Moana (2016) Review

Moana is the 2016 animated film by Disney directed and writed by Ron Clements and John Musker, while other writers being Chris Williams, Don Hall, Pamela Ribon, and Aaron and Jordan Kandell. Man, those are a lot of writers.

The Plot

Moana is about a teenage girl, Moana, who is the daughter of the head chief of this Polynesian tribe. They discover that food is becoming difficult to find, resources are depleting, and a dark force is sucking the life off their land. So, Moana has to set on a journey to find the demigod, Maui, in order to save her people.

The Positives
I respect Ron Clements and John Musker for their work. They've made The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, and Princess and the Frog. I respect them so much because I think they kickstarted what I call the "Disney Renaissance era" where Disney animated movies have reached a steady increase of quality in their films. That started with Princess and the Frog, then Tangled came out, then Big Hero 6, then Zootopia, and now Moana. So, how well does Moana stack up? Guys, this movie is gorgeous. The animation is getting better and better from Disney in each movie they put out. The water animation is top notch. Excellent. The vibrant colors and imagery is astounding. The songs were great and I felt the songs didn't get in the way of the storytelling. I felt the songs were supplemental to the script, which is what every musical should be. What I was scared about is that I thought the songs were going to be annoying, but fortunately, they weren't. I liked the music. They did a fine job. The characters voiced by Auli'i Cravalho and Dwayne Johnson were both good. The chemistry between Moana and Maui was also well-done.

The Negatives
Despite the movie being fun and enjoyable, I do think that the only problem I have is that the film feels too similar. What I mean by that is that it feels that the movie is drawing a bit too much from movies we've seen before already in previous Disney films like the standard comic-relief character. Some princess who meets someone else and they don't originally like each other but then they eventually become friends. And that's not particular bad at all. It's the "we've seen it before" type of thing. Also, there isn't much core substance. You see, with Zootopia, it provides not only very good writing, a good message, and well-rounded characters, the writing material is full of core substance. There's a lot to the film is what I mean. With Moana, sure, it provides good writing, characters, and a good message, but there isn't a lot to it than that. And I feel that hinders its replay value. I would want to watch Zootopia again and again and again, but I don't feel the same way about Moana. It's a movie that I would probably want to watch maybe on a few occasions.

Conclusion
Overall, I think Moana is a good film to watch, especially with the kids. I think kids will enjoy it. Of course, it's not as good as Zootopia, however, it's still a good film nonetheless. The cons I've listed aren't really cons. They're just minor nitpicks that I felt bothered me while watching the film.

Score: B+