Review of Moana (2016) by Patricia W — 14 Sep 2017

This is a coming of age story about Moana, a young girl whose people have lived on one island for generations but when their food source and the plants on the island start to die she must venture out to sea, gain the help of a demi-god, Maui, and restore the heart to Tefiti and save her people.

The story is a fairly standard coming of age plot, young protagonist doesn't want to follow tradition and runs off to follow their heart but it is done quite well in the film and doesn't follow the usual princess arc.

The backstory about Maui and Tefiti is also quite interesting and the focus on Moana's training to become a way finder. The songs are incredibly catchy and by far the best parts of the film in my opinion, from Moana's Ariel/Mulan style song about seeking her destiny, to Maui's boasting song and Tomatoa's Bowie-esque song about all his treasures.

The voice acting is good, as you would expect from Disney, Auli'i Cravalho as Moana has a beautiful singing voice and fulfils the role of the protagonist well and Dwayne Johnson as Maui is surprisingly animated and fun.

Most of the laughs also come from Maui and the chicken side kick, Heihei, which did make me openly laugh a couple of times while watching. The only disappointment is the lack of a consistent villain throughout the narrative, there are smaller enemies along the way, Tomatoa being the most entertaining by far, but the coconut people are fairly dull and seem tacked onto the film just to use up run time and Te ka is only encountered right at the end of the film.

Overall it's a fun film with some good songs but it's lacking some of the originality that made some of the old Disney films such classics.