Moana (2016) review

Well, as I’ve mentioned quite a few times in the past few years, Walt Disney Animation Studios is currently in the middle of a major ‘Revival’ period. Following a rather rough start to the 2000’s that was marred by multiple underperforming films, some of which were no doubt affected by interference from studio execs, the studio began to get back on its feet once Pixar’s Ed Catmull and John Lasseter were brought in as its new President and Chief Creative Officer, respectively, in 2006. Since then, the studio has seen plenty of critical and commercial hits, including two billion-dollar-grossing films in the form of 2013’s Frozen and this year’s Zootopia. But Zootopia isn’t the only Walt Disney Animation release of the year as now we have the studio’s 56^th animated feature upon us, Moana. It certainly has the pedigree behind it. For one thing, it’s directed by the duo of John Musker and Ron Clements. These two are easily one of the most famous directing duos in the studio’s history. After making their directorial debut as one-half of the directing team behind 1986’s The Great Mouse Detective, they then went on to become the creative force behind not one, not two, but three films of the ‘Disney Renaissance’ era; 1989’s The Little Mermaid, 1992’s Aladdin, and 1997’s Hercules. A few years later, they directed the studio’s highly underrated 2002 effort, Treasure Planet. In 2009, they made their first contribution to the studio’s revival with The Princess and the Frog. And with their latest film, their first computer-animated feature, they once again bring us another highly entertaining animated adventure that features plenty of the great things that one would expect from a Disney Animated film, especially from the ones that these two have worked on.

In the region of Polynesia, a young teenaged girl named Moana Waialiki (Auli’i Cravalho) lives with her folks, Chief Tui (Temuera Morrison) and his wife Sina (Nicole Scherzinger), on Motunui Island. But while her father spends most of his time grooming her into becoming the next chieftain of their village, Moana instead wishes to explore the world beyond the open seas, something that her father forbids her and the other villagers from doing following an incident that he ended up in many years earlier. However, one day, Moana finds that the village’s resources are starting to dwindle. Namely, the coconuts in the area have begun to spoil and the fish have disappeared from their usual shores. Moana then learns from her grandmother Tala (Rachel House) that the island is being affected by a curse that was caused by the stealing of a mythical stone that is known as the ‘heart’ of the island goddess, Te Fiti. This leads Moana into setting out on a journey to return the ‘heart’ to its rightful place, the lost island that Te Fiti had created a millennium ago. Along the way, she ‘recruits’ the assistance of the legendary shape-shifting demigod Maui (Dwayne Johnson), who just so happens to be the one who stole the ‘heart’ in the first place. And so, the two set off on a journey to help Maui regain his fish-hook (which allows him to shapeshift) and return the ‘Heart’ to restore balance to the world and save Moana’s village, all while dealing with various monsters along the way.

Moana is Clements and Musker’s first computer-animated film after all their previous films were traditionally-animated. But with that said, the animation in this film is just as beautiful as the animation that came from their previous films, especially when it comes to sequences that are set on the ocean. I can’t really explain why but there’s just something about water that allows it to translate well into animation, as evident from this and other films like Pixar’s Finding Nemo films. There are even a few instances where some shots have somewhat of a traditionally animated feel to them. And, for the record, no I’m not just talking about the sentient ‘Mini Maui’ tattoo that Maui interacts with constantly. Some frames of animation did feel like they had a real nice ‘painterly’ quality to them, sort of like what Tangled did back in 2010. As for the story, it’s a fun oceanic adventure with a solid emotional core, while also giving us some fun ocean-based action sequences. In fact, one scene involving a group of small coconut-like creatures known as Kakamora may even remind some people of a certain action film that got released last year. But through it all, one can really get a great sense of Polynesian culture. Disney usually does a good job when it comes to portraying other cultures. I mean, okay, admittedly not all the time (e.g. some of the controversial ‘stereotypes’ of early Disney films) but still, the films of theirs that are set within a specific location usually do a decent enough job of reflecting the culture of their locales (e.g. Saludos Amigos/The Three Caballeros, Lilo and Stitch) and this film is easily one of Disney’s best in terms of respectfully representing the culture of its setting. Plus, as with any great Disney musical, the songs that are featured in this film are terrific. What is the best way to describe how they’re great? Simple; they were co-written by Lin-Manuel Miranda. No further explanation necessary.

A lot of buzz has been going around in regards to the film’s title character, particularly because she is a ‘Disney Princess’ without a love interest. But if you recall my ‘Ranking the Disney Princesses’ post a few weeks ago, you’ll know that ‘romance’ is not something that I usually focus on when it comes to Disney’s princess characters. Instead, I will say that Moana is a charming, adventurous young protagonist with a great personal drive and is ultimately someone who I’d argue is more than just a ‘Disney Princess’. And newcomer Auli’i Cravalho does a fantastic job in the role, especially when it comes to working off Dwayne Johnson. Speaking of which, what else can be said about ‘The Rock’ that hasn’t been said before? He’s one of the most charismatic actors in the business and even though Maui does start off as a rather selfish and egotistical character who’s just out for his own personal gain, he does grow to become more selfless as time goes on. And of course, Johnson’s charisma is on full display here. In short, Moana and Maui are an excellent lead duo. And of course, like any great Disney film, there are quite a few noteworthy side characters here and there, including a dumb rooster named Heihei who happens to be voiced by Disney Animation’s ‘John Ratzenberger’, Alan Tudyk, and a giant crab named Tamatoa (Jemaine Clement) who is shown to be a major treasure-hoarder and is the main focal point of an entertaining musical number, ‘Shiny’. Though with that said, this is a case of a Disney film where the focus is more on the main characters, which is great in this case given how well-developed the protagonists are.

Thanks to their newest effort, Moana, Walt Disney Animation Studios’ current hot streak stays strong. In fact, I think it’s safe to say that this won’t be the end of it. Under the direction of the duo responsible for some of the most iconic Disney films in recent memory, John Musker and Ron Clements, Moana very much feels like a classic Disney animated film. The animation is terrific, especially considering that this was the first time that Musker and Clements have forayed into computer animation. Through it all, they even managed to implement some traditional animation into the film. The songs, brought to us in part by the one and only Lin-Manuel Miranda, are excellent. And the main characters Moana and Maui, excellently voiced by Auli’i Cravalho and Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson, respectively, are an excellent lead duo. Put all of this together, along with a solid representation of Polynesian culture, and you have a fun ocean-based animated film with a strong emotional core. And thus, Disney Animation is 2 for 2 this year when it comes to their feature films. However, I’m not going to make any major comparisons between this and Zootopia because they are two very different films. It does, however, showcase the strong variety of Disney Animation’s current output that is, without a doubt, one of the many factors behind the studio’s recent ‘Revival’. Because both are great in their own way; Zootopia as a timely (and I mean really timely) moral message and Moana as a great cultural experience. 

Rating: 4.5/5