Moana Leaves Viewers Pleased

Moana is the most recent Disney animated feature length film after Zootopia’s debut earlier this year. It is also the fifty-sixth movie made by Walt Disney Animation Studios. The movie is about a Polynesian teenage girl named Moana who decides to venture across the sea to eventually encounter the famous demigod Maui. Then, Moana and Maui wayfind across the ocean.

One of the best things about Moana is the animation. Knowing that this is a Disney movie alone almost assures a well animated story to be presented to the audience. For example, both Moana and Maui’s hair is is luscious and life-like. Probably even more impressive than previous characters like Elsa and Anna, or even Rapunzel. Since one of the main themes of the movie is water, it is appropriate to assume that the water would be an animation priority. The ocean itself is characterized in this story, and it is absolutely the best animated feature of the movie. Also during the movie, you notice a mini tattoo character on Maui that moves and dances. This character was hand drawn, so it would be hard to imagine animating a 3D character while a smaller 2D character would be jumping around.

An interesting tidbit about Moana is that the directors, Jon Musker and Ron Clements, intended for the actors for the movie would also share culture with their characters. In other words, they went out of their way to search for people in the Polynesian islands to voice the characters. Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is the voice of Maui. Though he was born in California, he has Polynesian ancestry on his mother’s side of the family and went to school for a short time in Hawaii. But even though The Rock is now a part of a Disney movie, what is even more impressive is that a girl from Hawaii voiced Moana. Sixteen year-old Auli’i Cravalho — good luck pronouncing her name — was the last person to audition for the role out of hundreds of actresses, including Dinah Jane Hansen from Fifth Harmony. Originally she did not want to audition, but a friend of her mother who was an agent encouraged her to do it.

Like most Disney movie musicals, Moana is no pushover when it comes to its music. Lin-Manuel Miranda, the author, composer and lyricist for the Broadway production Hamilton composed the music for Moana. The music definitely sounds authentic to Polynesian culture, and like most Disney movies it just might make you want to dance. Moana’s song, “How Far I’ll Go” is arguably the best song in the movie. If Moana gets a Grammy for that song, it will be the second Disney song that has the word “go” in it. Even The Rock has a song of his own.

Moana is a good movie for all ages. There is something in the movie for everyone, whether it be the music, the story or the dialogue, it is the most recent animated musical that is definitely worth your time.