REVIEW: Moana (2016, Dirs. John Musker, Ron Clements)

Someone in Moana's committee of story writers (which includes directors Ron Clements and John Musker; Chris Williams, Don Hall Pamela Ribon, Aaron Kandell, Jordan Kandell; Jared Bush, who eventually took the screenplay credit; and Taika Waititi, who did a first draft and who isn't credited at all) was keen to press the young Islander's Disney princess credentials. Even amongst all its cultural forward-thinking (and this is a huge step forward especially when the film is racked up against the directors' much-loved but direly insensitive previous efforts *cough* Aladdin *cough*), they still felt the need to remind the mothers of young (predominantly) girls that if Moana has a sidekick and sings songs, she's a princess.

Moana has a sidekick (a scatter-brained rooster named Hei Hei, "voiced" by Alan Tyduck - his fifth Disney animation in a row) and she sings songs (written by 'Hamilton''s Lin-Manuel Miranda, Samoan musician Opetaia Foa'i and the film's composer Mark Mancina). She is also the daughter of her people's leader and next in line to take on that mantle; she has a ceremony lined up where she's expected to add to the island's height and history; and everyone on the island looks to her for guidance. The merchandising department probably just wanted to make sure.

Like any good Disney princess, Moana has aches. First and foremost she aches for the ocean. Her people have long lived within the safety of their island's reef and they are adamant that no good can come from crossing out into unfamiliar waters; her father is chief among them.

The thing is, the ocean also aches for Moana and, as her kooky but lovable grandmother constantly points out, it has chosen her for a very particular mission: leave the island, find the demigod, Maui, and replace the heart he stole from an island goddess before the encroaching ashen-destruction engulfs the world, including her island. Cue staring-at-the-sea "I want" song. Cue quest. Cue wisecracking (shapeshifting) magical entity. Cue singing underwater nasties. Cue stunning visuals and stirring, emotional, teen-assertive climaxes (that will remind you of Princess Mononoke).

Despite being an original creation, Moana sits squarely in the Disney mould. There's nothing particularly fresh in the narrative. It certainly doesn't have the trope-flipping abandon of Frozen but it is also a tighter film for it and its "hero coming into her own" arc doesn't suffer for the traditionalism. Moana is an assertive, quick thinking protagonist and the voicing by 16 year old newcomer Auli'i Carvalho is the perfect mix of youthful vulnerability and future chieftain assertiveness.

Unfortunately, Disney's forceful shoehorning of recognisable cultural references hasn't abated. Dwayne Johnson's Maui is a smart-ass cut directly from the big blue Genie's cloth, stocked with West Coast bravado (though not quite as quick witted). Despite his heritage, the casting of Johnson sounds like a misstep amongst the more recognisably indigenous voices of the surrounding characters (including Temuera Morrison as Moana's father). Cut through the accent though and Johnson's performance as Maui is as big and as endearing as a demigod requires.

Best of all, Maui's abundant tattoos give the Disney animators the chance to return to hand-drawn animation for a few brief moments. I still pine for another fully fledged hand-drawn animated feature but, truth be told, outside the generic character faces (why do they all look the same?), the CG animation here suits the aquatic setting and it rarely fails to stun.

As one of the few who weren't a fan of Frozen, Moana stands as the studio's true return to form on the princess front. I'm not sure it will spark with young girls quite as ferociously as that film did but it does show that Disney still has it in them. This is what they do best (CGI aside) and, along the well-work path, they can see the peak from here.

★★★★

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