Review: Moana

BY CASSIDY NOWOSAD

I think most people will agree that the last Disney princess movie Frozen was overplayed and a bit overrated. However, the new Disney princess movie Moana is very well created and offers a unique storyline created by Ron Clements and John Musker known for previous famous hand drawn animations such as The Little Mermaid and Aladdin. Moana (whose name fittingly means ‘deep water’) is a fantasy/action movie about a Polynesian girl who seeks to explore beyond her island of Montunui. The movie was intended to empower a female lead who seeks to go beyond her society because of her independent and strong-willed nature. Moana goes out of the cookie cutter princess role, which is poked fun at throughout the movie.

In particular, the backstory of the villain explains his course to evil, which was incredibly moving.

As for the animation, the effects are so finely detailed and well-made, right down to every hair on each character. The soundtrack is beautifully composed by Lin Manuel Miranda who is most known for his hit musical Hamilton. Each song gives this amazing feeling and really connects the audience to the characters immersing them into this amazing movie. One of the main characters, Maui, is played by Dwayne Johnson, and the voice rendition really suits the Hercules-esque vibes Maui gives. As for Moana’s voice actor (Auli’i Cravalho, a Hawaiian girl who is new to the movie scene), she really gives this spunky and clever attitude to Moana, making the character come to life.

I would overall rate this movie 4/5; the songs were moving, the animation was stunning, the characters were unique, but the overall message of the movie could have been improved because it doesn’t give a unique one compared to many other princess movies. Anyone wanting to see this with family or friends I would recommend should, it has a lot of slapstick jokes and songs that really entrance the audience into the movie.