As James Brown aka the Godfather of Soul sung: It’s a Man’s Man’s Man’s World. At least it was on the once bountiful but now barren island of Motunui until the chief’s daughter and heir to the throne Moana “Not a Princess” Waialiki (voiced by debutant Auli’i Cravalho) disobeyed orders and voyaged beyond the sacred reef of coral, which protected them from the “terrible darkness” in the shape of volcanic villain Te Kā to reclaim the heart of island goddess Te Fiti whose theft by the shape-shifting demigod Maui (Dwayne Johnson) plunged the island into a slow but irrevocable demise.
Directed by frequent collaborators Ron Clements and John Musker (The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, The Princess and the Frog) and featuring songs by a triumvirate of writers including the Tony and Grammy award-winning Lin-Manuel Miranda (In The Heights, Hamilton), Moana is a pleasurable if play-it-by-numbers fantasy adventure by Walt Disney Animation Studios which 79 years after their inaugural production of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs marks their 56th animated feature.
After a snappy potted history of island legend and an even snappier development of Moana’s maturity from goo-goo ga-ga baby to fearless voyager of the high seas, the film skips along like a pebble across water in four amiable arcs towards a feel-good finale in which good defeats evil and “follow your heart” trumps “settle for less”. First, her frosty introduction to the shapeshifting Maui who interrupts her “the ocean chose me for a reason” soliloquy with a satirical dig at the conventions of musical theatre: “If you start singing, I’m going to throw up.”
Second, a colourful skirmish with a band of coconut-shaped pirates whose obscure origin is clarified in Maui’s witty warrior song You’re Welcome: “I killed an eel, I buried it’s guts / Sprouted a tree, now you’ve got coconuts.” Third, a near-death encounter with the “fabulous crabulous” crustacean Tamatoa (Jemaine Clement) from whom they retrieve Maui’s magical fish hook. And fourth, after an obligatory moment of doubt during which Moana learns the answer to the film’s central theme “where you’re meant to be”, a winner-takes-all showdown with the volcanic villain Te Kā.
As refreshing as it is to see yet another female lead without a knight in shining armour or a handsome prince coming to her rescue, Moana falls short on two fronts: there is no wow factor; and the tear ducts are seldom breached. That said, the humour is top-notch; the animation is of a calibre which would give David Attenborough’s documentaries a run for their money; and the moral of the story by writer Jared Bush (Zootopia) strikes gold: “You must find happiness where you are.” It was a Man’s Man’s Man’s World, but as a man I am glad to report that the Nobel Prize winner Bob Dylan got it right: The Times They Are A-Changin‘.
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Another wonderful movie to add to the Disney classics.The film stars the daughter of a chief who sets of on journey to save her island. She journeys to find Maui, a mischievous block of tattooed muscles, I mean demigod, to help her save the world. They bond, fight, laugh and save the world with the help of the dumbest chicken you have ever met.