Ladies and gentlemen, we are in the middle of another Disney Renaissance.
For those unfamiliar with the phrase, the "Disney Renaissance" is what many critics call the late 80's/early 90's period of Disney animated musicals that were consistently well received by audiences and critics. You know the ones: The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, The Lion King, and the like.
And it is my sincerest belief that after Frozen and now Disney's latest greatest, Moana, that another Disney Renaissance is on the horizon.
The reviews you have heard so far are most dashingly correct: Moana is a wonderful film. Compelling story, great music, awesome mythos, and likable characters, Moana is shaping up to be another Disney classic that will be celebrated by many.
The story is great, as I've mentioned before. It focuses on Moana (obviously) and her journey with fun-loving demigod Maui (voiced by The Rock) to restore a magical gem to its rightful place so that darkness doesn't overtake the world.
And yet, the beauty of it is, it's so much more than that.
The story also focuses on Moana's own character. Moana is a girl who loves the sea and the alluring possibilities of the wide open ocean, which does create a clash between her and her father, who, in keeping tradition with many past chiefs of the island they live on has forbidden sailing beyond the reef due to the ocean's danger.
And I know what you're thinking: the writers of the film purposefully put the parent in the wrong so that rebelling against him can be justified, the implications of that being what they may. On the outset, it sounds like another Little Mermaid. Do what you want despite what your parents say and you'll get what you want in the end.
But here's where the movie truly shows its storytelling skills. It provides the viewers with perspective, from both Moana and her father, in order to show that their conflict is not as simple as one person being totally right and another totally wrong.
Without spoiling too much, it is revealed that Moana's father himself tried to rebel and take a boat past the reef with a friend of his when he was a young man. A storm hit, and the father lost his friend to the sea.
With this perspective, the relationship takes a new mold, not a simple, he's right she's wrong, character arch. We get to understand just why the father is so adamant about staying on the island and thus sympathize with his position.
Heck, at one point, Moana even tries to take a boat past the reef just to be rebellious and she herself almost drowns.
It isn't until Moana learns of the danger threatening her island and her people and that she has to journey out past the reef and into the open sea in order to save them does the film put her on her quest, the overall moral implications being that responsibility is more important than feuding with family.
However, yes, Moana does have to defy her father's wishes in order to do this. And even though the film explicitly displays that defying her father's wishes just to do so is irresponsible and dangerous, and even though the film provides perspective on why Moana's father wants her to stay on the island, there is that act of rebellion still being displayed. And even though the circumstances force her to do so, I can understand the fear of a small child not quite understanding fully the situation surrounding Moana's defiance and could gain the wrong message from the movie.
Overall, though, the film's story and character development truly shines through and is one of the strongest parts of the film, another strong part being the music.
Simply put, Moana's music is completely and totally awesome.
The islander/tribal theme of the movie carries over to its music, and Lin-Manuel Miranda's composition shines through with blinding colors. The beats are infectious, the melodies memorable, and the songs stupendous. I downloaded parts of the soundtrack when I got home, it was just that good.
The best part of the music overall though is its feel. Every song (save one) is very good at putting its audience into a mood, be it happy, cheerful, triumphant, depressed, the score covers it all.
There is one song that fails to do so, I will admit. It's called Shiny, and it's sung by this random crab that shows up right the crap out of nowhere and then is never discussed again. However, that's one flaw amidst a wonderful soundtrack.
The only other problem I had with the music in Moana was a rather simple one: it just needed more songs.
There are only four main songs sung in the movie (and yes, The Rock sings one of them. He raps in it too, and it's wonderful). Two of them are reprised several times throughout the film. Now these reprises are great, don't get me wrong, it's just that with the great song lineup that this movie had, why not add more songs that could be just as memorable as the others? Bit of a nitpick, though, on an otherwise great score.
So, you've read my review so far and you've seen where I praised the story, character development, and music. You've seen where I thought the movie was flawed in its delivery and soundtrack. And I know one question is probably in your mind right now: is it better than Frozen?
The short answer is.....well....not quite.
Don't get me wrong, Moana is awesome, for all the reasons I've just stated and more. I haven't even discussed Maui's own character development and how well it's handled, providing even more varied perspective for its audiences.
However, Frozen was the landmark that it was for a few reasons, and that's what, in the end, is going to be the main reason why Moana will probably have to suffer the curse of being in Frozen's shadow.
Frozen had a great score just like Moana, but unlike Moana, it had more songs of more diverse sounds but with just as equal quality. Frozen had its own awesome reprises as well, but the number of "main songs" that Frozen had outnumber Moana's considerably.
That's another nitpick on Moana's soundtrack: its songs did stick to their theme quite strictly. That's not necessarily a bad thing, it provides unity to the music, but it also hinders differentiation considerably.
That's not to say you can't tell each song in Moana apart, it's just that there is an undeniable similarity to most if not all of them.
Also, Frozen's story was a bit more unique, just from strict contrast.
Moana's story overall has plenty of unique elements in it, but it does borrow some from Little Mermaid as I discussed earlier. The story is handled more maturely and is better written than The Little Mermaid, but the similarity is there nonetheless.
Frozen's story was pretty original, or at least as original as a fairy tale adaptation can be. It took the traditional Disney formula and turned it on its head, providing a unique plot twist that I don't think many saw coming (if you did then hooray for you).
Again, not detracting from Moana's greatness, but, critically analyzing it when compared to Frozen, it is understandable why Frozen is the cultural juggernaut and Moana, at least for now, has not been.
However, Moana deserves its place among the rank and file of the other great classic Disney films. Its awesome story, characters, and music make it another amazing Disney movie, and it serves as proof that great Disney films are still in vivacious supply.
Keep it coming, Disney. Keep the New Renaissance alive.
