Moana
Dir: Chris Williams, Don Hall, John
Musker, Ron Clements
2016
****
Disney seem to be going from strength to strength recently as far as
their animation studio is concerned, obviously everything else they own is
doing incredibly well but when I think Disney I think Disney animation first
and foremost. I don't think Disney have reached true greatness since the early
90s, although I have liked the odd film here and there such as Bolt and Tangled.
2012's Wreck-it-Ralph was brilliant, clearly taking notes from the school of
Pixar though. Frozen is what it is, kids just can't seem to 'let it go' and no
matter what you think of it, it's classic Disney. It's was followed by the
brilliant Big Hero 6 and one of my favourite animations of all time, Zootopia
(aka Zootropolis). Moana strikes a happy balance I think. The animation style
is modern, fine-polished and rather impressive (I couldn't get over how real
everyone's hair looked) but it also looks like a classic Disney and, for the
first time since 2011, features hand-drawn animation. It's got the best of the
new and the old elements I like best about Disney, but then that's not
surprising. Moana has two directors and two co-directors; Ron Clements and
John Musker who were responsible for such classics as The Little Mermaid
and Aladdin, and Don Hall and Chris Williams who made Big Hero 6
together. Following the closure of Disney's traditional animation unit in
2003, John Lasseter selected Musker and Clements to work on The Princess and
the Frog and Hall and Williams have been working on pretty much every Disney
animation since the late 90s, so essentially Moana is the best of Disney in its
current state. It was a shaky start but I think Lasseter is returning the
magic back to Disney animations. I can't say that Moana has a particularly
attention-grabbing beginning though and I didn't like the first couple of
songs at all but it soon found its rhythm. The story involves Polynesian
mythology and the story of Māui the demi-god. The main character is a
princess - which seems unavoidable for a Disney animation but she's a little
different from the ones we've seen before. Thankfully there is no romantic
sub-plot, the side-kicks are toned down somewhat and the story sticks its
tracks and is all the better for it. The original draft of the story had Moana
as the only girl of her family and would take on her six brothers in another
tiresome gender battle, luckily Ron
Clements and John Musker decided against it and kind of just got on with the
main story. Apart from the first couple, I thought the songs were really
strong, a couple could even be classic Disney contenders. The
majority of the film's cast members are of Polynesian descent which is a nice
change of authenticity for a Disney film: Auli'i Cravalho and Nicole
Scherzinger were born in Hawaii and are of Native Hawaiian heritage;
Dwayne Johnson, Oscar Kightley, and Troy Polamalalu are of Samoan heritage; and
New Zealand-born Rachael House, Temuera Morrison and Jemaine Clement are
of Māori heritage. Auli'i Cravalho is great in her acting/voice acting
debut and Dwayne Johnson is a pleasant surprise too. It's
weird to hear Temuera Morrison not swearing and shouting and once
again Jemaine Clement steals the show in what is a remarkably non-Disney
Disney character. Not as good as Zootopia or iconic as
Aladdin but a great addition from a studio that's getting itself back on
track.
