved that aspect and honestly, it helps differentiate this film from all the others. It gave this film a new flavor and that's a very good thing. It's also great that Disney continues to promote strong female characters. I appreciated the character of Moana and her tough, never-give-up mentality.

The story itself was okay. It didn't feel like it had quite the endless appeal that some of the true Disney classics had. The film does touch on themes of courage and overcoming fears, believing in yourself, understanding your heritage, etc. These are all good, but it felt like the film was lacking that one big punch. There's a lot of activity, but not a lot of really powerful moments that burn into the memory. The movie does do a good job of leveraging the Polynesian culture and heritage and building their family-friendly film around that. That's a big strength.

The voice cast is good, but I'm not sure there were a ton of standouts. Dwayne Johnson was a terrific choice for Maui, both due to who he is and his voice talent. It was fun to hear him in this role. Auli'i Cravalho was good as Moana. The rest of the cast was fine.

Like we've come to expect from Disney films, the animation is beautiful. It was terrific to see this world depicted via Disney's animation. The wide open ocean, the Polynesian culture, the ships, the villains- it was all vivid and incredible to look at. There were some moments that felt maybe a tad too frightening for younger viewers, but for the most part, the movie is strong visually.

It felt like the music wasn't quite as strong as some other Disney films. The songs were decent, but there wasn't really one truly great song. "How Far I'll Go" was the highlight, but even that wasn't a true classic.

Moana is certainly a good movie. It was nominated for two Academy Awards,and although it failed to win any, this is still an achievement. This is an effective, entertaining movie and while it's not as good as Disney's best, you have to feel good about the end result.

*Update- Almost nine years after I first watched Moana, I revisited the film, this time with my family, including my 10 year-old son and 6 year-old daughter. It's funny, my son had seen the movie a few times and my daughter wasn't that interested. As soon as it started, though, I could tell she got sucked into it. By the end, she admitted that she "loved" it. A funny thing happened as I watched this movie a second time. I believe I underrated it in my original review. This rarely happens, but I have to account for updated my views of movies. I think Moana is better than I gave it credit for, originally. I don't think it's great, but it gets closer than I originally rated it.

As you might expect, the movie really does deliver a powerful message. At the beginning, Moana's father tries to keep her away from the ocean, despite it literally calling to her. As she grows up, she eventually has to break her father's wishes and embarks on a life-changing quest to save her people. Along the way, Moana has to confront her own fears and shortcomings. She has to learn where her people came from, who they are, and by extension, context for who she is. She has to learn and master new skills. She has to grow up. This is all a beautiful message, wrapped up in a Polynesian culture adventure story. I think the message this movie delivers to girls is important and I really appreciated the story this time around.

I think I likely underrated the music, too. "How Far I'll Go" is a standout, but "You're Welcome" is incredibly catchy, too. That song is as memorable as anything else in the film. I think "Shiny" is exceptional, too. It surprises me that I didn't immediately recognize how good some of these songs are. They grow on you. I give Lin-Manuel Miranda credit, because I do consider the music here exceptionally strong. Miranda was nominated for Best Original Song, and although it didn't win (as mentioned above), that's still strong recognition.

The movie is absolutely beautiful from a visual perspective. Even nine years later, the animation holds up. The night sky as a bowl of stars, the open ocean, the giant lava creature- the movie is rendered so beautifully that it pulls you into the story. The animation really did feel gorgeous here.

So, I admit I got this one a bit wrong. I called Moana a good movie, when I underrated it just a bit. I rarely do this, but I have to admit, the film is a 7.5, not a 7. That might not seem like much, but it matters to me. This film delivers a great message, has catchy music (maybe it takes a few listens to really connect with it), and it's an exciting, incredible adventure, coming-of-age story. This isn't top-tier Disney, but it's a wild success and I'm very sorry I didn't see that earlier (although I still don't think the chicken is that funny).

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 7.5



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: The Princess and the Frog, Zootopia, Aladdin