Disney has
refused to stick to the old ways of animated musicals. They’ve been working
their way back up for years now, and although 2016 will be a year many will
want to forget due to numerous tragic and gloomy events, Disney, on the other
hand, will not want to forget 2016.
Moana is a
good adventure film for the family, and it did very well in tapping into the
oldies that we loved when we were younger to produce this movie. The movie
isn’t a masterpiece in the way Zootopia (2016)
was, but Disney did their best and produced a movie that’s worth seeing and
enjoying with the family.
When it came to
the animation, characterization, and story, Disney delivered. The animation was
fluid, the two main characters and their supporting cast were memorable, and
although the story didn’t feel new, it had a brief intro and dove straight into
the adventure, leaving no room for you, the viewer, to doze off.
The music and
score were cool, and even though you could argue the movie didn’t need to be a
musical, this time I didn’t feel like the songs were isolated from the events.
Disney found a way to merge the musical numbers into the happenings on screen,
meaning the songs were a continuation of what was going on—just with a beat.
A millennium
ago, a demigod named Maui stole the heart of the god of nature and lost it. The
repercussions of that, a millennium later, were a terrible curse that reached
an impetuous chieftain’s daughter’s island.
The daughter, Moana, is called by the ocean to restore order. To do so, she must restore the heart with the help of the demigod Maui, whom she must first seek out.
Like I said, the
story didn’t feel original. You can always guess where Disney tapped the ideas
for the movie from. For example, it starts with the mystery of what’s beyond
the reef and a father forbidding his child to go find out (Finding
Nemo (2003)). Soon, we must deal with a little girl finding it
hard to obey rules and fit into the status quo because something beyond is
calling her, telling her there’s more (Beauty
and the Beast (1991)).
We also have the
stubborn dad who doesn’t want his daughter to seek adventure. Add to that the
under-the-sea bad guy—what does that remind you of? The Little Mermaid (1989).
Why would you expect anything different from the directors?
The directors,
John Musker and Ron Clements, were at the helm of Disney classics like The
Little Mermaid (1989), Aladdin (1992),
and Hercules (1997).
They were the best for the job since Disney was borrowing ideas mainly from
these three films. A magical sidekick to our hero (Aladdin (1992)),
the visuals, and the comedy remind me a lot of Hercules (1997).
The movie
doesn’t have any love interest, though—a welcome addition to Disney’s new style
of making movies, where it doesn’t always have to end with two people falling
in love.
Nice movie to go
see with the family.
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