Moana
by Jared Bush
Walt Disney Animation Studios
This is a stressful weekend in the US, no matter how you cut it. The worry about “will the turkey be dry” or “my family likes to fight over who plays the hat in our annual game of Monopoly” or “I have to rely on public transit to get to dinner and/or get home” is real. Happily, Disney has a remedy for this, and the politely released it this weekend because it’s like they KNEW.
Moana is a delight with grins, laughs, tears, and The Rock rapping. Basically it has everything.
This is the story of a girl (she says she’s not a princess, but Maui tells her that she’s the daughter of the chief with an animal sidekick, so…) from the South Pacific who is destined to be the leader of her people, but feels drawn to the sea. She is told by her father that their island is all they need, and that’s it’s dangerous beyond the reefs, but we have all known enough teenage girls in our time to know that this is not gonna keep Moana on dry land.
In addition to all of this, there is the story of Maui, a demi-god and hero who stole the heart of the island goddess Te Fiti, and then lost it and his magic fishhook, and as a result evil and darkness is spreading across the world. Moana needs to find Maui, help him find his hook, then return the heart to Te Fiti and save the world! Simple, right?
This is a Disney movie. It’s beautiful (SO BEAUTIFUL) and the characters are all delightful – especially Moana and Maui. Maui is voiced by Dwayne Johnson- aka The Rock- and he’s having the TIME OF HIS LIFE. Moana’s voice actress is Auli’i Cravalho, and she is perfect.
One of the areas in which I think Disney is showing improvement when it comes to stories about specific cultures and places is how much research they put into not just the story but the visual styles and who they cast as voice talent. The creative team for the movie formed the Oceanic Story Trust to help with accuracy and sensitivity. They took trips throughout the South Pacific to learn about the cultures and get visual references. (THERE IS DANCING! INCLUDING A HAKA!) The major characters that are humans are voiced by actors of South Pacific descent.
The music is also catchy as all hell – it’s written by Lin-Manuel Miranda and Opetaia Foa’i and yeah, they’ve been leaning HARD on Lin-Manuel’s involvement (I cannot blame that). The Rock raps! He’s not bad! It’s fun! Moana’s “I am” song is gorgeous. The voyaging song is brilliant.
This is a remedy for what ails us. I laughed (especially at Moana’s poor, stupid chicken Heihei) and Maui’s sentient tattoos. I cried. I grinned at everything and loved all of it. (There’s no love interest at all, which I know will make some parents very happy.)
Also the short that precedes Moana, Inner Workings, is a little in the vein of Inside Out, with the push and pull between the head and the heart of a poor guy who has a boring job and a brain that’s constantly evaluating the likelihood of death based on choices our hero is faced with. He works at a firm called Boring, Boring and Glum. It’s perfect!
But let me tell you why I think this film is even more important, right here and right now. We’re at a crossroads where diverse art featuring diverse people is vital. Something as huge as Disney showing little kids a world in which a woman of color saves the world (that’s not a spoiler. She saves the world) is what we need. Millions of kids are going to see this movie, and they will be brought by their parents. and maybe, just maybe, this image will worm its way into people’s heads. I have hope that Art will be one of the things that helps us turn the corner.
Finally, there’s this story, which tells you more than anything why having Disney princesses from all over the world is important. We are all here, we are all important, and everyone has stories to tell. Moana’s story could not be more timely.
Moana is in theaters now and you can find tickets (US) at Fandango and Moviefone.
I saw it Wednesday and it was marvelous!
I’ve seen it twice and I spent 80% of both viewings in or near tears. It’s such a beautiful movie.
We’ve taken our five year old to see it twice and she loves it, but not as much as my husband does. He can’t stop talking about how there are so many things that are just a total improvement–loving parents, overprotective but not autocratic (I’m looking at you, King Triton) father, and the fact that there’s no mention of ‘because you’re a girl’ in her becoming chief or her sailing on her own. It’s, because you could freaking DIE, not because you’re a female.
Every time I saw the stingrays I cried like a baby. I loved the matriarchal force of the grandmother and how she influences Moana so much to listen to her heart. THe I AM MOANA part gave me chills and we’ve been listening to We Know the Way on pretty much constant loop in the car.
Love it.
I saw it Friday and, after a week at Stressful, Stabby & Get Out of My Way Before I Kill You, it was just what I needed. (I love my job… I love my job…)
We Know the Way choked me up and the whole movie was simply beautiful. The Rock was such an adorable doofus and Moana’s refusal to listen to his mansplaining, her courage and her heart brought tears to my eyes.
And bonus points for the shout-out to Mad Max: Fury Road.
Thanks for this review. One of the few downsides of having grown children is we don’t see every halfway decent kids’ flick to come along, so I depend on reviewers I trust to make recommendations or offer warnings. I’ll plan on seeing Moana now.
Darlene–back at you! I have grown kids and no grandchildren yet and so have haven’t seen all the recent princess movies. I watched Frozen on cable recently and was enchanted. I even like the song since I don’t have it playing constantly by enchanted girl children. I’d like to slip out this holiday season and actually see this movie–can I borrow a child somewhere so I don’t look weird?
@Joy If you haven’t seen it, I also recommend Tangled. Really loved that movie. And don’t let no kid stop you! My husband and I still go to see Disney/Pixar movies on our own. 😉
thanks for putting this on my radar–after reading about it some more, I CANNOT WAIT TO WATCH THIS!!!
@June: Tangled is my comfort-watch – whenever I feel down or have had a frustrating day, I pull out my well-worn DVD. I’ll probably have to buy another DVD soon. I have no children of my own, and my nephews long ago passed the point where they would rather be caught dead than at a Disney/Pixar movie with their aunt, but I still indulge (I bawled through Inside Out). I definitely plan to see Moana as a reward for grading my students’ finals.
I watched it yesterday. I’m in love. I cried through the movie and I never cry. It was just…perfect. I started a new job and the politics have been horrible and depressing. American politics have been horrible and depressing.
And then Moana came along….Miranda’s emphasis (as it always is) on who tells our stories, a little brown baby (who could be MY little baby) who is oh-so-loved by her parents, courage, no love interest, sometimes everyone needs help, Maui, another culture and the lack of emphasis on her being a GIRL.
I really want to see this. 🙂 A friend of mine is of Samoan heritage and she is over the moon about it.
saw it Tuesday for a review, loved it!
I’m reassured by your review because the trailers seemed to be all about Maui, so I was starting to wonder why it wasn’t called ‘Maui’ instead of Moana. Down here in the Pacific, we don’t get to see it till Boxing Day 🙁
Having grown up in Hawaii and being a huge Disney fan, I was so excited to see this. I enjoyed it, but it didn’t quite hit the ‘this will be one of my favorite Disney films’ level. (Note: Exhaustion and an overheated theatre may have influenced my first impression as well as my sister’s, since she even fell asleep for a bit.) I am definitely planning a second ‘take’ in the near future.
I will compliment that they did an absolutely wonderful job capturing the various cultures of the Pacific Islanders, and the movie felt very immersed in Polynesia (other than the British crab – what the…?). Throughout the movie, I heard my Maori neighbors, my Hawaiian teacher, my Samoan ‘uncle’ and simply the overall cadence of the blend of island voices I grew up with.
Surprisingly, I didn’t really leave humming any tune, as I usually do with a Disney musical – but Moana’s ‘anthem’ was very good and I have a feeling it will get even better with repeat exposure. If pressed, I would have to name Maui’s solo as my favorite. I did get hung up a bit on the voyagers song, as the repetitive ‘auwe, auwe’ was the one melody that resonated – but I didn’t get the lyric at all, since in Hawaii, ‘auwe’ is how you would say ‘Oh, man/sheesh/awww!’ as a disappointed response to something negative. (“Billy just broke the TV!” “Auwe!”) Perhaps it has a different meaning in another Polynesian culture that was reflected.
Also, Pua got shafted on the screen time. I get it, but he’s sooooo cute!
All in all, another very well done flick by Disney. I didn’t miss a prince at all, and the quest and its resolution was satisfying. Moana and Maui make a great comedic duo, and I absolutely agree that the casting was perfect. A hui hou, you two!
@Merm8fan
The crab is voiced by Jemaine Clement, who is actually from New Zealand. (He’s one half of Flight of the Conchords!)
@Jennifer in GA
That’s good to know, but he sure played the character British instead of Maori for some reason. I thought maybe it was a swipe at the European explorers. The Captain Cook of crabs, if you will. But the name Tamatoa doesn’t back that up, so, who knows? The line about his eyes sure was hilarious, though! 🙂
After reading several reviews of this movie at Rotten Tomatoes, I have to say that as a writer of Regency romance as well as a Regency-set mystery series which absolutely no one reads for the puzzles (it’s all about the characters and Will They or Won’t They), I’m frustrated by the numerous reviewers who say “Thank goodness there’s no love interest!” I totally get that we don’t want to give girls the idea that they’re incomplete without a man, but since the craving for romantic love seems to be hard-wired into us, what’s wrong with showing girls what that should look like? Granted, in most of the early Disney princess films, much as I love them, the prince is little more than wallpaper (well, wallpaper that sings and dances very well), but it seems to me there’s a place for a well-told animated love story where two people make each other better than either of them were alone? (Tangled does this very well, imo.) I’ll still go to see Moana, but I’m glad to have been forewarned about the lack of romance; otherwise I would have been disappointed.
I watched this in the middle of a theater filled with Hawaiian families, and I cried. Frequently. What a gorgeous story, with all of the love and respect for elders, Moana’s capabilities, those voices! and “Tutu” (as the children in the theater kept calling Grandmother) dancing hula. Also, I learned from my friend who speaks Hawaiian, ‘moana’ means ocean (this is also true in Maori). So, there you go. Also also, the husband of a friend of mine was an animator on the movie and I stayed to watch his name in the credits. Their daughter is one of the Show Babies and also has a credit! Aloha!