Simply fantastic...

Rating: 10/10 (15 May 2017)

It is indeed very rare that I toss a top rating at an animated movie, but "Moana" definitely deserves that.
The storyline in "Moana" was quite good and rather thrilling. It is a storyline that appeals to both a younger and older audience, because the story is timeless and has classic elements of good versus evil and the uprising of an unlikely underdog heroine. But it is also the story of friendship, forgiveness and acceptance.
Shortly summarized, "Moana" is about young Moana whom is the daughter of the chieftain of a dying island. She goes against the edicts of the tribe and sail out beyond the reef to search for a demigod who has the power to set things right.
The animation and the art style in "Moana" was just spectacular. There was just something very alluring and beautiful to the particular style that was used for this animated movie. And the levels of detail was just bedazzling. There were so many impressive details in every scene, and it looked so very real. I was especially impressed with the hair and the way that they had drawn the characters. Moana was very charismatic, while Maui was lovable.
"Moana" also has some good dialogue that keeps the movie up in a constant beat, well assisted by a good amount of action and storytelling.
And while were are on the topic of dialogue, then "Moana" had some really good voice acting talents on the cast ensemble. Auli'i Cravalho really did a wonderful job, and she is quite talented. It was also a treat to have Dwayne Johnson do the voice for the demigod Maui. I didn't know that Alan Tudyk also voices a character in this movie.
There is a fair amount of singing in this animated movie too, and it actually worked quite well in favor of the movie, for different reasons. The first being that the songs were quite appropriate for the story and fit naturally into the movie. The songs are also quite nicely orchestrated and performed. Usually, I am not overly keen on songs in animated movies, but "Moana" did it quite as well as "The Little Mermaid" did back in 1989.
I was instantly blown away by the comedic element of the chicken that came along on the oceanic journey. That chicken was just downright hilarious and really spiced up the movie quite a lot, pardon the pun.
As I mentioned in the start of my review, then it is very rare that I give a top rating for an animated movie, and only have done so once before to "Epic". But "Moana" ranks up alongside with it, because this is a fantastic animated movie in every sense of the word. I watched it with my family, and we all loved the movie and were very entertained by it.
This is definitely an animated movie that is well-worth watching and this is a movie that rightfully belongs in the collection of anyone who enjoys animated movies. And this is an animated movie that you can watch more than just once.