Review by Sarai Lewis
Rating: 3 out of 5 apples
Moana is a Disney animated movie about an adventurous teenager girl named Moana who sails out on a mission to save the people of her island, Motunui. During her jaunt, Moana meets the demigod Maui, who guides her in her quest to become a great wayfinder. Together they sail across the ocean encountering monsters and crazy odds. Along the way, Moana fulfills an ancient quest of her ancestors and discovers the one thing she was uncertain about; her own personal identity.
Going into this movie I didn't really know what to expect but I thought it would be pretty fun to watch for a few reasons. The animation and story was really intriguing from the trailers and as one that has always really enjoyed Disney movies, I was interested to see what Moana had in store.
I had somewhat high expectations due to the good reviews and hype for a new era of Disney princesses. I was interested to see what the story was really about and how it would unfold. I thought this movie lived up to those expectations but didn't go without having a few flaws and pieces I thought could have been better.
Like I said, the main thing I liked was the visuals in the animation. It was the best I've seen in a Disney movie in a long time and it was really refreshing. The storyline was interesting and fun to watch, although it seemed unnecessarily drawn out in some areas. There were some parts of the movie that especially for a kids movie seemed really long which was a bit strange to me.
I thought that the movie in general was really eye popping, with nice color schemes, dynamic visuals and really nice art. I think the main piece that made the movie fun to watch was the fact that the storyline and what they showed you visually connected really well. It made relation from character to story really smooth and easy to follow and I think it worked well. I think there were a few backstory pieces with Moana and Maui that were a bit lacking and I didn't like that too much.
It felt like there was a lot of time spent of aspects of the story that weren't really worth stretching out, and in turn has less time dedicated to the actual characters themselves.
One thing I did like was the music. Although I'm not a giant fan of the 'singing and dancing' musical genre of movies, I enjoyed how it connected to the movie both with its unique sound and the culture that surrounded it.
There were a few little Easter eggs from previous Disney movies that were cute too, one of them being in an after credits scene.
Overall, this movie was cute and I really enjoyed it. I was pleasantly surprised with the entirety of the movie and I although I wouldn't call it the best Disney movie ever, it was really nicely done.