Friday, April 14, 2017

Moana, Movie Review


Last November, Disney came out with their newest “princess” movie, called Moana. However, she is not a princess and the plot deviates from a classic princess story. Yet it is a fun and adventurous tale.

The story follows Moana (voiced by Auli'i Cravalho), the chief’s daughter from an island called Motunui in the South Pacific. She is drawn to the ocean and wants to sail, but it is forbidden to go beyond the reef. Without spoiling too much, she ends up meeting Maui, a demigod (voiced by Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson) and they have to travel across the ocean to restore the heart of Te Fiti and bring life back to the islands before it is too late. They encounter many interesting characters along the way as well as challenges they must overcome. There is quite an interesting plot twist at the end, which I won’t spoil, but I will say that I did not see it coming.

The animation in this film was beautiful. From the ocean water to the lovely creatures to the sometimes quirky character design, it was a perfect blend. The music was also amazing, with Lin-Manuel Miranda of Hamilton writing lyrics and music for some of the songs, including the Oscar-nominated “How Far I’ll Go”. This was an epic song with beautiful vocals, in my opinion, outshining “Let It Go” from Frozen. Some have complained about Dwayne Johnson’s vocal performance in the song “You’re Welcome” and feel that he should have been dubbed with someone who could sing better. However, I thought that his performance fit the character and it didn’t need a better voice in order to be good. His voice drew us in with his comical performance along with the animation, which was energetic and amusing. The Polynesian-inspired music was also a nice touch to the aesthetic and tone of the film.

Overall, I thought Moana was a good movie with outstanding music and an interesting story perfect for a family movie night.


By: Francesca Delaney

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