Moana

Released 23rd November 2016, Moana follows the titular character as she travels across the ocean to restore the heart of an ancient goddess of nature. A pleasant aspect of Moana is that it opts to tells its story through the gauze of Polynesian culture and subsequent history; while deviating with some fantastical elements, the film generally stays faithful to its setting and embraces it to tell its story. For as simple as the story is (that being take a stone to island with the help of a demigod), it is told with enough humour and nuance that its themes of discovery, bravery, identity and responsibility are told with great success. Moana herself is voiced by Auli’I Cravalho who does a fantastic job; she gives Moana a bubbly energy which is able to slide between giddy confidence and awkwardness. That said, she is also able to convey her negative emotions with success and is generally sophisticated with all of her characterisations.

Joining her on her adventure is the demi-god Maui who is voiced by real-life demi-god Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson. Much like Johnson himself, Maui is essentially a celebrity who is known to all of humanity for his acts of strength and charisma; however, much like Moana, Maui has personal trials that he must overcome to restore himself to his old-self. While they do not receive much screen time, Temuera Morrison, Nicole Scherzinger and Rachel House are also very good as Moana’s parents and grandma; their presence is always felt from how strongly they interacted with Moana during the first act with Gramma Tala playing a particularly prominent role. Similar to Moana’s parents, Jemaine Clement’s Tamatoa receives minimal screen time (approximately four minutes) and yet he will likely stand as on of the most memorable Disney characters for many years to come. To top off the cast, Alan Tudyk is a bizarre standout as Hei Hei the chicken (trust me you will have to watch the film to understand).

From a visual standpoint, the animation is beautiful and encapsulates the tropical warmth of the Polynesian island in Oceania (albeit with the help of the most generic animation form of modern cinema). Mark Mancina delivers a truly refreshing film score by utilising the symphonic aesthetics of Polynesian culture and underscores every scene with intensity and awe. However, a key strength of Mancina’s score is the synergy with Lin Manuel-Miranda’s songs; straight off the back of Hamilton, Manuel-Miranda’s songs are lyrically brilliant, fun and (best of all) aid the movement of the narrative. Overall, Moana’s simple story is carried by its strong vocal performances, captivating songs and peak computer generated animation.