Review of Moana (2016) by Junelkean — 18 Jan 2018

After the success of “Zootopia,” Disney Animation has come to a decision in breaking its limit to further explore the art of realistic animation movies, this time, in the Pacific Islands. The story follows our titular character (Cravalho) as she disobeys her father's rules and embarks on a journey to save the people of Motunui. On the other side, there's Maui (Johnson), a tatooed shapeshifting demigod who needs to bring back something, in order to restore the peace of the island.

Much more like "Mulan" and "Frozen", princesses come in all shapes, sizes and abilities, which brings us to "Moana." And Moana's biggest selling point is the two lead characters' appeal to the audience. And their chemistry is solidified with great voice performances from Cravalho and Johnson.

Also, like in Frozen, this movie also offers us the next "Let It Go" by the involvement of Lin-Manuel Miranda and his captivating songs like "How Far I'll Go" and "You're Welcome", which in turn, has great musical numbers. Same goes to its outstanding visuals which feature plenty of the deep blue sea antics and enthralling ocean creatures.

VERDICT: Over the last seven decades, Disney Animation has brought us stick-figured princesses like Aurora, Cinderella and Ariel. So that is where Moana enters - to symbolize the interesting backgrounds and girl power of heroines in movies.