Moana the movie

[longboard55]

We know disney does their research, Saw a lot of things the story crew took from Hawaii and other islands

Top of the mountian view looked like the view from the top of diamondhead
The catamaran rides reminded me of the waikiki beach catamarans
One of the scenes had a in a open grass area had a hut that looked a lot like the stage at paradise cove luau
Crashing thru the waves and riding the waves seemed very similar to the outrigger canoe rides in waikiki
The girl that turns into the island was similar to the sleeping giant mountain in Kauai
Of course the chicken was from Kauai

The lagoon outer reef concept and the rays in the water were from Bora Bora

 

[supernova]

They're probably all graduates of the Joe Rohde School of Budget Busting.

 

[ElsaIcySnowflake]

I wrote a long spoiler-y review over at the DisneyPinForum (my username is Manta there), so I'll share it here too.
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REMEMBER...SPOILER ALERT!
. Just as a warning, I can be very picky about movies and such even when I really like them, so just because I critique the movie doesn't mean I didn't like it. I actually enjoyed Moana very much. I will also be comparing it to Frozen, as I think that comparison is pretty inevitable. I am not an expert on movie reviews, so bear with me, please
Here goes on my spoiler-y review! I just saw the movie last Friday, so. As a whole, I think the plot was very cohesive...more so than Frozen's, to be honest. It didn't jump all over the place as much. I still like Frozen better though, but I kinda figured that I would, lol. The "twist" with Te Ka being Te Fiti sans her heart was very good in my opinion; yes, I figured it out before Moana and Maui did, but not long before. So, good plot twist. *claps* The scene with Tamatoa the crab was a bit random to me at first, but it does serve the plot-Moana uses her head and she and Maui get the fishhook back. Besides, the song was funny and suitably "comedic villain-y", and I got the impression it didn't fit with the rest of the songs on purpose for some reason. (We did see the weird monster-plant try to eat Moana right before that; the whole 'realm of monsters' was weird. So it makes sense that the monster crab's song wouldn't fit well.) The scene where manta ray-Gramma Tala talks to Moana was very Lion King-esque, but that's okay. I also very much liked that while Moana is a master wayfinder by the end of the movie, she has to actually LEARN. She’s not an instant expert just because the ocean chose her. It’s even directly addressed (Maui asking why the ocean would choose someone with zero sailing experience, etc) The happily-ever-after ending was pretty predictable, but not in a bad way. There are a few cameos-Maui briefly shapeshifts into Sven when he's practicing, and Wreck-It Ralph is in the credits. Also there's a VERY clear reference to Sebastian in the tag/closing credits scene. I think I saw Rapunzel's golden flower, too, but I could be wrong.
SONGS: I think Moana’s soundtrack meshes and goes together better than Frozen’s did. (Frozen’s seems a bit of a mish-mosh to me, to be honest, and I love that movie.) In Moana, all of the songs clearly go together. Also, all of the songs are spread throughout the movie and not all stuffed in the first half. And it doesn’t end with the (what is in my opinion) the worst song in the whole movie *coughcough*Fixer Upper*coughcough* I don’t care for Shiny as much as the others, but it seems to ‘not fit on purpose’, if that makes sense, since Tamatoa lives in the realm of monsters and is a bit…ah, loony tunes to me. I am also very impressed and happy that Auli’i Cravalho did her character’s singing herself. My three favorite songs are probably We Know The Way, How Far I’ll Go, and You’re Welcome, in that order.
SCENERY/ANIMATION: First of all, the scenery and the like (ESPECIALLY the water itself) is amazing. I think it has that nice balance between being very realistic and yet still meshing with the cartoonized characters well. (I mention this because while I loved The Good Dinosaur's backgrounds/scenery, I think it was almost too realistic, if that's even possible.) Gramma Tala's appearance as the manta ray was lovely animation-wise. I kinda figured that would happen eventually since we see her with rays in the water earlier in the movie, but still, we're talking about the animation itself at the moment. Te Fiti morphing back into the grassy island once Moana restores her heart was also pretty in my opinion. I am not an animation expert, so I will shut up about it now.
CHARACTERS: Favorite character is easily Moana. I think she’s a great character, but she’s essentially the same girl at the end that she was at the beginning. Yes, she’s learned to wayfind, but that’s a physical skill, not a character development. I guess I can say that she learns that no, she can’t do EVERYTHING on her own and isn’t quite as brave as she thinks she is? I’ll have to think about it. On first impression, I really like her as a character, but my first thought was that she’s the same girl at the end as at the beginning. She does mature though, I think. (although honestly she mostly matures during Where You Are, accepting that she’s to stay with her people and be their next chief!) Maui, on the other hand, does develop (arrogant little twerp with abandonment issues to a guy who genuinely cares about others and seems to have better real self-esteem), so I think his character arc is great. I got the impression that he is indeed full of himself, but that it’s mostly to hide deep-seated insecurities. I kinda wish we had seen him get his happy ending sans his magic fishhook, to be honest, since it was made clear that he thinks he’s nothing without it. Seeing him happy without it would have made a more realistic and satisfying ending to me. Just my opinion, and I have to admit that seeing him pretty much explode with excitement when Te Fiti restores the hook was both funny and nice.

All right, time for my direct Frozen/Moana comparisons and opinions!
First off, as much as I love Frozen, I think objectively Moana is a better movie overall. Not a ton better, but definitely better. The plot is more cohesive. There is just too much jumping around in Frozen. I still wish we got to see more of Elsa and less Adventures with Anna And Kristoff In The Snow. I mean, the best thing about Frozen was Elsa's internal struggles, to be honest. They created a unique character for a Disney princess (okay, queen) in Elsa, and she’s in barely half the movie. Also, all of Frozen’s songs are stuffed in the first half for the most part. In Moana, they’re spread out like they should be, and they all mesh together well. And the last song actually, you know…makes sense as a final song. Fixer Upper is my least favorite song in Frozen, and even if it wasn’t, it certainly doesn’t make sense to be the last song we hear in the movie. To me, Frozen’s soundtrack would be much better if we had 1)a villain song for Hans (perhaps right after he tells Anna his plans in the library?) and 2)either a Do You Want to Build a Snowman? reprise for Elsa at the end just before she thaws everything, OR a Let It Go reprise during/right after Elsa thaws everything since she knows what she really needs to let go of to control her magic at that point.
Moving on. Characters…
Moana vs. Anna vs. Elsa~ Elsa is still easily my favorite. She won’t be going anywhere on my favorite characters list anytime soon. Disney, please give us more clearly introverted characters. Not all of us are extroverts like Anna or Moana. Now here’s the thing. If I had named ANY of the other princesses (yes, Elsa’s a queen and Moana doesn’t like being called a princess, but just ignore those things at the moment), I would have said Moana was my favorite. Moana bumped Ariel out of my #2 spot. (Ariel was my favorite before I saw Frozen, and she was my favorite when I was little, lol.) So I really, really like Moana as a character; it’s just that I like Elsa’s character so much that Moana can’t bump her out of the #1 spot, that’s all. I connected better with Elsa, but that’s just me, so not a dis towards Moana or anything. I also think it was high time that Disney made another non-white protagonist…and yes, I’m a white girl. A very pale white girl that burns in the sun, actually, lol. In any event, the color of the characters’ skin has no bearing on how good the characters themselves are anyway. Also I like that Moana isn’t crazy skinny like all of the other princesses are, too. She’s thin, yes, but she’s more sturdy/athletic/strong looking and actually looks like you wouldn’t be able to break her in half. I’d also like to point out right now that Moana is NOT a clone of Elsa/Anna/Rapunzel AT ALL. Not even close.
It was also nice that even the idea of a love interest was never mentioned for Moana, much like Elsa. It’s just accepted that they’ll be the next leader for their people, case closed.
I don’t think it’s fair to compare Maui and Kristoff since they don’t really play the same role in their movies, so I won’t. (I probably should have done Moana vs Anna and Maui vs Elsa, as they’re the respective protagonist/deuteragonist of their movies, but meh. Oh well. J)
And as for the ability for a movie to make me cry…well, that just doesn’t happen very often. Very rarely actually. Like I mentioned earlier in this very long review, I just really connected with Elsa, so when she cries or is otherwise really upset, that makes me cry. Good grief, the Let It Go sequence has made me cry… Anyways, it also depends on my mood, so. Moving on. All that being said, I laughed my head off over and over throughout Moana, which is a good thing. But her story didn’t make me cry. Maybe a bit “hot behind the eyes” but that’s it. That’s just from a girl that really hates crying (especially in front of others, even if it’s at a movie), so just ignore me.
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[lockedoutlogic]

I thought the story was woefully thin...and the songs were silly.

Not too bash it...it has some good qualities...but this is not a good disney animated film in comparison

 

[Midoria]

I loved the movie, but my expectations are not very high when it comes to Disney films. I am too spoiled with the 90's films and can't seem to move on. From the start, Moana came across as being exactly what it was: Girl needs to save her people, finds supernatural help, gets to where she needs to be, achieves goal, and goes back home to a proud and adoring group of people. So when the movie ended up being exactly that, I wasn't disappointed.

For me, the beauty in the movie was in these 3 simple things:

1. The film was 100% people of color and only cast people with Polynesian ancestry to give voice to the characters. Disney has never done that, and warms my heart when I saw they decided to go that route!
2. The Polynesian inspired score and songs. Bringing in the traditional chants, drums, languages, for the score and some songs really made the movie for me. I find the songs and score that lack the strong Polynesian elements forgettable save the pop version of "You're Welcome" because it's less hokey and the rap is fun.
3. Sailing/paddling is something people still do - especially here in Polynesia. Hawaii has a "Polynesian Voyaging Society" based in Honolulu. I love that a Disney girl has a real life skill that's not only fun and relevant, but gender neutral.

 

[JustinD]

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I wanted to like the movie as I am a Disney fan, customer, shareholder.....

But the plot was thin, and pretty much Mulan. Repressed girl goes against father with the help of ghosts of ancestors, taking a little funny animal as a sidekick to save the world.

What was up with the coconut people? That was just thrown into the middle, but not really explained. They were not gods or demigods. Just, suddenly there are coconut people. Cool....

And, in the end the supernatural bad guy was just misunderstood....

And they lived happily ever after..

 

[dwheaton]

I saw Moana on Saturday with our two girls, and we all really enjoyed it. The soundtrack was great, and the story avoided a lot of the typical beats like a love story and obvious gags. Not sure if anyone is interested, but I wrote a review on my site where I blog about movies. This is definitely not a commercial venture (literally gets pennies). Just something I do for fun on the side:

The Subtle Grace of Disney's Moana

 

[SummerLuvin]

Moana in one word is fabulous. Disney is really getting it together later with the likes of this film, Zootopia, and Finding Dory.

 

[Mattimation]

I was so excited to see Moana, I really thought it would be everything I'd ever want from a movie. It's animated, it's Disney, it's got a female lead, it's tropical, and the ocean plays a big part - those are all separate elements that I love in movies, and here they were all together! Unfortunately, I have to agree with some posts above that the story was so thin I found myself bored with it. The visuals are beautiful and the I thought the songs are amazing, and I did really like the twist at the end with Te Ka, but otherwise I thought it was too simple. Some kind of additional conflict, like a central villain that stalks them throughout the movie like Ursula or Dr Facillier, would have made things so much better.

 

[Midoria]

I was so excited to see Moana, I really thought it would be everything I'd ever want from a movie. It's animated, it's Disney, it's got a female lead, it's tropical, and the ocean plays a big part - those are all separate elements that I love in movies, and here they were all together! Unfortunately, I have to agree with some posts above that the story was so thin I found myself bored with it. The visuals are beautiful and the I thought the songs are amazing, and I did really like the twist at the end with Te Ka, but otherwise I thought it was too simple. Some kind of additional conflict, like a central villain that stalks them throughout the movie like Ursula or Dr Facillier, would have made things so much better.

I can't remember where I read it (might have even been on this board), but someone said they liked Moana because it lean towards Miyazaki's work in terms of how the plot doesn't heavily rely on a super villain to make things interesting. I'm a Miyazaki loyalist, so of course part of the reason I love Moana is that she's much more Miyazaki than she is is Disney. Moana's writers decided to go with a "girl versus self" form of conflict where the main issues are self-doubt and fear of not being about to achieve their goal - something that Miyazaki is known for. Disney usually goes with the "girl versus character" conflict where the princess has to deal with angry witches, evil royal advisors, or crazy women who want to wear dogs as coats. That's fun, but I love the they took a different route this time. Miyazaki movies have an almost cult following, so there is certainly a market for the more subtle.

 

[Mattimation]

I can't remember where I read it (might have even been on this board), but someone said they liked Moana because it lean towards Miyazaki's work in terms of how the plot doesn't heavily rely on a super villain to make things interesting. I'm a Miyazaki loyalist, so of course part of the reason I love Moana is that she's much more Miyazaki than she is is Disney. Moana's writers decided to go with a "girl versus self" form of conflict where the main issues are self-doubt and fear of not being about to achieve their goal - something that Miyazaki is known for. Disney usually goes with the "girl versus character" conflict where the princess has to deal with angry witches, evil royal advisors, or crazy women who want to wear dogs as coats. That's fun, but I love the they took a different route this time. Miyazaki movies have an almost cult following, so there is certainly a market for the more subtle.

I enjoy Miyazaki movies as well, and I think his artists (though mostly him) are master story tellers. If Disney had decided to go all-out with Miyazaki-esque subtlety, I'd have enjoyed it much more too, I just saw where they were going for a big epic adventure and then was confused when said adventure was relatively conflict free. Yes, Moana had confrontations, but she overcame them quickly and moved on with no prolonged consequences. We didn't see her really be affected by fighting the Kakamora or Tamatoa, whereas Miyazaki's heroines will usually walk away from their smaller conflicts with some kind of lesson or emotional growth.

Also, something I failed to say in my first post is that I don't think Moana is a bad movie. The visuals and music are stunning, and I look forward to watching it again. Moana is probably the strongest lead character Disney has had in one of it's movies in a really long time, and I love her for that - I just found her journey a bit lackluster.

 

[Jose Kropp]

I really enjoyed the movie - particularly Lin-Manuel Miranda's songs! I even made a violin cover of "How Far I'll Go" entirely made of violins! You can check out the music video below if you're interested.

 

[Art08]

I loved the movie, the songs where fun and catchy and I really liked HeiHei.

 

[Julian42]

The movie was pretty refreshing I feel, especially since we didn't go to watch it with any expectations. Agreed, the storyline was pretty obvious - you almost knew what was going to happen next - but the visuals and animation were very good. In one line: This is a story of a Disney princess unlike any other! My girls loved it.

 

[Nurse Sully]

I really think Disney is finally back on its game with movies. First Zootopia, than Finding Dory, and now Moana which I feel tops those. The movie had a great story line and also great music.