Moana Review: SPOILER FREE

Guess what, I went and saw the new Disney movie! Shocked? I know, I HATE Disney! I'm the biggest Disney hater there is. That mouse, that castle, it all makes me sick!

Ha! Obviously I had to go see the latest animated feature as soon as I could. I remember hearing rumors of this movie for YEARS. I mean back when Tangled was in production, there was talk of it. And now it's finally a reality.

So what did I think?

Pretty good. It was nothing on the level of Frozen or Zootopia as far as epicness, giving me intense feels, and blowing me out of the water with amazingness, but it was still quite enjoyable. I'd put it on the level of Big Hero 6 which was cute and fun, but by no means groundbreaking and life-changing.

Dwayne Johnson as "Maui" and Auli'i Cravalho as "Moana"

I'll start by praising it: visuals were off the charts! You can always count on Disney to be absolutely beautiful if nothing else. The character designs, the islands, the animation on everything, just wow! I mean really, wow! So incredible! There's a reason Disney (and Pixar) dominate in this field. And I understand that they went to Polynesian islands to get an understanding of the culture and look so that they could incorporate it into the design. You can really see it and are completely swept away into that world.

I really enjoyed the music too. Again, nothing show-stopping exactly, but I still really liked the songs. All catchy and cultural. I don't think there were any songs that were even remotely boring, not even the slower songs.

The characters were a lot of fun. Moana and Maui are what the movie mostly focuses on and I enjoyed it. Moana is a good, strong female character. Maui had some issues that I will go into more detail about in a minute, but for the most part I liked him. He and Moana had a very sweet friendship.

There's some pretty intense moments. If you have a fear of the sea, my goodness will this bring that out in you. Even though the sea is Moana's friend, there are still storms and intense rides through it. Then there are monsters and supernatural beings that all look phenomenal, but are monsters nonetheless. Some younger kids might find them a little scary depending on their disposition (but really, it's not that bad. Overall, I'd chock this up to a pretty tame movie).
It did give me "da feels" at a couple moments too. I teared up a few times (but I wasn't bawling or anything).

Some issues with the movie: they were trying too hard to be "hip." There were a lot of moments where they made such forced, obvious, lame jokes that made me groan (there's one in particular that stands out to me about "tweeting" that hurts me so bad). They tried so hard to be hip and cool and play to younger audiences with lots of modern references and language, particularly with Maui. But they didn't need to do that! Disney's already drawing the young generation in with their logo alone. If a story takes place in the past, keep it in the past.

Another problem, they did not try hard enough to break out of the "Disney mould" to coin a phrase. If you watch a lot of Disney movies, they have a certain way of going about things, working through plots, setting up characters, etc. There's always an optimistic young character who dreams of something more than their current life, perhaps adventure; they meet a cynical, street-wise person who is forced into joining them; there's an animal side-kick; usually a supernatural/magical force; the main character and cynical person are usually separated around the climax and everything looks like all is lost until, wait, the main character CAN overcome whatever's the problem after all; there's always a fake out of some sort (death, disguise, something is lost, etc); then happily ever after. Tell me this doesn't sound like every Disney movie you've ever watched.
My issue with this movie is, couldn't they have tried to be a little less predictable? Break out of their own cliches at least a little? I mean, I love Disney for a reason. I love their cliches, predictability, and border-line cheesiness, but when it gets way too repetitive, it can be a little waring. There was one forced joke where Maui made fun of Moana's princess status by pointing out all her cliches, and while it was kind of funny, it did not make it untrue. Disney, just by saying it does not make it go away. Just because you're telling us you're aware doesn't mean it goes away.

Anyways, I did still enjoy the movie. While it had its issues, it was still an overall enjoyable and fun experience. I would give it a 7/10.

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