Sunday, January 1, 2017

Film Review - Moana (2016)

Moana is the latest Disney Animation telling the tale of Maui (Dwayne Johnson) a Demigod who stole the heart of Te Fiti which then starts to condemn the nearby islands to darkness meanwhile a young Tribal Chief named Moana (Auli'i Cravalho) is determined to help her island people become plentiful again and she may very well need Maui's help to do it.

I liked this movie and primarily because I like the Moana character, she was headstrong, brave, willing to look for solutions and get things done and take nobody's crap from anyone you were either in her way or getting behind her in her quest and the latter was what happened to me watching the film even if Maui was constantly picking on her and getting in her way and speaking of him I did not like Dwayne Johnson as much in this movie mainly because at times I felt like he was a copy of the Genie from Aladdin and not that great of a one.

And also I feel the storytelling itself very much followed the typical Disney Princess formula:

- There's the young girl who wants more out of life
- The big songs
- The supporting comic relief
- The big villain
- And the fight at the 2 third mark which splits the hero apart only to fight back in the climax

And all of that after a while began to get on my nerves especially with a film like Zootopia from earlier this year which tried to do something different though thankfully this film steers away from the heavy handed messaging that film had in its climax but all that aside I did enjoy myself.

Is Moana a typical Disney Princess film? Yes Did I Enjoy It? Yes I Did and Would I Recommend It? Absolutely I would especially to young girls who would really get something from this character though kids under 6 I would caution taking them to this one as it might scare them a little, 3 out of 5.

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