Moana product reviews

For as long as I can remember my girls have been begging to see Moana, I had heard rave reviews from everyone saying its the best movie they have ever seen, so as it was Easter I thought what better time then to sit down, surrounded by chocolate and watch it as a family. Typically I find when everyone loves a movie I usually hate it or sit there trying to figure out what the real appeal is, yes it was breathtakingly beautiful and the scenes of the sun on the ocean or seeing Turtles swim under the sea were mesmerizing and I was reminded what a magical planet we live in but I found the story rather slow, drawn out and boring. But, my girls were absolutely taken by it and loved it so much that for the next four nights we had to watch it every night and then it hit me and I also became under its spell.

The biggest draw card to the boat ride would be HeiHei the extremely brainless chicken who adds the comic aspect the movie desperately requires. Maui's arrogance caused a few smirks and his song 'You're Welcome' has definitely became a huge fan favourite. Moana is tough and strong and lets the girls see that nothing should get in your way and then there is the crazy Crab Tamatoa who really is not nice and absolutely detested him to begin with but like all Jermaine Clement characters has slowly made it to a role we can enjoy. We also enjoyed the ocean helping Moana out even if its methods were unorthodox at times.

It is dark and has a few scary scenes but as it finishes in the most breath taking way it is worth it. It shows that stealing is a crime and you should never take something from anyone, no matter even if your attentions were pure and were not meant to hurt anyone. I loved the theme of repercussions that kept showing up throughout the movie and not to make assumptions about what the other person is thinking.

It is well made and has the perfect contrast of beauty and ugliness, good guys and bad guys, love and hate it covers all of the basis. It also posses the magic that only Disney can do and makes you want to take a boat and go out and take it for an adventure. A great movie that needs to be watched more than once to really appreciate it.

"There's a moon in the sky and the wind is behind me, soon I'll know how far I'll go"

Moana is definitely a coming of age story and great personal growth, not just for the title hero, but also for Maui. Right from the first trailer, my kids and I were all eager to watch Moana, though I still had my reservations about how she might be as a character, but those little niggles were dismissed right in the first couple of minutes. This is one of the rare Disney animated films that has both parents still alive but there is still the loss of a family member which hits hard and they did it wonderfully, not just how the death and the reaction to it, but also the addition of the spirit coming to aid Moana.

I love that there is no love interest, just the people she loves ie. Mum, dad, gramma, her people etc. The songs are nice and catch, though I'm not a fan of Tamaota's song 'Shiny' but I'm used to there being a song I don't enjoy quite as much. Other than that, I am loving the soundtrack, I've been a long time fan of Te Vaka and they contributed heavily to the songs and music, I really enjoyed 'We Know the Way'. Heihei the chicken is great for comic relief, I love how even the ocean seems to tire of saving him throughout the film. Moana is a great addition to the Disney princess line, she's strong headed but still does what's right by her people, she has her moments of trying to prove herself and failing, but dusts herself off and is willing to see that things aren't always as they may seem.

My nine year old loved Heihei and when a couple of moments with the water getting back at Maui. My five year old loved Te Kā the most, she thought that she was beautiful. My seven year old says thing in Moana was Tamatoa and his song and then when Maui gets his hook back and doesn't quite manage to shape shift correctly. The film has been a hit with all three, with them alternating between singing 'Shiny' and 'How Far I'll Go" .

Moana is a hit with the whole family, the kids keep asking to watch it again and I'm more than happy to accomodate that wish.

Moana is a film, that I was unsure of what to expect. Creating children's films with female leads is becoming more common, but sometimes you find that despite them being the "focus" of the film, they aren't really the focus, and instead fulfill the same tropes as in the past; the skinny, beautiful white girl that exists as a romantic interest with no bearing on the plot. So seeing a movie named "Moana", where the story looks based around a male character "Maui" (voiced by none other than Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson), I was fearful that this would be a failed attempt at bringing some equality to their movies. But I needn't have worried. Right from the opening scenes we see that everything revolves around the title character, and in fact, there are no romantic interests introduced in this film at all.

The film begins on the fictional Polynesian island of Motunui (in the real world, polynesia encompasses around 1000 islands within a triangle that has New Zealand, Hawaii, and the Easter Island as its corners), and does well to provide a brief introduction to the history and culture of the polynesian islands. It delves into such things as community positions and roles, elders and story-telling, migratory tendencies, and the tattoos role in the culture.

Working our way through Moana's childhood, we skip forward to a time when she must make a decision whether to follow the wishes of her father, or those of her grandmother. Now I've mentioned in other Disney reviews how there are so few films that have whole families. There is always a loss somewhere, but this movie deals with it well, weaving in the cultural beliefs of the afterlife into the plot of the film, with characters still able to affect the decisions of the protagonist (so good job to the writers there). The film is a reasonably serious. There are a lot of dangerous situations, but they are approached in a light-hearted way that doesn't detract from the message in anyway. Moana's animal companions provide a great source of hilarity, (Heihei the rooster is great, even if a little comparable in role to that of Scrat in the Ice Age franchise). The plot has a weight to it, that is crushing in significance, and while there are successes along the way, there are many failures, that keep you guessing as to the direction that it will go.

One of the aspects that I loved the most, was the animated tattoos of Maui. It effectively introduces an additional mute character, that acted like a conscience for the demigod, as well as keeping track of who comes out on top of any disagreements, providing some great comedy too. It helped to create more banter in situations that would otherwise come across as stale, allowing characters to voice concerns and thought processes without it feeling too forced.

On the other hand, I was a little skeptical of the songs. After Frozen's 'Let It Go', I think everyone is hoping that no other songs are as infectious as it was, though it appears that Disney is trying to replicate it with the tune "How Far I'll Go". The song has similarities to 'Let It Go' (the titles alone are similar sounding), and the song is revisited on multiple occasions throughout the film, with variations in lyrics to mirror the changes in plot. With the song itself, there is nothing wrong. My main irk with the songs comes with the style of song. While the vocal attributes during discussions and conversations are quite similar to those of the polynesian communities, during some, the style immediately changes (I suppose you could say it sounds American?). Very catchy songs (you'll be singing "You're Welcome" on the drive home), but I just wish it fitted in better in the film vocally.

Visually, the film is beautiful. The environments are lush, the colours are bright, and the blacks are dark. The environments do tend to vary a little between life-like computer generated textures, and cartoony effects. Despite the clearly unscientific plot, and animated look of the film, it portrays itself amazingly well, tugging at my heartstrings during many moments. I legitimately felt saddened when I realised how far the film had progressed, and it dawned on me that the movie was coming to an end soon; I could have easily watched it for another hour without getting bored. A film I would definitely recommend watching (and maybe buying the soundtrack too).