Let the girls be Moana... and the boys be moaning...

Rating: 7/10 (22 December 2017)

And Now For Something... Completely... Identical! "Moana" is a dazzling-looking story but to put it simply, it's not very interesting. The film is so obedient to all the recent trends that have defined Disney's movies that you can't find one little parcel of originality, it's basically "The Little Mermaid" story retold in "Lilo and Stitch" setting with a "Pocahontas"-like character who's the same age than "Brave" and driven by a "Frozen" narrative. Oahu... Deja-Vu... and when a Hawaiian story leaves you cold, you know there's a problem.
To give her deserved credit, Moana is a charming, adorable and strong-minded young preteen girl who has a lot to appeal to, but she's just too typical to strike as a fully developed Disney protagonist even when you try to ignore the trend. Once again, she's royalty, she happens to be the daughter's chief and her dream is to go sailing and discover the other side of the world. Yes, for some reasons later revealed but without being too satisfying, the entire village is stuck on the little island planting coconuts, eating coconuts and singing about how much they love coconuts. No problem, I love coconuts too. But I prefer fish.
Some back-story is provided through another ominous legend about a mysterious heart being stolen from the local Goddess allowing a semi-god named Maui to create the human race, the animation was cool and didn't really cut-and-paste something from Disney movies but it still reminded me of "Kung Fu Panda"... sorry, nothing new again. But even by accepting magic as an obligatory narrative trope in animated movies, I was wondering why is it that most girl-power movies must rely so much on the supernatural.
Think about it, whether for Elsa, Moana or even Rey from "Star Wars", there's always an element of magic that undermines the idea of a girl or a woman singlehandedly triumphing over the obstacles or despite her weaknesses. Minimizing the help of people or even animal sidekicks, these new trendy heroines most often rely on the assistance of magic, which doesn't really highlight their efforts or their merits. In "Moana", the interference of magical waves or reincarnations or any superpowers from Maui are so numerous that the film loses its capability to thrill you, when you get used to these magic ex machina moment, you stop considering any danger a real threat, andthat's a threat for enjoyment.
Now, I know the film is another instance of a movie teaching children, but especially girls, that they have to find themselves and have the courage to challenge unfair rules. Fair enough, but how can someone who's the "chosen one" ever find herself? Basically, she'll have to find what she was chosen for. By trying to play on every possible safe side, the film never finds its places and ends up delivering more messages than Western Union. And these messages don't necessarily speak the truest statements about life, if you're going to convince children that everything is possible if you put your mind to it, you can't teach them that "trying" is the most important thing. How about a Disney movie where 'failure' can be an option? At least, they can try that with a male character if they're afraid of some backlash.
To be fair about the movie, I enjoyed the visuals, but we know it's the common denominator of most Disney movies, even "Finding Dory" looked great, but the plot was rather thin. What's "Moana" got to offer? Sure, I loved the immersion into Hawaiian culture and traditions. It's true Moana succeeds in giving us a Hawaiian flavor from the start but for the most part, the film is an adventure above the sea which isn't the most original setting, and apart from the traditional songs (nothing new since "The Lion King") and the colorful look, we could have a movie set inside the island, giving much latitude to the Hawaiian tradition, instead of the usual "native" narrative defined in terms of unfair tradition, relationship with Mother Nature and a young daughter who wants to challenge. To be honest, this has become a bit too predictable and the film can only follow the same series of patterns. It becomes all a matter of "posture".
Dwayne the Rock Johnson and Auli'lCaravalho provide the voices of the heroic pair, and as much as I loved their work, especially some singing moments, I was wondering why the 'Marketing' was so insistent on their background? So Dwayne, a native Samoan dubs the voice of Maui, and Caravalho is a true native. But was Disney afraid of being accused of vocal white-washing? Did Johnson have a Hawaiian accent? And would have accent been accepted or criticized for being too stereotypical? I don't know but I guess it's just to prevent some criticism, and they were certainly right. The film didn't even escape from controversy when they launched the 'Moana' costume. But I guess it shows that no matter how critical we are toward the film, it reacts properly to the mood of its era.
Now, I'm looking forward to discovering "Coco". Finally a movie about a boy! Sorry, but since Disney is supposed to awaken an inner child, mine happens to be a boy and maybe this girl-power stuff is making the boy inside me feel more insecure or jealous. So I don't mind a girl power movie once in a while but in that case, I wish Disney could... let it go!