Movie Review: Moana

Movie Review: Moana

Moana is the story of a teenage girl whose destiny it is to cure her island from the curse that was caused by the demi-god Maui. Throughout the film, Moana learns through self-discovery and realises she is more capable of doing things than she appears to be.  

Moana is a good film. It sends a clear message to all who watch it that by believing in yourself you can do anything you set your mind to. The movie teaches its audience that sometimes not everyone is supportive of the decisions you make in your life (as seen when Moana’s mother helps her flee the island after her father forbid it) but can turn people’s opinions around by believing in yourself and doing what makes you happy – even though it’s a lot of work in the beginning. This is a lesson that everyone can take with them. As life progresses we all must make decisions as to what is best for us in that time period and not what other people may want us to do. This may be one of the very few positive things I found with Moana.

I expected a lot more of the original soundtrack for this film. How Far I’ll Go Is the best song from that film and rightly so. The other songs are shockingly bad, even for a Disney film. Maui’s song You’re Welcome serves as a reason for Maui to gloat about the things he has accomplished and make me instantly dislike him. It has no other purpose than that. The song Shiny was just a filler for the plot to progress. It was pointless and I believe the movie would have been better without it. For the brief arc that the crab was in the movie for it didn’t warrant its own song. Knowing that Lin-Manuel Miranda was one of the composers and writers for the score of the film, I expected much more from it.

The character of Maui bothers me excessively. Most the film is spent having Maui gloat and brag about himself and the rest throwing Moana from things hoping to be rid of her and just being mean to her. As a demi-god, his personality should reflect more on helping and kindness (even though his past is explained) towards humans. When his attitude towards Moana does become positive it has no effect on me, as a viewer, whatsoever! Moana would have been better off by herself at the climax of the film than having Maui change his mind. I feel this character could be improved upon as most of the film is set up so that when he decides to really help Moana the viewer should be happy. I was just more annoyed.

The animation of the film was stunning. It was polished, perfected and a joy to sit down and watch. I like the Easter egg that Disney threw in at 1:02:51 (watch it to figure out what it is) even though an Easter egg like this has occurred in other Disney films its always exciting to see another one added to the collection. This movie will no doubt become a classic in the years to come. I liked it but I didn’t love it. For me, it missed the mark a little bit.  

Movie Review Rating: 3/5