As the end of the year rolls around, I'd like to write a review for the last movie I'm gonna see all year. Short version, it was damn good.
Moana is, in many ways, the typical Disney musical. A headstrong teenage girl goes on an adventure not just to save her island, but also find out who she really is. On the way, she meets Maui, a self-absorbed demigod who reluctantly helps her fix the problem he himself started, and together they learn the power of friendship and self-identity and yadda yadda yadda onto the review.
Recommended for you
Starting with the good: the animation is stellar. I'd argue it's the most beautiful 3D movie Disney has put out, at least next to Tangled. The water and sand are untouchable in how touchable they look. The music is also great- "How Far I'll Go" and "You're Welcome" are going to be in my head for months. Lastly, the characters of Moana and Maui are very sweet and funny, and they bounce well off one another. Disney's decision to get an actual Pacific Islander, and a relatively unknown person at that, to play the role was the right decision. Another thing I love about Disney- they don't feel like they have the same obligation as Dreamworks to stuff their animated casts full of celebrities (give or take a Robin Williams and, now, a Dwayne Johnson performance). It just works.
Now, in terms of some less likable elements- if you've ever seen a Disney movie, or, heck, a movie, you've seen the plot to Moana. That doesn't mean it wasn't done well- it just means you've seen it before. It wasn't creatively bankrupt- not even close- but it wasn't perfect either. Certainly not 97% on Rotten Tomatoes level, though they gave Beauty and the Beast 93%, so I don't quite know how much I can trust their word.
Also, the movie is an hour and fifty-three minutes long. To put that in perspective, the same directors also did Aladdin, which was an hour and thirty-one minutes long. It's not like there were any boring parts, or dead weight musical numbers (unlike some Disney movies, *cough, Frozen, cough*), but the first act was probably a bit longer than it needed to be, and the third act was, ironically, cut a bit short. Not to spoil anything, but one of the characters does something and then later regrets their decision, but it's never explained why, and that just really irked me.
But overall, what did I think? I really liked it. Zootopia was really good, and it's probably smarter than this movie, but this is my genre of movie. Why are you still reading?! Go out and see it, and, if you already have, see it again!
