Disney has had quite a resurgence throughout the 2010s, haven’t they? Releasing such classics as Tangled, Wreck-It Ralph, Frozen, Big Hero 6, and Zootopia, plus Inside Out and Coco with Pixar, Disney’s been on a hot streak throughout then, signifying what many people describe as the Disney Revival era. And judging from how much of a staple they’ve proven themselves to be in their modern era, it speaks for itself.
However, only one of such films from this era reportedly defied all expectations and amounted to a genuinely wholesome, all-encompassing, and all-around magnificent entry into the animated Disney library. And one of the most celebrated films I can think of that would have fit this description is Moana.
If you may remember, this was the subject of one of the earliest online critiques I had ever done, for I had shared my thoughts on it on Facebook, and it got the ball rolling in my reviewing spree since. Much like with The Lion King earlier, I intend to devote my next re-review to this movie again and see what it is about it that’s been drawing so many people back…and me too. I was also intrigued to see how it’s become a staple among modern Disney, even compared to Frozen and Inside Out.
Here’s what’s going on so I can refresh your memory of the story. It is about a young girl named Moana, who grew up with her family on Motunui, located among the Polynesian Islands in the South Pacific. She was raised in preparation to become the next chief of her people, who lived on the island for generations. She was also instructed to stay on the island and never go beyond the reef, not just because it was dangerous but because Motunui had what she and her people needed. However, she heard a calling from beyond the reef to sail out and find a cure for the island, which was starting to show signs of wear and lack of vegetation on such short notice. As she caught on to the calling, she also discovered what her ancestors used to do, thanks to her devoted grandmother, Tala: they were seafarers and wayfinders who trekked across the oceans and hopped from one island to the next.
With this in mind, Moana decided to sneak out in secret and venture into the vast oceans to find the cure for her island’s spreading diseases. Along the way, she ran into the famous demigod Māui, a mischievous god who, a thousand years ago, was responsible for stealing the heart of a beloved mother goddess named Te Fiti. In turn, it left him taken down by a monstrous being called Te Ka and stripped of his magical hook, which he would’ve used to shapeshift into any animal of his choice. It also caused many monsters to run amok throughout the oceans, searching for Te Fiti’s heart so that they would have been the next to be called the Creator of Life. As Māui and Moana ventured together to find his hook and restore Te Fiti’s heart to her, he admitted to having had a few issues of his own, as he would later tell Moana. Would Māui have cleaned up his act? And would Moana’s efforts to restore Te Fiti’s heart and reignite her ancestral heritage of wayfinding have amounted to anything?
Upon revisiting this film, to say I caught on to so many of its values would be a slight understatement. It was little wonder that I wanted to review it again.
To start, let’s pay attention to the animation. Ever since I saw this movie around eight years ago, I was utterly transfixed by all the gorgeous scenery throughout the film, not just on the islands but also on the seas on which Moana sailed. When I saw the first shots of the ocean at the beginning of the movie, they took my breath away. There’s a borderline photorealism apparent in the beaches, down to the clearness of the water and the evident grains of sand as Moana discovered the ocean. It felt and looked so real that I thought it was not animated, like it was shot for the film. Needless to say, this shows how animation altogether has come quite a long way.
And it’s not just the look of the ocean; its sentience speaks volumes, too. That honed in the notion of it having called to Moana from way back when and again when Moana rediscovered her ancestors’ true purpose. Every time it moved about, not only did it convey the flows, feels, and movements of the water in every corner, but its movements were such that I could feel its mystical presence. Sometimes, its movements were quick enough for me to catch on to the ocean’s emotional state every time. Before Encanto mastered it with Casa Madrigal, and long after the directors did so with the Magic Carpet in Aladdin – I’m about to get into that very shortly – the ocean had been given enough personality to visibly express itself and its commitment to Moana. Even under murky weather, every time I feel its presence, I can feel either the roughness of the sea or whatever other dangers await Moana and Māui on their journeys together. As Mary Poppins would’ve put it, the ocean is practically perfect in every way.
I am also awestruck by all the textures throughout the film, from the clothes to the masks, the houses, the islands, and the destinations. Everywhere I look, it feels like it was studded to the utmost detail and that no stone was left unturned in conveying as much realism as the ocean did at first glance. That was among the reasons I felt like I was transported into someplace so exotic yet so mythical.
I also feel wowed by John Musker and Ron Clements’ directing. They added a lot of excitement and artistic integrity to the film.
Do you remember what I said about Tim Burton’s Frankenweenie and how he used familiar beats that he mastered in films like Beetlejuice and Edward Scissorhands, not to mention some clever and stylish homages to what he loved, to enhance the story? Well, Moana functions the same way.
Throughout their time at Disney, Musker and Clements established themselves as supremely talented Disney artists for crafting a slew of animated movies that would only have cemented Disney’s reputation as one of the top players in animated moviemaking. Among the list of films they made were The Great Mouse Detective, The Little Mermaid, Hercules, Treasure Planet, The Princess and the Frog, and probably my all-time favorite movie, Aladdin. Whenever I reflected on Moana, I was intrigued by it because of the trademarks they carried over from their past achievements with Disney.
For example, the friction between Moana and her father, Tui, calls me back to some of Ariel and King Triton’s arguments in The Little Mermaid. Then you have the young hero traveling off to a far distance to claim something, just like with Hercules and Jim Hawkins. Then, you have that young person banding up with a much older figure to help out the hero, just like Olivia and Basil in The Great Mouse Detective. And the fact that they both traveled together to do so called me back to Tiana and Prince Naveen from The Princess and the Frog. Speaking of which, some of the bioluminescent presentations from Tamatoa as he confronted Māui and Moana remind me a bit of what I saw out of Dr. Facilier’s hallucinatory phases. And, of course, you have Māui himself, who’s a mighty force of power, just like the Genie from Aladdin. In addition, his experiences between human mortality and godhood carry Hercules vibes. And the tattoos on his body, including Mini Māui, feel reminiscent of the Muses, also from Hercules.
But just so I can save you the boredom of going through every beat that this movie carried over from the duo’s other films, that’s not what makes this movie very impressive, even though they add a lot of juice and meat to it. What amazes me the most about Moana is that this was John Musker and Bob Clement’s first-ever venture into computer animation when all their other cinematic ventures under Disney were 2D hand-drawn animated films. With Moana, they established their expertise in computer animation with the same comedy, storytelling, thrills, and intrigue that they mastered in all their previous 2D hand-drawn efforts. I want to see cinematic 2D hand-drawn animation make a comeback, and it still deserves to, but watching John Musker and Ron Clements work their magic with Moana almost convinces me that all it takes is a good story with good characters – and, if it’s a musical, good songs – to make a movie work, regardless of whichever type of animation is used for them.
But there’s more to explain as to why this movie works so well. I am also very drawn to the characters.
Starting with Moana, I know that she’s about 14 or 15 years old, but I love how resilient and headstrong she was in wanting to do right by her people but also by her inner instincts as far as the ocean was concerned. The only problem was that her father and peers set their expectations of Moana’s future ascension as their next chief too high and didn’t want to think about what lies beyond the reef. However, Moana’s grandmother, Tala, whom she loved very much and was dismissed by her peers as kooky and a bit eccentric, sympathized with her connections to the ocean. So, when she felt the urge to listen to the ocean's call and set out to find the answers to Motunui’s sickly state, that only added to her confidence to set things right.
But what makes it even better is that this movie doesn’t show her as being entirely perfect and that she can make mistakes throughout her journey. For example, when she attempted to ride the boats on her first go, she was caught in several waves, which only turned the boat upside down and left her momentarily stuck in the coral reef. So, she was almost wrecked and caught up in the waves before being sent back adrift. At that point, it made her understand her father’s unwillingness to let her beyond the reef.
Later on, even when Moana felt like she learned what she needed to know to help restore Te Fiti’s heart to her, she attempted to steer herself and Māui through a specific passageway to escape Te Ka, only to be knocked out of the way by Te Ka, leaving Māui’s hook damaged and Māui frustrated with Moana for her careless decision to navigate towards someplace so dangerous. So, this film demonstrated Moana’s potential inexperience and how she had her heart in the right place yet still had plenty to learn before proving herself as a worthy wayfinder, just like her ancestors before her.
As for Māui himself, he was known to be so many things. As Māui puts it, he was a ‘shapeshifter, demigod of the wind and sea, and hero to all.’ However, he was not called a trickster for nothing, especially given his powers of transformation that can only be possible with the capabilities of his hook. I may not be familiar with the real Māui, but this Māui left me convinced that he could’ve been to Polynesian mythology what Loki was to Norse mythology. Because he stole Te Fiti’s heart, he caused such unforeseen destruction across the islands and oceans. Since Moana found what he claimed, she felt more committed to returning it and restoring balance to Motunui with Māui by her side to guide her there. But it’s evident that from all of Māui’s boasting about his accomplishments as a demigod, he also made some enemies along the way. Among those that Māui had a history with was the giant crab monster, Tamatoa, the giant crab with a ton of gold on his back and shell. Of course, even though Māui had to fight him to reclaim his hook, the hook that would have given him his magic powers, after having lost it centuries ago, there’s still a sense that Māui was as famous as he was infamous for all the things that he did throughout local myth…local history, almost.
Like the Genie, the writers also did a great job demonstrating and exposing some depth and character to Māui. Māui had not been entirely born a god, and he was initially born a regular human before being literally cast away by neglectful parents. It was only when he was carried over to the gods by the ocean that he became the demigod that he’s famous for being, complete with him being granted the magical hook. Also, when Māui was given his powers, he wanted to ensure he brought forth what he could have provided for everyone. And yes, that includes the heart of Te Fiti. That also adds to his roundness and resoluteness as a character, and it makes me understand how dedicated he was to his reputation as a demigod, his powers, and what he planned to do with them despite being acknowledged in a far less savory and praiseworthy light.
While Māui is spectacular as a character, the designs of his tattoos all over his body are also a marvel. They are elaborate, carry so much of Māui’s history as a demigod, look and feel naturally expressive, and their elaborate presentation is like a tapestry on a human body. But its most admirable detail is what’s been generally described as Mini Māui. He was practically the tattoo variant of Māui, who sometimes acted out what Māui fantasized about doing. But 80% of the time, he acted as Māui’s conscience, always conveying himself the way Māui would have felt deep down, whether it was fear, conflict, regret, or self-reflection.
The way this aspect of Māui was animated is also irresistible. While everything about the film is conveyed with proper 3D animation, Mini Māui and some of his accompanying tattoos were conveyed in traditional 2D hand-drawn animation. In other words, the film was nice enough to sneak in what the directors mastered before and that many people like me would love to see be given the love it desperately needs in this day and age. And it works because Mini Māui and the tattoos were expressed on Māui’s skin, just like the ink and paint on paper. Mini Māui works so well not just as a small beacon of 2D hand-drawn animation but also as a supporting character and an occasional comic relief.
I also have a soft spot for Moana’s grandmother, Tala, the one who not only believed in all the mythical tales that were passed on from generation to generation, including the stories of Māui and all the monsters, but she was also among the first to catch on to why Motunui, their island, was starting to wither and fall apart. It seemed like, on an island where many people were convinced that the island they lived on was as safe a place as it should be and that the mythical tales were not true, she was the one who knew better and held on to that belief despite being dismissed as the local cuckoo. The fact that she believed differently and was slightly neglected explains why she shared such a special bond with Moana; that’s how much they shared in common and understood each other in the middle of all the local turmoil and uncertainty. She’s a delightful character who remained firm in her beliefs.
I am also astounded by Moana’s father, Tui. He started as a proud chief of the village of Motonui who was pretty strict about anyone leaving beyond the reef, especially Moana. But when Tala showed Moana the leftover seafarer boats and Moana’s mother told Moana about what Tui went through, it suddenly took what other people would’ve dismissed as a brash and unpleasant character and sheds him in a whole new light. As revealed in a flashback, Tui and a friend of his went out to go seafaring, but the ferocity of the waves that went towards them left his friend for dead – it didn’t help that this was the friend’s idea in the first place – and Tui feared the same could happen to Moana. And, of course, he also admitted to not believing in any of the myths that were passed down, but I don’t think it was treated as a bad thing. It was all shown as a matter of different religious opinions.
While it may seem like I would not have been inclined to care for him by this point, the movie and his demonstrations of what he went through when he was younger were enough to make me see where he was coming from. This is what I usually love about characters where they seemingly start being easily perceived as one thing, only for specific details to reveal something about their past, present, or personality that makes them more complex than we would have imagined.
Let’s take a step back and examine why the strict rules applied to Moana regarding wayfinding came to be. One, she was prohibited by Tui from going beyond the reef, believing that everything she could have ever needed, from the food to society and their ways of life, was within reach on Motunui. And two, it turns out wayfinding had become a lost art ever since Māui stole the heart of Te Fiti because many monsters roamed about, making the seas too dangerous for seafarers to explore. So, as a precaution, they decided to hide all their boats and settle on the islands where they settled since then. So, given the thousand years that passed after Māui’s theft, the islands that the former wayfarers have populated may have become homes to individual tribes inhabiting each island.
The side characters are also pretty amusing. The pig, Hua, had some cute moments as he wandered about Motunui with Moana, sometimes with concern for her.
And Hei Hei? I’m honestly amused by how clueless and brainless this rooster is. Whenever Hei Hei wandered about, he had no idea where he was going or what he was pecking on. There was one time when he ate an entire stone only to puke it out and later ate the heart of Te Fiti, primarily because he was acting out of chicken instincts. But his comedic antics, his ways of moving about, and how his peers reacted to him made people like my parents and me look at him like he carried as much comedic essence in this movie as Scrat did in the Ice Age films. No matter what situations he got himself into, there’s always bound to be something hilarious going on with him that only he would have done, if unintentionally.
On a side note, the mere designs of these two side characters were based on John Musker for Hei Hei and Ron Clements for Hua. That is yet another trademark this film carried over from the duo’s past achievements.
And let’s not forget the Kakamora. I honestly can’t tell what this tribe of individuals is, but I can tell that they were monsters also roaming about the sea in search of the heart of Te Fiti. They may be a little awkwardly inconsistent regarding their cutesy design and presentation. However, the idea that they can come across as small yet ruthless, combined with their collective methods of bombarding and rampaging through other people and their belongings, helped add some vigor and even some slight aggression to them. And the three boats they sailed in and used together, complete with ropes and drums? Outside of looking massive and intimidating, the directors said this was part of their homage to Mad Max: Fury Road, and it shows. Besides, for what they could implement with such a scenario and such characters, they still excelled in making this count since it demonstrates how the many monsters roaming throughout the seas were hunting down the heart of Te Fiti.
And the Realm of Monsters, also known as Lalotai…Before they went with Strange World, I felt like the Disney artists went all out in presenting a world unfamiliar to us and populated with the freakiest monsters alive. And the designs of some of the monsters in this realm were very creative.
As for Tamatoa, the prominent resident of Lalotai, I did not find him crucial to the plot outside of his shared history with Māui and his having accumulated his hook alongside the rest of the treasure on his back. But whenever he showed up, he was a very boastful and narcissistic crab who felt too proud of himself and his shell to be intimidated by anyone who was out to either fight him off or claim something that he stole. He was also theatrical in establishing a very showy sensibility concerning his long-held rivalry against Māui. He wasn’t on-screen for very long, but it was neat to see how he had both a very threatening side and a fun side to him, between which he went back and forth within seconds.
The same can’t be said about one particular monster I remember from Lalotai, though. I will admit there is one creature whose movements and design altogether make it one of the most terrifying things I’ve ever seen from Disney, period. It’s a creature with a mask-like face and four arms, and it was just about to creep towards Moana before it was blown into the sea by a geyser, presumably to its watery grave. Even though he was in the movie for around five seconds, this creature’s jerky movements and the way it snuck closer to Moana gave me the creeps and made me scared to be victimized by anything like it. It’s remarkably daring for anything from a recent Disney movie to be this scary, and that says a lot, considering that I grew up with this!
Speaking of monsters, let’s pay attention to the #1 enemy Moana and Māui faced together, Te Ka. This character was feared as a torturous and indestructible fire goddess who shot out blobs of magma at whoever approached her. It made her look very interesting and pretty cool in terms of her design, functionality, and how she roamed about the seas. At one point, Moana discovered how Te Ka could easily have made herself too solid if she dipped her hand or her body in the seawater because then it would have temporarily hardened her before returning to her viscous magma state again.
To tell you the truth, every time I saw this character before Moana came out, I expected her to be Disney’s interpretation of Pele from Hawaiian mythology. After all, the Polynesian Islands and Hawaii are in such close proximity that how could this character not be her?
However, after seeing it, one key aspect of her changed everything. In which case, I’m about to engage in spoilers here. So, you’ve been warned.
Just as Moana was about to return the heart of Te Fiti to the island, she discovered nothing more than an outline of where Te Fiti used to be. When she turned around and looked back at Te Ka, she noticed a familiar spiral on her chest. In other words, the brutal fire monster they fought and feared for so long was Te Fiti all along. It’s just that she went on a rampage without her heart after Māui stole it from her.
I like this exposition so much because not only does it excel in introducing several characters that just happened to constitute just one character instead, but think about it. Back in the 2010s, many of Disney’s animated movies were always banking on the ‘twist villain’ trend, where they introduced a character that was seemingly an ally only for them to let go of their disguise and reveal themselves as the bad guys who’ve been sucking up to the heroes to advance their way further into their goals.
With Te Ka, it was the other way around. She was introduced in this movie as a villain, only to be revealed later as a heroic being without us knowing it, one that was corrupted by outside forces and warped into becoming this monstrous figure that would have been unlike her.
That’s one of the reasons why I find Moana so refreshing despite its familiar themes. The directors knew how to take the best traits they mastered in their film library and utilize them throughout Moana to create new and equally stunning results. They also did an excellent job of taking clichéd storylines rampant in Disney films at the time and turning them on their head to create something that‘s memorable, unique, and a total breath of fresh air.
The voice performances are also genuinely phenomenal. Everybody who chipped in to lend their vocals for their characters conveyed them with the utmost dedication, carrying the inflections necessary to strengthen the illusion of local Polynesians who lived on the islands for generations before rediscovering what they formerly mastered from centuries back.
Rachel House perfectly expressed Tala’s wacky yet considerate and subtlety wise instincts, most notably when she spoke with Moana about the casual goings-on or what life lessons she felt Moana needed to know. Temuera Morrison and Nicole Scherzinger conveyed the proper instincts to portray Moana’s parents naturally and with slight grace. But while Scherzinger conveyed Sina with just the proper tenderness, Morrison stood out to me more because he portrayed Tui with not just his fatherly instincts but also his pride as a chief and inner anguish and concern, thus potentially helping to hone his character’s complexity.
But as remarkable as these voice performances were, outside of one that I’ll address very shortly, let’s focus on the two knockout performances that stole the show for me.
The first one I should start with is Auliʻi Cravalho as Moana. She provided a plethora of pure naturalness as Moana grew from being a modest teenager who still had some things to learn into a confident young woman who could make her own choices and know the right thing to do for herself and her people. Even when Moana fell short on some of her achievements throughout her journey, Cravalho still expressed a twinge of self-reflection and inner persistence as Moana attempted to work her way out of the mess and come back on top. You can feel her determination throughout the movie here.
She was also no slouch in showcasing her comedic side, and whenever she did, she was really funny. And what makes that even better is that, much like the actors who played the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in Mutant Mayhem, Auliʻi Cravalho was just the right age to play Moana’s character, and that only made her sound more authentic as well as a lot more incredible once her character finally pulled through and accomplished some significant feats during her cross-ocean journey.
But let’s face it: the other key performances in this movie is Dwayne Johnson as Māui. I get the impression that just like Vincent Price as Ratigan, James Woods as Hades, and especially Robin Williams as the Genie, John Musker and Ron Clements have a knack for establishing some characters in their movies with designated celebrities in mind and allowing the celebrities in question to go all out with their roles and infuse their characters with nothing but pure energy and life to make them as memorable as they could be. And Dwayne Johnson as Māui is no exception.
Outside of accepting his role because of Moana’s heritage tying into his family’s ancestry, what Johnson infused in Māui is just nothing short of a tour de force. He honed this character’s sense of prowess and cockiness as he delivered it all with as much comedic flavoring as only he would’ve brought to Māui. However, he was also soft enough to clue viewers like me into his character’s more vulnerable aspects, the ones that not even Mini Māui alone would’ve conveyed. He also had a terrific singing voice to match, primarily when he sang ‘You’re Welcome.’
With that in mind, let’s not forget the songs by Lin-Manuel Miranda. Hot off the heels of Hamilton, the songs he composed for this movie are all tap dancers in and of themselves, with some expressing a little more soul than others. In the eight years that passed since Moana came out, many of these songs became classics in their own right. ‘How Far I’ll Go,’ ‘You’re Welcome,’ ‘Shiny,’ ‘We Know the Way,’ ‘Where We Are,’ they’re all phenomenal songs. While only a few of them are showstoppers compared to what I’m used to from the previous Disney films, they’re all fantastic songs that demonstrate Lin-Manuel Miranda’s creative genius.
For starters, the song ‘Where We Are’ is pretty fun and catchy. It demonstrates the joys of being in your comfort zone and content with the community that surrounds and cares for you. It makes it sound like expressing your commitment to your people and home would make all the difference. Even if it was meant to be perceived ironically, it was still fun enough for me to be fond of expressing our commitment where it is expected to be expressed.
Compare that to the other song, ‘We Know the Way,’ sung by the wayfinders from many eons ago. They, too, expressed the same upbeat attitude as in ‘Where We Are,’ except they expressed more urgency and an inner drive as they traveled from one island to another across the seas. Of course, this was before the monsters roamed about and prompted them to settle on the islands they dwelled on, like Moana’s father and his tribe with Motunui, and stay put for fear of venturing too far and crossing into dangerous waters.
As for the other voice performance that I meant to address, I’m convinced that the song ‘Shiny’ was custom-made for singer Jemaine Clement, for he went all out in giving Tamatoa, the crab monster, an equally boastful nature, except on a more deceitful and arrogant nature. Even Māui warned Moana that he loved for people to talk all about him, and so he did the same thing, only there’s a more noticeable egotism with him compared to how Māui would’ve expressed himself.
Moana’s song, ‘How Far I’ll Go,’ felt more spirited and expressed a sense of yearning in the melody as Moana slowly pieced together her dreams, goals, and her tribe’s history as she finally decided on what must be done for her people back on Motunui. It even conveyed an innermost determination to step outside your comfort zone and perceive the impossible or the unfathomable to understand the far reaches of what you see. When there’s nothing but ocean as far as the eye can see, what else awaits you there? There’s this slight curiosity from Moana to want to explore and see what the ocean’s outer reaches would bring after being so used to her home island. So you can feel Moana’s instincts urging her to give it a try no matter what may come her way and see what more she can find if she pushed onward and found what else there is to find.
And let’s not forget Māui’s song, ‘You’re Welcome.’ Outside of feeling like the ’Friend Like Me’ of this film, it is a charming song that just went to town with its upbeat nature and showcased Māui in all his supposed glory and accomplishments for humanity and the islands. It was also a great exercise in having Dwayne Johnson perform some of his musical tenors while staying in character and having a blast with Māui as he introduced himself to Moana in all his facets, down to the very last note and verse as he did…well, the expectedly unexpected. By the end of his musical number, after boasting about his positive achievements, Māui led Moana into a cavern to entrap her there. And because the song was so catchy, I felt as slightly deceived as Moana. So that’ll tell you just how much of a trickster Māui turned out to be.
The music by Mark Mancina also deserves an honorable mention. His compositions throughout the film help lend it its cultural essence, partially thanks to some of the vocals that all chanted and sang in the local Polynesian languages. Whenever things got hectic, mellow, downbeat, or upbeat, Mancina reflected such moods to a tee without ever losing sight of what and who the score represented.
All in all, there’s just so much to relish about this film, too much for me to dismiss this film as anything less. The animation is glorious. The characters are all distinctive, lively, and naturalistic. The story is familiar yet inventive. The voice acting is tremendous. The plot twists are very creative and palpable. The film did a phenomenal job reigniting many familiar aspects and circumstances from the classic Disney animated movies of yesteryear while throwing in enough modern spins and modern technology to make it feel innovative with what we generally familiarize ourselves with. It is a genuinely wholesome picture that, years after revisiting it, firmly deserves its place in the pantheon of classic Disney films. It’s a culmination of everything familiar and new about Disney, all wrapped up in one exotic little package with an extra helping of substance to enrich the film.
Check this out and see it for yourself. Revisit it and see just how far this film has gone.
My Rating
A high A
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