Moana (2016)

Genre

Adventure | Animation | Comedy | Fantasy | Musical

Directors

Ron Clements | John Musker

Country

USA

Voice Cast

Auli'i Cravalho, Dwayne Johnson, Rachel House, Temuera Morrison, Nicole Scherzinger, Jemaine Clement, Alan Tudyk, Oscar Kightley, Troy Polamalu, Louise Bush, Christopher Jackson

Storyline

When a terrible curse incurred by the Demigod Maui (Dwayne Johnson) reaches a Polynesian island, Moana Waialiki (Auli'i Cravalho), the daughter of the chief (Temuera Morrison) of the island, sets off on a journey across the Pacific to set things right.

Opinion

After the disappointing "Frozen", Disney comes with a summer-ish princess film for which I had pretty good expectations. I finally saw it the other night, and unfortunately it killed my vibes. Why? Well, all those positive reviews made me think Disney did great, but they just basically did the same film with different settings.

"Moana" is indeed a very typical, clichéd Disney princess movie. However, somehow - I frankly don't know how that was possible - the film managed to be entertaining. Still, not quite the movie one would expect to win awards.

Leaving the title aside - it sounds like moaning. Also, there's a porno actress with that name so I don't know how appropriate that is for a kids movie, but nevermind -, the biggest flaw of the film is the story. I knew it would be predictable, but what bother me the most is that it seems like the filmmakers didn't care much for it. It lacks ideas and proper development. And I wasn't really expecting that since earlier this year Disney delivered a way stronger story with "Zootopia".

The characters are pretty much the same we are used to see in every Disney princess film. There's the optimistic heroine, the self-absorbed douche, the funny character - the granma in this case -, and the animal sidekick. But they are very likable, especially the heroine, Moana, and the voice cast did a good job, with Dwayne Johnson providing the necessary humour to support Auli'i Cravalho in her debut.

On the good side there's also the catchy songs, the animation, and the breathtaking scenery. But most important, finally the filmmakers didn't feel the need to throw in a romance. It was about time.