Movie Review: "Moana" 11/23/16

This is a movie review for "Moana", released November 23, 2016. I watched this on Netflix.






Trailer

Cast

Auli'i Cravalho - Moana
Dwayne Johnson - Maui
Rachel House - Gramma Tala
Temuera Morrison - Chief Tui






Plot

Moana is a chief-to-be for a tribe in ancient Polynesia, or something like that. Lately, the fishing has become scarce, the farmed plants aren't growing well, and the coconuts are rotten when harvested. Though the food supply is having issues, the leader, Chief Tui, refuses and forbids the tribe to leave the island. His mother, however, says that leaving the island to find Maui (a demi-god that can shape shift) and helping him return the heart of Te Fiti (the earth goddess) to her body [which happens to be an island...] would save the tribe. So, Moana feels called to the ocean to save her people, though her father has tried to tell her time and time again no. He had lost a friend years ago when they tried to cross the reef and therefore thinks that the ocean beyond the reef is dangerous. [Sounds like Triton from Disney's The Little Mermaid - they are dangerous! As well as Merlin from Finding Nemo - the ocean is dangerous!]

After her grandmother's death, Moana finds an ocean ship and leaves the island to find Maui and restore the heart of Te Fiti (which the ocean conveniently gave to her). Can she save her people?








Rating Criteria

0/5 – No value whatsoever. Absolute waste of time.

1/5 – Barely worth any time.

2/5 – Pathetic but has a bit of something to hold the attention a little.

3/5 – Somewhat kept the attention but could definitely have used more.

4/5 – Good, but not awe-strikingly amazing. Could have maybe used a bit more to the movie.

5/5 – Go see it! Wonderful movie all around. – characters, music, theme, story line, etc.

3.5/5 - This movie was good and very catchy but there were things that I did not like. Sure, it was a good story but not very realistic, even if it was to be "mythology" for Polynesia. The fact that Maui claims most of the advantages that the islanders have was his doing ["planted a snake and grew coconut trees", "brought fire", "brought the sun to make the days better"] is rather egotistical and, even for mythology, a LOT for a demigod.

As I was watching this, I was reminded a bit of Disney's Mulan. Father says don't but the daughter does anyways and it saves the people. Like seriously, why do parents try to force certain beliefs/destinies onto their children (especially daughters) and say that this is the way that it has to be. I was almost expecting to have Moana sing "Reflections" from Mulan. I guess "How Far I'll Go" is her version? "I wish I could be the perfect daughter but I come back to the water no matter how hard I try." WHY is there a "perfect daughter" mentality!? Geez. Maybe there needs to be a "perfect son" story....? I have no space in my queue for more ideas. The ones that I have are already enough for one brain.

Here's "How Far I'll Go":

I HATED the world of the gods. Seriously that was messed up. It made the story completely ridiculous. When the gigantic crab started singing, I nearly threw in the towel. HERE:

What is with the pop music and modern idea of consumerism? Very much gross and that's why I knocked the rating.

You can show this to your kids but I would suggest previewing it first! This is not one that I would say is very kid friendly for the whole thing, but like I said, it has a lot of catchy songs. I wouldn't want my kids (though I don't have any myself) singing "Shiny". If you want a popular movie to show the kids, PLEASE consider say "Frozen" (which still has issues but is so much better than this movie).

*Spoilers*

Here's "Everything Wrong with Moana in 15 Minutes or Less":