As a fan of animation 2016 was a pretty good year when it came to Disney movies. At the beginning of the year the excellent Zootopia was release, which introduced a new world you wanted to spend more time in and at the end of the year they released their second animated movie, Moana. Is it just as good as Zootopia?
Moana (Auli’i Cravalho) is the daughter of the head of a tribe. She lives on a tropical island in a community who lives from nature. She feels compelled to leave the island though, but isn’t allowed to do so by her father. No one may go beyond the bay, but she can’t resist the urge. When suddenly the harvest seems to fail and fish can no longer can be caught Moana decides to ignore what her father told her and head to see to bring a magical stone (which the sea gave to her) back to its owner. She has to be helped by demigod Maui (Dwayne Johnson), a stubborn character who thinks he’s the best thing there is and who refuses to help her. But they will have to work together and at sea they embark on an adventure.
Moana has the feeling of a classic Disney-film, including songs you’ll be humming afterwards, but this doesn’t make Moana a weak princess needing to be saved. Vaiana is stubborn and might be inexperienced when it comes to sailing, but she decides to go after her dream and learns a lot about herself on that journey. Dwayne Johnson (who seems to have the Midas touch) brings his magic to the table and turns Maui into a character who thinks he’s fantastic, but who’s also very funny. His interaction with his tattoo (and animated character which is a copy of himself) is worth mentioning as well. The movie is filled with humour, where the stupid rooster Heihei was my favorite.
Visually Disney really flexes its muscles and realizes an ocean which moves naturally and at the same time is a character itself (which might remind you of The Abyss). Moana and Maui end up in various situations, with one closely resembling Mad Max: Fury Road. Moana is a film which doesn’t only is at the same level of Zootropolis, but even surpasses it and is enjoyable for both young and old.
Great review! It took me 2 watches to really fall in love with Moana, but I’m smitten now! I’ve had the soundtrack on repeat for weeks 🙂
I’ve seen it three times now and it really holds up.
I really enjoyed Moana, and my two girls (7 and 3) were big fans. They’ve played the soundtrack maybe 500 times, so it’s a relief that the songs are so good. I also liked Zootopia but agree that Moana was even better.
Great to hear that Dan. My youngest saw it about two weeks ago and had a blast with it as well 🙂