“Moana” – To the Seas and Back with Disney’s Latest Inspiring Heroine

We need more films or animations like Moana. Sure, its gorgeous oceanic visuals and exciting seafaring adventures might be the main lure for theatregoers but at the heart of this latest Walt Disney/Pixar production is an empowering tale for girls. In the age of film studios catering mostly to teenage boys, Moana is a breath of fresh air.
 
Despite the demigod Maui claims that she’s a princess (“you’re wearing a dress, has an animal sidekick—you’re a princess”) but the titular character insists that she’s not. The plucky and resourceful Moana (voiced by Auli'i Cravalho) is the daughter of the chief of Monutui tribe whose home lies in a small, idyllic Polynesian island. Though her heart is always inclined to explore the open ocean, but her father prefers to groom her to govern their island inhabitants instead, forbidding her to venture beyond the reefs. However she soon hits the water in order to find Maui (Dwayne Johnson) so he can return the life-giving heart he stolen long ago from the island goddess, Te Fiti, and cure the plague that’s been hitting her home island.
 
No longer are we in the days of Disney heroines must have a prince charming; now we have heroines who ultimately realized that sisterhood is the most powerful bond of all as in Frozen, and, in the case of Moana, realizing her inner strength and not conforming to what society tells her to. Oh she don’t need no man. Her eventual trek across the open sea with the arrogant Maui felt more like a buddy picture, crackling with wit and good natured jest. Each of them has their self-discovering arc: while Moana burrows within, the shape-shifting Maui defined himself with his magical fish hook, and once it’s lost he felt hollow and useless.
 
The middle part of Moana consisted of several rousing action sequences starting with the ambush by vicious coconut pirates called Kakamora being the highlight (said to be a homage to the set pieces of Mad Max: Fury Road), and the scenes in the lair of a giant, gilded crab called Tamatoa (Jermaine Clement) is both creepy and comical. And, of course, it wouldn’t be a Disney animation without a few good musical numbers, this time courtesy of current Hollywood darling, Lin-Manuel Miranda of Broadway’s Hamilton fame, collaborating with New Zealander Opetaia Foa'i and composer Mark Mancina to create amazingly catchy and rousing tribal tunes, such as How Far I’ll Go, Shiny, and Logo Te Pate.
 
Moana’s animation is amazing (and perhaps worthy to be seen in 3D, though it still looks wondrous in 2D), visualized by a quartet of directors who are veterans of the Disney animation canon, especially Ron Clements and John Musker (The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Hercules, The Princess and The Frog), while co-directors Don Hall and Chris William (Big Hero 6) helps to polish things up post-production.
 
Watching a Disney animation feels like you’re revisiting your childhood home and remembering all the good memories. From the dazzling visuals to the unique characters to the feet-tapping tunes to the heart-warming simple message—it tells you that all will be good in life. And I love that they’re still in the business of making a timeless story (instead of creating ones crammed with current pop culture like the Shrek series), although sometimes they try to have a hip inside joke like when Maui signed Moana’s paddle with the beak of her animal sidekick (thankfully still the staple of Disney outings), Heihei the dumb chicken, and called it “tweeting”. (The short animation preceding the film, Inner Workings, about the tug of war between the brain and the heart of an office drone, is also a timeless gem.)
 
As far as I can recall, Disney animations never fails to tapped into the broad range of my emotions: excited, amused, touched, overjoyed, scared, teary, worried, excited again, and, finally, hopeful. Moana gave me all that reactions, and then some. One of the best of 2016!