Stunning

Rating: 8/10 (20 December 2016)

In all honesty, I enjoyed this movie more than Frozen. Perhaps that's due to the amount of times I've heard Let it Go in the past three years, but nonetheless, I believe Moana knocks it out of the park. The unique narrative and stunning animations alone make it outstanding. Not to mention, my inner Hamilton nerd was freaking out at the parts when I heard Lin Manuel Miranda sing. The characters are intriguing, and I think Moana herself is among one of my favorite Disney princesses (even if she doesn't technically qualify). She has a fierce personality, and it's clear Disney wanted to present a strong-female-lead. And they did so in a way that wasn't in your face about it (as many movies do). I was also surprised at how well Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson did in his role as Maui. I never knew the guy could sing, but I was greatly surprised. The flaws I found in the movie are very nit-picky, but I think they deserve to be brought up. For one, a lot of the characters seem to change their minds on things a lot quicker than I expected, and it was kind of jarring, in particular, Maui's character had a weird change of heart in the story that felt out of place. I also wasn't a huge fan of Hay-hay, the chicken sidekick. Was kind of hoping they stuck with the pig. But all in all, I highly recommend checking this film out.