Disney’s Moana (2016) is its periodic issuance of an animated inspirational youth movie, one in a long line, including the recent Frozen (2013), and it’s technically quite a movie. The animation is, as one might expect from Disney, virtually flawless, achieving blue oceans and skies which are a step up from what has come before – at least in my experience. The water seems crisper and bubblier, and the outrigger canoes seemed to be just a bit more realistic than I would have expected, the larger versions moving with a majestic grace across the oceans.
The movie’s name is eponymous to the main character, an island chieftain’s daughter who wants the one forbidden thing – to go out on the ocean. When her village faces extinction due to the spoilage of all of the food sources, Moana listens to her grandmother’s stories concerning the rot poisoning the world, and goes out beyond the reef, onto the wild ocean, in search of the demi-god who caused the rot to begin. Facing obstacles both internal and external, they return an island goddess to her old self, and the rot disappears.
This is an old story format for Disney, now part of a story from the Polynesian cultures, and Disney uses it to inspire a new generation of children. They know how to draw sympathetic characters, and mostly succeed in this story, although one character, a giant crab who has collected an artifact, a magical hook previously owned by the demi-god for its own collection, unused and but a prize, is too much of a buffoon to be anything but a cardboard character. With some work I could see the symbolism of the dangers of an obsession with things for their own sake, but the problem with such an interpretation is that the character doesn’t really suffer for the obsession; he may lose the artifact, but in the end he’s simply a singing, homicidal crab. This criticism also applies to the coconut pirates, who could have been more if we’d known more about them. Were they simply metaphorical? Were they creatures of the Gods, sent to test Moana? Or are the Gods competitive
Another minor flaw in execution lies in the behavior of the demi-god, who, finding his magical hook is cracked and fading, gives up, leaving his task for Moana to complete; later, he returns, but we don’t really get to experience the why. Adults can certainly guess why, but the children who are there to learn lessons about life lose the opportunity to see why someone might risk their most valued possession. The movie’s emotional impact would have been boosted if his decision to risk his most treasured possession had been illustrated.
A member of the Scene Stealer’s Guild
But Moana’s part of the story is spot-on, as is the comic relief of her chicken. The music is quite striking, and is mostly sung quite well. The characters mostly work. But perhaps most telling was my reaction:
I wanted to be there on the outrigger canoe.
Recommended.
