Moana

• Also known as Vaiana or Oceania in some markets
• Directed by John Musker and Ron Clements
• November 14, 2016 (AFI Fest) / November 23, 2016 (US)

Voice Cast

• Moana-Auliʻi Cravalho
• Young Moana-Louise Bush
• Maui-Dwayne Johnson
• Tala-Rachel House
• Tui-Temuera Morrison
• Tui’s singing voice-Christopher Jackson
• Tamatoa-Jemaine Clement
• Sina-Nicole Scherzinger
• Villager No. 3, Heihei-Alan Tudyk
• Villager No. 2-Auli’i Cravalho’s mother Puanani Cravalho
• Villager No. 1-Troy Polamalu
• Fisherman-Oscar Kightley

When a blight comes to her island, a young woman sets out in search of the legendary demigod Maui in the hope of saving her people.

With no daughters at the time and being an adult, Moana was a film that I let passed me by. I heard of it and was aware of its success but had no motivating factor to push me to see it. Add it to the list of movies I wish I had not slept on. I do have issues, but this is something I regret skipping until now.

A strike against this is that Disney movies-the classics anyway-are often known for their music. Circle of Life and Hakuna Matata from the original The Lion King, You’ve Got a Friend in Me from the first Toy Story, Be Our Guest from the original Beauty and the Beast, Part of Your World, Under the Sea, and Poor Unfortunate Souls from the original The Little Mermaid, The Bare Necessities from the original The Jungle Book among others were instant earworms. There are no bangers here that you will be humming when stuck in traffic but the music is beautiful. It highlights the scenes and expands upon the characters.

The story is about stepping out beyond your comfort zone all wrapped up in a save-the-world story. A bit heavy handed since the comfort zone is the island. Moana needs to become her own type of leader. She ultimately saves her people with her tribe going to go follow the currents and fish. Maybe I am reading a bit into this but going from a settled culture to that of seafaring nomads is not a good thing. There is no development or advancement from within as well as being forever at the whims of nature. Without the ability to build permanent structures you cannot prepare for the difficult times. Anywho…

A blight has come to the island and is killing the coconuts and chased away the fish. The coming of this problem has been foretold in the stories of the people of Motonui but there are doubters in the village? They worship a nature goddess but cannot fathom a possible end? Moana, having been chosen by the ocean and believing the stories goes in search of Maui to return Te Fiti her pounamu stone heart that Maui stole to give to humanity. How is the necessity of this task hard to accept by those around her?

A common trope is that one person getting chosen that nobody believes was really chosen setting out on their own. After 1000 years the ocean decides to hand over the stone in secret to Moana. Why wait so long? And why do it in secret? Why not do it on some random day when the fishermen are on the water? Or any number of witnesses?

There are nods to other almost Pixar Disney creations. At least once Sven from Frozen shows up when Maui is shapeshifting. Tamatoa, a giant coconut crab that has Maui’s magic fishhook, sings a song that pokes fun at Disney movies.  I did appreciate the callback to The Little Mermaid by Tamatoa in the post credit scene. Quite possibly the funniest joke in the whole movie and it wasn’t part of the main movie.

On top of Moana’s quest to step out on her own we have Maui who is dealing with rejection and failure. All his great deeds had been to get the love of people because he was abandoned as a child. I know this is Moana’s story but abandonment issues that are so serious they resulted in creeping destruction. This is right up there with family dysfunction so great in affects an entire galaxy!

Maybe give him more of an ending than feeling better and flying off. Have him join the village now on the sea like he was invited to do. I don’t think it would’ve made it his story, but it would’ve been a better ending than going to live life on his own. His struggle and emotional issues are left on the side.

I’m not a fan of CGI. I’ve said that dozens of times before. So far this has not aged into anything terrible. It still looks quite smooth and captures the epic and grandeur of a sea voyage along with the beauty of an island paradise. And there are smaller details such as the animated tattoos on Maui. It’s not unusual to have moving images, but it’s still a humorous detail. 

You could have certainly cut things down a little bit. I’m not talking the song and dance numbers. I enjoyed the stunning visuals but I think you could’ve condensed them down a little bit. Taking a few seconds here and there. After his introduction I really expected the chicken Heihei to be a little more important incidentally to the finale. He was just comic relief that could have come from elsewhere.

The movie itself was funny and entertaining and just great to watch. I have some issues, but this is aimed at young girls and not adults. The young girls won’t think about it and the adults won’t really care even if they watch. It just keeps going and never really slows up. It could be a little faster as I said before but that’s a personal thing and nothing that is needed to fix this movie.

Moana is a great coming into your own story. Maybe not perfect but entertaining and something that’ll leave you feeling happy.