My Review of Moana (2016)

 

Written by Jared Bush And Ron Clements And John Musker And Chris Williams And Don Hall And Pamela Ribon And Aaron Kandell And Jordan Kandell

Directed by John Musker And Ron Clements

Moana: "Okay, first, I am not a princess. I'm the daughter of the chief."

Maui: "Same difference."

Moana: "No."

Maui: "If you wear a dress, and have an animal sidekick, you're a princess."

Confession: Until last night, I had never seen this movie. Yes, there's some Disney movies I still have to catch up on. This and it's 2024 sequel are high on my list and things got off to a great start here.

Setting in Ancient Polynesia, our protagonist Moana (Auliʻi Cravalho), the daughter of Tui (Temuera Morrison) and Sina (Nicole Scherzinger). They're the Chief and Chieftess of Motunui and Moana had ambitions of her own. For instance, the ocean gave Moana a mission to return the heart to Te Fiti, a powerful goddess of nature and a living island.

The backstory here also being that Te Fiti had her heart stolen by shapeshifting trickster demigod Maui (Dwayne Johnson) who wanted to give humanity a head start. This had Te Fiti to disintegrate and for Maui to lose the heart and a magical fish hook after losing to volcanic demon named Te Kā. 

Of course, Moana's parents weren't keen on her exploring the oceans but that didn't stop the latter and her pet rooster, Heihei (Alan Tudyk) from taking to the ocean after the village's vegetation was struck by blight. They were in for one hell of an adventure.

First of all, there was the Moana and Maui dynamic. The latter wasn't pleased with the former not worshipping him and the latter was similarly annoyed with the former refusing to help her get to Te Fiti. They also couldn't get away from each other as Maui's tattoos forced his hand into helping Moana.

I'm not always the biggest fan of Dwayne Johnson as an actor but he's an absolute delight as Maui. The demigod had a massive ego that the movie had even more fun tearing down to size as Moana dragged him into helping her as they battled coconut crabs and their gigantic leader, Tamatoa (Jemaine Clement). I really enjoyed him as a minor antagonist.

As for the rest of the movie, yes both Moana and Maui were forced to step upon reuniting with Te Fiti and facing off Te Kā. There's also a great use of Moana's grandmother, Tala (Rachel House) with Moana also taking her place as wayfinder and Chiefess by the end of the movie.

- Auli'i Cravalho's mother, Puanani had a villager voice role in the movie while several actors reprised their roles for the film's Māori-language dub.

- Tamatoa was a tribute to David Bowie and Alan Tudyk was the only cast member that wasn't Polynesian or from New Zealand.

- Standout music: How Far I'll Go, You're Welcome, Shiny, I Am Moana and Know Who You Are.

- Chronology: Set in Ancient Polynesia, on the island of Motunui.

Moana deserves to be seen as one of the best modern Disney movies. Lovable protagonists, great songs, animation and delving into Polynesian history, it's an absolute blast to watch. Will catch up on the sequel during the weekend.

Rating: 9 out of 10