A lovable addition for Disney

Rating: 8/10 (26 December 2016)

The eponymous Moana is an islander young woman, the chieftain's daughter, and must quest to rebalance nature with the help of the demigod Maui.
The characters were lovable and the musical numbers were pretty good, but not as groundbreaking as some of Disney's previous titles. The animation was stunning though. The detail in the hair and the water was incredible. The film was also quite funny.
I love themes of exploration - the idea of finding new frontiers, new lands; constantly striving to find new ideas to create more opportunities. This is an idea rooted in the Disney ethos and the film did it reasonably good justice. Other themes of parenthood, duty to society and the strength of the individual (not new for Disney at all) were well incorporated as well.
Some of the scenes were a little bit too melodramatic without enough emotional buildup to compensate. Furthermore, the denouement was a bit off. It seemed to be simply stuffing in little nods to previous sections of the film. I think it could have ended much stronger; less is definitely more here and the film needed less emphasis on characters nodding sagely and patting on the back.
Moana is a very good movie, certainly one of the best if not the best animated films this year, but does not quite hold up to the Disney classics.