Propped up by beautiful animation

Rating: 7/10 (2 October 2017)

'Moana' is a decent movie, however there are a few flaws that bring it down--chiefly odd pacing and below average songs. In terms of pacing, the character development felt very rushed, often with characters changing over the course of a few seconds after one small event. The development almost felt like an afterthought.
The songs, I felt, were not up to Disney's standards, with the exception of "You're Welcome" the songs/singing felt kind of stilted, falling just short of expectations. It almost felt as if the producers cut the time spent on developing the songs, as they were thought out well but just missed in execution. I believe if some more time was spent tweaking the songs they would have delivered.
However, Moana's most glaring flaws are obscured by it's animation. The movie is visually stunning, especially the water/sea. It is worth watching just for the visuals alone. Honestly, if it weren't for the visuals, I would have given Moana around a 5.5 as the story was a bit lacking, but Disney did such a fantastic job on the animation that I would have no problem giving 'Moana' a 7.5, even if it had been a silent movie.