Where do we even begin to talk about Moana?! The musically rich score and syllable rhyming songs, boosted by emotional weights and foot-tapping synchronized dances? The gosh-darn cute animations of the turtle, Pua the Pig and Heihei the Rooster (voiced by Alan Tudyk)? Or the colours full of vigour painting the blue teal and pink ocean, chocolate skins of the human characters, reds of Te Kā and the fluorescently luminous Realm of Monsters owned by Tamatoa (voiced by Jemaine Clement)? Where do we even begin?
Set in a culturally aesthetic Polynesian village background, Moana narrates the tale of a young girl whose passion is to surf beyond the seas and explore out of her comfort zones. The fact that her story starts from childhood makes it all even more believable as we could understand the character from scratch. From her father's flashback that explains where she gained the traits and why she's not allowed to do what her heart yearns for, we are instantly and easily informed of our protagonist's dramatic need! The dual conflict in her is so well told! After she learns about the lineage of voyagers through the scribblings in the ancestral archive and when there are no options left but to pursue the shape-shifting demigod in order to save lives being drained out of her island, you'll start to feel the adventurous vibe in a sail that promises to be mostly… magnificent! Up until this point, the makers triumph in bestowing us good aura of captivating storytelling!
No short of humour can be expected from Disney's animated films, especially via gestures and words in this feature. Wet hair slap on face, live tattoo on Maui doing tally scores and his half shark transformation bring the roof down! "When you use a bird to write with, it's called tweeting", "You can stay here with the other chicken" and "If you are wearing a dress, and you have an animal sidekick, you are a princess" referring to other Disney characters such as Jasmine from Aladdin and Ariel from The Little Mermaid are fantastic dialogues!
As you've probably guessed, yes, Dwayne Johnson's Maui is the most entertaining character in the picture. Playing with his self-indulgence motivation to take on the mission is fitting, as well as the persuasion to return for Moana being done by his tattoo! Gramma's (Rachel House) manta ray reincarnation as the script's Dark Night of the Soul moment is suitable too. No matter where the storyline goes, it never drifts away from the context. The animation canvas is eye-pleasing, be it the water-divergence or the island shaped as a human lying down. Restoring the heart sequence at the climax is touching for real as nothing could encourage you further to be who you are meant to be!
No movie is without its mistakes, including Moana. How and why the ocean is helping or touching her? Maybe because she resembles Te Fiti? Okay, we perhaps could accept it. When did she do the diversion for Tamatoa though? Even though the scene's fun, the sentient coconut pirates Kakamora came out of nowhere! How did Heihei come out of the box during the pre-duel to catch the pounamu stone? Also, Gramma falling sick and passing away is so tacked on.
Moana: "Is there something you wanna tell me?"
Gramma: "Is there something you wanna hear?"