Moana

Moana

Disney does what Disney does best

Sometime around 2004 Disney was in a slump. The last few in-house animated films, Home on the Range, Brother Bear, Treasure Planet, etc. were largely forgettable, while their partner Pixar was killing it with the likes of Finding Nemo, Monsters Inc., and The Incredibles. The solution of course was to ditch 2D animation in favor of 3D (though that wasn't their only problem as the next film Chicken Little, can attest). In any case, one of the last actually memorable films before that transition was the Polynesian not-a-princess film Lilo & Stitch, a commercial success (though not as great as Disney had hoped, never taking top place at the box office), but still critically acclaimed (and bearing a suspicious resemblance to The Iron Giant). Having already done an Asian princess (Mulan), and the long-overdue African-American princess (The Princess and the Frog), and still trying to exorcise their less-than ideal indigenous princess (Pocahontas), it's probably not surprising that they decided to give another go at creating a Pacific Islander not-a-princess in the 3D era.

Which brings us to Moana. Honestly Moana slickly grabs and repackages a lot of the things that worked best in previous Disney films (anthropomorphic islands in the Pixar short Lava, traditional island music of The Little Mermaid, and the growing cultural sensibilities that began with Mulan and evolved through Lilo and Stitch and beyond

While none of the songs are as memorable as those from the heyday of The Little Mermaid or Beauty and the Beast, they at least give the illusion of authenticity, with "Moana's Theme", and "You're Welcome" (who knew "The Rock" could sing?), being the main standouts.

Basically the plot is a straight up Hero's Journey story with a female lead - an eight-year-old not-a-princess (as they take pains to remind you) princess story that hits exactly all the right notes to make it an instant classic. You know you're being manipulated, but it's still hard not to like it.


The Good: 

• no talking animals
• no shoehorned-in love story
• a semi-decent David Bowie rip-off

The Bad:

• the sea is an ultimate deus-ex-machina; saving our heroine from a watery grave countless times

Stuff to watch for:

• post credit sequence
• references to many other Disney movies

Pairing: if you don't have access to anything traditional, any Tiki cocktail will do.

The Verdict:
**** out of *****