by Edward Baillargeon
2016 has been one of the best years for the medium of animation we have had in a long time. With so many great animated features released this year like Zootopia, Finding Dory, Kubo and the Two Strings, The Secret Life of Pets, Sausage Party, and Kung Fu Panda 3, more people are boarding the animated movie hype train. Now, Walt Disney Animation Studios returns to the big screen fresh after the massive success of Zootopia with their latest musical adventure from John Musker and Ron Clements, the Academy Award nominated directors of The Little Mermaid and Aladdin, with Moana.
Set in the ancient Pacific Islands, the movie is about an adventurous teenager named Moana who sails on a daring mission to save her island and the ocean while teaming up with the egotistical demigod Maui. Moana is another fantastic movie in Disney’s lineup of animated films with an interesting and action-packed story and a new twist on the now-starting-to-get predictable Disney formula. Even one of the characters in the movie comments on one of the cliches that if you wear a dress and have an animal sidekick, then you are a princess.
This movie has absolutely beautiful animation with a large influence on Polynesian art showing that the Disney animators have done their research. And it also has a large cast of likable and hilarious characters with great performances from the cast, notably newcomer Auli’i Cravalho as Moana, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson as Maui, and Alan Tudyk as Hei Hei, Moana’s chicken sidekick who is probably the dumbest sidekick in Disney history! He even makes Chris Hemsworth’s character from Ghostbusters (2016) look like Albert Einstein!
One of the biggest highlights of this movie is, hands down, the songs. Thanks to the songwriting talents of Hamilton’s Lin-Manuel Miranda, along with Opetaia Foa’i and Mark Mancina, Moana’s soundtrack is one of Disney’s best in recent years and will make you buy the soundtrack after you have seen the movie including memorable songs like “We Know the Way,” “Shiny,” “You’re Welcome,” and “How Far I’ll Go,” which could possibly become the next “Let it Go,” just to name a few.
Before the movie would start, they would play a hilarious animated short called Inner Workings. It was, in short, Disney’s version of Pixar’s Inside Out. I highly recommend checking this movie out in theaters and buying it when it’s released on Blu-ray and DVD sometime next year. Moana is one of the best animated features of the year and gets a 9/10 with the Edward’s Seal of Approval and my highest recommendation.
