Over the holiday
weekend, I went to see Disney's newest animated feature, Moana. It was a
triumph on many levels -- though I felt it didn't quite reach the
heights set by Disney of late.
The
movie absolutely continues Disney's push to tell more topical stories
with more progressive characters. First, Moana is a welcome
addition/revision to the stable of Disney princesses. As the daughter of
the chief of a Polynesian tribe, she's "royalty." But as she is being
groomed to lead the tribe herself, her destiny is far greater than to be
an object of affection. (At the risk of giving a very minor spoiler,
there isn't even a romantic subplot of any kind in the movie.) Second,
the threat that spurs the whole plot into motion is climate change;
Moana's lush island is dying, and her quest is to see a delicate natural
balance restored.
A
lot of things work well in service of these modern messages. For one,
it's simply a gorgeous movie -- I think the most visually stunning
Disney or Pixar has ever produced. The movie is stuffed full of fertile
vegetation, mighty ocean waves, and menacing lava floes. There are
bioluminescent creatures, a character with living tattoos that comment
on the action, and scenes set in otherworldly dreamscapes. There are
sequences that seem wholly original, and others that seem meticulously
crafted to evoke recent pop culture titans like The Hobbit and Mad Max: Fury Road. The Thanksgiving release feels appropriate; this is a
Thanksgiving feast for the eyeballs.
The
characters also make a good impression. I've already noted the
mold-breaking qualities of Moana herself (though I mention her again now
to highlight the vocal work of Auli'i Cravalho). Moana also has a fun
and memorable grandmother named Tala, voiced by Rachel House. Casting
Dwayne Johnson as demigod Maui is a perfect use of his public persona,
and a jumping off point for deeper things. And the animators surely had a
field day with Maui, probably the most... well, animated Disney
character since the Genie in Aladdin. Also harkening back to Aladdin (in
this case, to the magic carpet and the monkey Abu), Moana includes a
great non-speaking character in the rooster Heihei (proudly labeled by
one of the movie's directors as "the dumbest character in the history of
Disney animation.")
It's
harder for me to peg just what secret sauce was missing for the movie
overall. I think one shortcoming -- and I'm sure some Hamilton fans will
dispute me on this -- is the music. The songs of Moana are written by
Opetaia Foa'i, Mark Mancina, and Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda.
They definitely capture the Polynesian flavor of the story and advance
the plot, but I don't feel they make a lasting impression. Forget "Let
It Go" levels of earworminess, I don't even think there was a "Do You
Want to Build a Snowman?" in here. (Maybe Maui's self-congratulatory anthem "You're Welcome"?)
The
movie might also be a touch too long. In rigid adherence to the hero's
journey formula, Moana (the character) goes through perhaps one too many
setbacks only to (of course) rebound. Or perhaps it's that the
rebounding is sometimes too easy for you to have ever taken the setback
all that seriously.
Still,
whatever drawbacks Moana may have are minor. And I'd say the film
outshines Disney's other effort this year, Zootopia. I give Moana
a B+.
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