Disney's Usual Top-Quality

Rating: 7/10 (7 December 2016)

Moana is, in many ways, exactly what you'd expect from a 'Disney Princess' movie. It's story follows the fundamental formula that has done Disney so well for decades, mixing in Polynesian mythology to spice it up a bit. We have our titular heroine, born into a place of responsibilities, embarking on a journey of self-discovery to save her people, with the help of comic companions and fantastical entities. I mean, it's Disney, this is what they do, time and time again, so I won't judge too harshly. Although there is no love interest - no prince - and that was certainly a welcome diversion from the formula.
Of course what sets Moana apart is it's setting and mythology. The world is dying because Te Fiti, the goddess of life, has lost her heart, stolen by "hero of men" Maui. Moana is chosen by the ocean to find Maui and together bring the heart back to Te Fiti, and stop the death and decay encroaching on her island. While it's fundamentally full of tropes and clichés, a lot of mythology across the world is full of the same stories supplanted with different characters. Is Moana an accurate representation of this culture? Maybe, I'm not exactly an expert, but the directors did go out of their way to research this world of islands and ocean, so I'm inclined to believe it's reasonably respectful.
The animation manages to bring this paradisaical world to life with vibrant colours and beautiful landscapes. This is Disney, so of course the animation is super top-quality. There really isn't much to fault. I didn't notice it particularly breaking any new ground, but the sheer attention to detail paid to the ocean waves, the grains of sand, Maui's skin, and Te Fiti in general were certainly impressive sights to behold. Most noticeably it's not all CGI. All the tattoos are hand- drawn, which makes Maui's little tattoo companion all the more impressive. There's also a scene late into Maui's introductory song where the backdrop is 2D animation, which helped it stand out as a scene, but I'm not entirely it worked from a visual stand point, as Maui and Moana remain in 3D and stick out really obviously.
The songs were a bit of a disappointment. Disney is usually great with their musical choices, but Moana's songs just lacked something. It didn't help that the characters constantly pointed out that they were singing, or saying they wanted to avoid another song. It took me out of the immersion even further than the actual Musical elements themselves. For me, I was looking forward to some songs in a Polynesian style, or at least Hawaiian, with ukuleles and other indigenous instruments and vocal methods. Instead each song sounded like normal run-of-the- mill American pop songs, generic and safe, and only marginally catchy.
Tamatoa's song was super reminiscent of David Bowie in a homage to the late musician, which in itself is great, but it felt misplaced in this movie, and in the pool of Disney Villain songs, is probably one of the weakest of the lot. Maui's song was probably my favourite, and hearing Dwayne Johnson actually sing was definitely a welcome surprise. That said, and this is a niggle from a musically trained ear, the amount of auto-tune he required was painfully obvious, particularly during the chorus. Moana's song was quite enjoyable, and it's reprise late in the movie was really cool, highlighting the development she has endured as a character on this journey, but it wasn't particularly catchy. It's certainly not even in the same league as Let it Go, or Be My Guest, or Defeat the Huns, or any of the timeless classic musical numbers Disney have had.
The voice acting was really good, again unsurprising coming from Disney. I will say though, the choice of casting is a landmark for a blockbuster family movie, or any big budget movie for that matter. Almost every member of the cast has pacific heritage, be it Hawaiian or Maori, and while that ultimately doesn't account for much when all you get of them is their voices, it was nonetheless a fantastic choice behind-the-scenes that I cannot commend Disney for enough. Dwayne Johnson proves once again that he is so underrated as an actor. He's more than just an ex-wrestler. His voice performance as Maui is definitely one of the high points of the entire movie, perfectly embodying the peak and troughs of Maui's egotistical, but fundamentally golden hearted personality. Auli'i Cravalho is also pretty great as Moana herself, showing a surprising amount of talent in this field for someone her age, but her voice wasn't anything particularly special, making the big fuss about the search for her feel a little pointless and over-inflated. She sounds just like every other Disney heroine. The supporting cast is all great as well, including Temuera Morrison as Moana's father, Nichole Scherzinger as her mother (although I'm not sure she had more than a couple of lines?), Rachel House as her grandmother, Alan Tudyk's clucking and squawking as her chicken companion, and Jermaine Clement's shiny giant crab of the underworld (marking the second time in the last few days I have mistaken his voice for Jason Flemyngs).
Moana is definitely a Disney movie, with high quality animation, song-work, and voice acting. It's story follows the usual formula with just a handful of twists and new approaches, supplanted to a unique and fairly unknown mythology. In the grand scheme of things, Moana isn't anything special. It will sink into the gloop of really well made Disney that fails to really stand out. I give it an enjoyable 7/10.