Disney’s Moana is a movie for children. It has the usual Disney mix of adventure and songs, but it’s also got some more unusual elements. The heroine Moana (Auli’i Cravalho) isn’t looking to be saved by a man or even to find love; she’s trying to save her people. She also has a pretty good idea of how to do it. That’s not something we often see in the hero of a kids’ cartoon.
The movie is about Moana, daughter of Chief Tui (Temuera Morrison), leader of the Motunui islanders in ancient Polynesia. As a child, Moana finds herself drawn over and over again to the sea, which her father forbids her from exploring. When she’s older and there have begun to be problems with food supply on the island, her grandmother tells her that their people were once great voyagers who explored the Pacific islands and settled them, but who stopped doing so because of a threat from an evil demigod named Te Ka (Jemaine Clement).
Now that they’re in trouble again, Moana sets out on a mission to find the demigod Maui (Dwayne Johnson) and take him back to help her people. Of course
I am a 30 year old man who has seen every Disney movie ever made. I have also seen many of them more than once, and will watch them again when they come on TV. The only one I can’t stand is Robin Hood.
When Disney announced they were making Moana, I was excited. There’s been a dearth of good Disney movies in the last few years (Zootopia is decent), and when Disney makes a good movie, it’s almost always excellent (Tangled, Frozen). And when there’s a new Disney movie, I want to see it as soon as possible. So for my birthday I had people buy me tickets to Moana on Atom Tickets.
Moana is about a girl from the island of Motunui who ventures out into the world with her pet pig Pua to find Maui, a legendary demigod voiced by Dwayne Johnson. She must use his power to return Te Fiti’s heart and save her island from being completely consumed by the lava monster Te Ka.
The first thing you’ll notice about Moana is that it looks absolutely beautiful. The animation is on par with Brave and Big Hero Six, but the art style is more similar to Tangled and Frozen. The ocean is rendered in
I took my 2.5 year old daughter to see Moana on Friday night and it was a great movie for kids and adults. I will be taking both of my children to see this movie again.
My daughter’s favorite scene was when Moana and Maui are riding the giant sea turtle, Tala. My son will like this scene too when he is old enough to understand the movie.
The animation of the water was very impressive. The music was well done and the actors were great. I am glad that I saw this in 3D because it added a lot to the experience.
I think that most people who see this movie will enjoy it.
The newest Disney film Moana is a great example of how the studio has been working to present more diverse lead characters. I saw the movie with my two daughters (aged 5 and 8) and we all enjoyed it immensely. The movie is not without its flaws, but they are minor enough that I can still recommend it for families with young children.
The film begins with a storyteller explaining the importance of the demigod Maui in Polynesian legend. We then jump ahead to the current day where we meet Moana, the daughter of a village chieftain on an island in Polynesia. The islanders were once master navigators, but after a crisis which was caused by their overuse of natural resources their leaders decided that no one should leave the island for any reason. It’s clear from the start that Moana has a strong desire to go out into the ocean and explore, but she also respects her father’s wishes and stays on land.
When another crisis hits, though, Moana decides that she must find Maui and make him return a magical stone he stole from the goddess Te Fiti many years ago. Her grandmother helps her by giving her a boat and teaching her some navigation techniques, and she sets out to sea
I have to admit, I had a lot of apprehension going into Moana. Yes, I am a 30-year-old man who still loves Disney movies and will watch them any chance I get. But I am also the type of person who has to be dragged kicking and screaming into CGI animated movies because I just don’t like the aesthetic.
But Moana is different. The animation is so good that it looks like a moving watercolor painting at times. The way the ocean comes to life as a character in its own right is nothing short of beautiful! The songs are a big step up from anything else that has come out of Disney in recent years (sorry Frozen).
It’s also refreshing to see that there are no villains in the movie. There is a plot point involving Maui (voiced by Dwayne Johnson) working with his arch nemesis: an evil giant crab named Tamatoa (voiced by Jemaine Clement). But they’re not really evil and they don’t remain enemies for long. They are capable of redemption and are ultimately friendly characters with sympathetic motivations.
I recently saw Disney’s Moana with my six-year-old daughter. I don’t think I’ve had so much fun in a movie theater since the original Star Wars.
I had heard Moana was good, but I didn’t realize it was that good. The story is simple; the animation is gorgeous; the songs are epic and catchy without being annoying; and there’s even a smart, funny character to appeal to adults like me.
The story is very familiar:
A young protagonist must learn to live up to her destiny while overcoming obstacles put in her way by an antagonist (with a little help from some sidekicks). The protagonist journeys out into the world and returns home wiser, stronger, and more mature than when she left.
But this familiarity is not a bad thing! It gives the filmmakers room to focus on story details, such as:
Why does the protagonist have the feelings of inadequacy that make her question her abilities?
Why does she want to go out into the world and what does she hope to gain from it?
What specific skills or knowledge will she need (and how will she get them) in order to achieve her goal?
What obstacles will stand in her way? And why?
How will she
The movie is set in ancient Polynesia, specifically around the islands of Fiji, Samoa, Tonga and the Marquesas. One might hope for a story about a strong female character who is also in command of a large fleet of ships, but no, our heroine spends most of the movie on a small canoe with a buffoonish rooster.
In fact she’s not even on her own canoe. The movie opens with her father’s canoe being defeated by some other islanders; Moana is saved by the rooster and taken prisoner to another island. At first it seems as if she will be sacrificed, but then the other islanders reveal that they’re actually nice people who just want some good food, especially coconuts. It turns out that “weird coconuts” have been sprouting up all over the place, so they’ve decided to invade other islands and get their food from them instead. “Don’t worry,” they tell Moana, “we’ll be back next year to do exactly the same thing.”
The plot kicks into gear when one of Moana’s relatives shows up and tells her he’s found a way to return them to their original home: by taking over her father’s canoe and forcing him to make an annual