Moana Review

[kris_creations]

It's risky to have someone who hasn't done ANY voice acting before be brought in as the MAIN CHARACTER, but Auli'i did amazingly well!!!!

[Alpha]

We're not mentioning "Shiny?" That was the song I was the most interested in hearing your opinion on.

Or was that a mass hallucination in my movie theater. That would make so much sense sadly.

[femoman]

The explanation I like to give for Maui's bulkiness is that, simply put, a big strong guy would honestly be more likely to have that physique than a chiselled upside-down-triangle superhero physique. It's the reason why so many people you see on those World's Strongest Man competitions actually look more chubby than muscular: If you're gonna be doing huge amounts of lifting heavy weights it's important to have a wide muscular waistline to support all that weight. They're not fat, they just have alot of muscle in their waistline. bodybuilders are built like superheroes with chiselled muscles and trim waists and broad shoulders. But actual strong men are built more like fridges, with waistlines as bulky as their chests.

[Lion-Mutt]

C'mon. People need to calm down about Maui's design. He's the only "big" character in the huge cast of Polynesian characters seen in the film, and a majority of his size is muscle.. Hell. He has to be big -- HE'S MAUI. SHAPESHIFTER. DEMIGOD OF THE WIND AND SEA. HERO OF ALL.

[inakamoto]

What about 'We Know the Way'? That was a great song, in my opinion

[Loremastrful]

I couldn't help calling the Legend of Moana: The Last Oceanbender.

I give it a slightly higher than Frozen or Tangled. Moana had a sense of fun and energy that's absent in Frozen and badly imitated in Tangled. And what sold me on Moana as a hero instead of a Princess is the Realm of Monsters. She is in over her head, but this is what needs to be done to continue the quest so off she goes. I like that go-getter spirit.

[CybeargPlays]

Wait... Is there some problem with Maui being big? The way you say it makes it sound like some kind of controversy. I'd have thought the fact that he has a "chubby muscular" build would be hailed as Disney being more diverse in its body types, just like how Moana herself is thicker than the typical Disney princess.

[Pinkpanda]

i think what's even more hilarious is that moana may not even know what a friggin' princess is and takes it as an insult

[vertibee]

the Sing trailer is on Youtube now. I'm surprised it hasn't been taken down yet for showing the entire movie.

[Jesturd]

'Moana' is one of my personal rare cases where, yes, the movie is formulaic, but the execution is done so incredibly well I don't care if it follows a traditional formula to get the job done. This movie has so much charm and is so delightful I didn't notice most of the familiar beats (the "I Want" song, the sidekick leaves the main protagonist and eventually comes back to save the day before the end, the "chosen one" journey and story beats), and quite frankly, after this movie, I've learned if a story is following a formula, it doesn't matter that it is doing so and not offering anything groundbreaking as long as the execution is done well. If it gets under my skin and I can take something away from it, it did its job.

Not every movie needs to be groundbreaking or shake up the status quo to be good, or even great. The Original Star Wars is a by-the-numbers storyline, but nobody cares or notices because it was executed in a different, fresh way and it was executed well. I get a similar feeling when watching Moana: it's a by-the-numbers storyline, but I didn't care or notice because it was executed in a different, fresh way (with the Samoan Polynesian aesthetic, protagonist who didn't have a love interest) and it was executed really well.

Also, the music in Moana is fantastic. We Know The Way and Where You Are are incredibly catchy, You're Welcome is a lot of fun, I Am Moana is beautiful, and How Far I'll Go is a better ballad/expression of what the protagonist wants than Let it Go (fite me fanboys). What I loved about the music in this movie is every piece of music (besides, arguably, Shiny) both progresses the story and reveals something about the character/situation they focus in on. Where You Are reveals the attitude of the Island Moana and her tribe live on, You're Welcome expresses Maui's ego and douche-baggery, How Far I'll Go emphasizes Moana's desire to explore the ocean, despite her father's and tribe's will. Frozen did this with some of its songs, but as you mentioned Cellspex, "In Summer" and the song with the Trolls were both absolutely unnecessary and, for me, both songs took away from the experience rather than add to it. Every song in Moana added to the movie and the experience.

I love this movie. We get Classic Disney at its finest with Moana and Modern Disney at its finest with Zootopia in the same year (Modern Disney meaning a Disney movie more modernized themes and more "new" ideas). That's awesome.

[Mathmachine]

I think in any other year, Moana would have been the best animated movie of the year. But Zootopia came out this year, and I still think that was better overall. Still, this is easily the best animated musical we've had in a long time.

[MrMakulu]

It's funny that people are upset over Maui's build. Firstly, I live in New Zealand and have met pacific islanders that were heavy set despite being in good shape so while Maui's build is exagerated it's not unbelievable. Secondly, Maui is a shape shifting demigod. None of the other male character's are built like him so it's not like the movie is somehow saying that he his the stereotypical build for pacific islanders. I would have actually found it more distracting if they had built him like the Rock actually looks.

[knife]

I cried during this movie. . .the music and visuals were so pretty, i couldn't handle it

[TheKersey]

2:06 Intersting, I have a list like that too that includes;

"You'll never get away with this!'
"No one understands me!"
"Drop your weapons or I [threat]" (NOTE: Not so much the phase but the STUPID action of the heroes ALWAYS giving in to the threat)

[geminijoule]

wait what? i thought gravity falls ending was fantastic. i mean, it could have held for another short season, but the weirdmageddon experience was amazing!

[Texas-girll]

Lin Manuel Miranda will be working on the little mermaid remake !!

[kris-jkjm]

"The Hamilton Guy"?? how DARE you Cell Spex **sniff** his name is Lin-Manuel Miranda, the future president of the Inited States and a cinnamon roll at

[CybeargPlays]

While I understand that there are a few cliches on display in the third act in the way the main characters act, and there's not much nuanced motivation to the main villain right off the bat... [SPOILERS]

What about the villain was predictable and dull? I thought the idea of a tender goddess of life turning into a furious, volcanic goddess of death and back was a brilliant idea, and perfectly reflects the actual death/life cycle of actual Pacific islands. Was that obvious and I just missed it?

[Sparklefanboy]

My only real qualm with Moana was that- I didn't really know where the Ocean stood. Yeah I got that it was Moana's friend but it only seemed to help her when it felt like it. I got that their were things that she needed to do on her own without the ocean's help and perhaps the Ocean can't go (directly) against the gods (not counting demigods) but in the final act she commanded the ocean to open a path to Te Kā it split like the red sea did for Moses

[carlottath]

Maui could have a big bulk for possibly two reasons: First, he's a demigod. He doesn't have to look like normal people (though I don't necessarily agree with that since the only thing they did to make him look different than a normal person would be the bulk up). And second, and I think more likely of the reasons: the relationship. As in there ISN'T a relationship. Moana is the "I don't need no man" modern Disney princess, and to avoid fans immediately pairing her off they might have chosen to bulk Maui up and put them physically at odds with each other. If Maui had been the typical pretty boy Disney usually brings out fans would have immediately expected/wanted him to end up with Moana... so it's possible they just tried to avoid this entirely.

Or, maybe they bulked him up for some other reason. XD This is all mere guess and conjecture, of course, no one will really know why they chose to do it until the bonus features 20 years from now (I'd normally say "until the dvd release" but let's be realistic here, Disney tends to deliberately hold back bonus content from initial releases because they want to resell you the dvd again later).