I’m calling it now. Disney Animation has passed Pixar in the animation space. Moana is another fantastic, enjoyable example of the incredible run Disney has been on since Wreck-It Ralph. It already boasts one of the 5 best movies this year, and then it drops this fun gem that should inspire sing alongs and vacations to far away places like Frozen did. Pixar can Find Dory all it wants; I would rather go with Moana to find Maui any day.
Moana (Auli’i Cravalho) is set to become the queen of her island. However, through urging from her grandmother (Rachel House), Moana’s heart desires to go to sea. Fate intervenes for her when the plants on the island inexplicably start dying, and she has to seek out the demi god Maui (Dwayne Johnson). Maui contains the power to place the heart of the Earth back to its rightful place, and restore prosperity and life to Moana’s island and people.
Like always, the elements surrounding the story are executed flawlessly by Disney. The Pacific islands, sea, and various island hopping adventures look beautiful, with eye popping colors everywhere. The various creatures mostly stay on the interesting side with only the dumb sidekick chicken becoming mildly annoying. In a brilliant hiring coup, Lin Manuel-Miranda, fresh off his thousands of Hamiltons, writes a strong soundtrack, boasting songs with stellar introductory beats, songs with the power of “Let It Go”, and songs humorously calling out Maui’s great feats for humanity. These aesthetic feats of excellence give Moana a wonder that Disney often expertly extracts with its stellar understanding of what its audiences want.
As far as the story goes, Moana is pretty cookie cutter. Nothing we haven’t seen before: a chosen person joins with powerful quirky friends to set the world in order and save us from evil. However, the pieces around it give Moana lots of freshness. NO ONE questions the title character because of her gender: she is every bit as agile, smart, and adaptable as any of the men on the island; they question her only because of her importance to the island, a nice turn. Maui’s personal struggle is cleverly manifested via his own tattoos arguing with him, using wordless exchanges for maximum humor and emotional resonance as the movie digs in for its final act. Moana’s dreams of sailing are coupled with the fact that she has her happily ever after already. The fact that sometimes you can only be happy if you embrace the unknown is certainly a different take on the traditional Disney princess, and a welcome modern one.
This is also one of those movies where Disney nails its voice casting. Auli’i Cravalho channels the right mix of moxie, yearning, and inner power that all great Disney princesses possess. She meshes very well with Dwayne Johnson. Johnson uses his easy charisma and confidence to give Maui haughtiness with a wow factor. Like every great voice cast, you don’t hear actors, you hear characters, and Moana certainly gets that right.
Moana will make you want to island hop across the Pacific. The movie is another ho-hum fantastic family movie from Disney Animation. Come on John Lasseter: After Wreck-It-Ralph, Frozen, Big Hero 6, Zootopia, and now Moana, maybe stop showing off a lil’ bit and give someone else a chance?