Moana
Composite Score: 86.96
Starring: Auli’i Cravalho, Dwayne Johnson, Rachel House, Temuera Morrison, Jemaine Clement, Nicole Scherzinger, Alan Tudyk, and Oscar Kightley
Directors: Ron Clements, John Musker, Don Hall, and Chris Williams
Writer: Jared Bush
Genres: Animation, Adventure, Comedy, Family, Fantasy, Musical
MPAA Rating: PG for peril, some scary images, and brief thematic elements
Box Office: $643.33 million worldwide
My take on Watching This Film:
Moana is Disney Animation’s 2016 film about the daughter of an ancient Polynesian chief who takes it upon herself (at the urging of her grandmother and the Ocean itself) to venture beyond the reef that surrounds her island and restore the mythical Heart of Te Fiti to save her home and the rest of the islands from the corruption that has been spreading since the Heart was removed many generations earlier by the demigod Maui. The film features the voice talents of Auli’I Cravalho as the titular heroine and Dwayne Johnson as Maui alongside an ensemble that includes Rachel House, Temuera Morrison, Jemaine Clement, and Alan Tudyk. The film’s songs were co-written by Opetaia Foa’i, Mark Mancina, and Lin-Manuel Miranda, and it was nominated for Oscars for Best Animated Feature and Best Original Song (“How Far I’ll Go”), losing out to Zootopia and “City of Stars” from La La Land, respectively. Though technically not a “princess”, the character of Moana is now often included in the pantheon of Disney princesses, and her film is considered one of the most original and highly acclaimed of the 21st century offerings from Disney in that department.
At its heart, Moana is not an overly original story, basically giving us a version of the Hero’s Journey with a female protagonist that’s set in ancient Polynesia; however, the richness of the film’s characters, the beauty of its animation, and the timeless nature of its music keep it feeling fresh despite the familiar beats. Between her powerful “I want” song, “How Far I’ll Go”, and her indefatigable drive to complete her quest, Moana feels like the most universally relatable and unique protagonist that Disney Animation has put out since Lilo or Milo Thatch, and the film surrounding Moana has far fewer flaws than those lovable early 2000s unsung heroes. Since The Princess and the Frog, the company had been leaning hard into empowered female leads (Belle in Beauty and the Beast has flashes of agency as well), and that comes to full fruition in the double dose that was 2016’s slate of films (I’ll get into Zootopia hopefully in the next year or so), and Moana offers the human element of that as well. In her, we don’t have the typical rebellious teen but instead a visionary driven by a purpose that the rest of her friends and family can’t understand, so she’s clearly torn between her sense of duty and family and her sense of purpose and destiny. It makes for a compelling early story that comes to its climax as she crosses the threshold and reprises her song at the end of the film’s first act. The second act features the film’s two best supporting characters in Dwayne Johnson’s Maui – complete with his own undeniably catchy and memeable theme song “You’re Welcome” – who supports Moana in her adventure and Jemaine Clement’s entirely unexpected giant crab Tamatoa with his own meme of a song. While the final act is mostly musical number-free, the emotion and triumph are still dialed up to ten, and you find yourself rooting hard for Moana to succeed even though it’s a Disney movie, and you know that she will.
Moana succeeds despite its well-trod plot thanks to some fantastic music, a rich cast of characters, and excellent visuals, all of which culminate in a film that feels so original and worthy of a spot among the all-time greats. An extended first act with the bulk of the film’s music does leave it a bit unbalanced, but the fun and fast pace of the back half of the film more than make up for it. Currently, you can stream this film on Disney+ if you’d like to watch it for yourself.
