I’m a father and I have a daughter. It is the law that I take her to the new Disney movie, whenever a new one appears.
Moana is the new movie.
Disney has reentered the movie musical era again and they did a superb job with it. Lin-Manual Miranda helped write one of Disney’s memorable scores. “You’re Welcome” and “Shiny” are the two most memorable new songs.
Moana is the daughter of the island chief, and is being raised to eventually lead the tribe. A standard Disney princess set-up. But this time around there is no prince involved. No prince to win anyone’s heart is nowhere to be found in this movie.
The Story
Moana purpose is to help save her island and people, from the darkness that is spreading across the ocean, caused by Maui when he took the heart from Te Fit, an island goddess who gives the gift of life.
The demi-god Maui, played perfectly by Dwayne Johnson, aka The Rock, is the reason for the darkness that is spreading across the ocean. Moana’s parents insist though that their island is safe, and their people are safe, as long as they don’t go beyond the reef.
Don’t go beyond the reef, is repeated often. So you know where Moana is going.
The Characters
The movie includes the regular characters, the over-protective father, the crazy-yet-wise-sage, the animal sidekicks.
But it also includes some newer characters. The Kakamora are tiny coconut pirates, with a huge pirate ship, which could have come straight out of a George Miller Mad Max movie. These are wonderful characters. They’re sort of a mean minion.
Moana’s pet chicken has been described by the director, “as the dumbest character in the history of Disney animation.” Interesting to have a character so purposefully stupid throughout 99% of the movie.
Tamatoa lives in the world of Monsters. (What a great concept by the way.) And he has the most interesting song of the movie. This scene could be a little scary for youngest viewers. I though was thoroughly enthralled with his scene. When Disney can work in bioluminescence into a scene, then color me impressed.
What caught my attention was how realistic the water was animated, because even the ocean in this movie is a character. Which begs the question how much longer until we get fully digital humans that we can’t tell if they’re digital or real flesh.
Overall
I appreciate the movie, because everyone is nuanced. Maui is introduced as a bad guy. But eventually we learn his real story, he isn’t a cardboard character. The main monster, the lava monster, Te Ka, even has a backstory. Even bad guys have a past.
The movie is enjoyable for both children and adults. The songs are among Disney’s best. And the characters are very enjoyable. The animation is pretty to take in. I would recommend Moana for children 5 and up.