Moana

Moana, the new Disney animated feature, doesn't have the sophistication or the social awareness of their last in-house effort, Zootopia.  What it does have are two extremely bright voice over performances by Dwayne Johnson and newcomer Auli’l Cravalho in the lead roles, as well as some catchy songs contributed by Lin-Manuel Miranda, the writer of the Broadway phenomenon, Hamilton. 

If Moana feels a bit small for a major animated event movie, I think it's intentional.  The film is basically intended to be a coming of age voyage for its titular heroine.  She faces a lot of obstacles along the way, but there's not really a character who could be considered a "villain", exactly.  Moana herself is voiced by Cravalho, a 16-year-old Hawaiian native who has never acted or sung outside of school and local productions, and was discovered literally at the tail-end of a massive talent search.  According to lead directors John Musker and Ron Clements (The Princess and the Frog), she was the last girl who auditioned for the role.  She's a real find, able to tackle the role with energy and determination, as well as having the singing prowess to perform Miranda's songs beautifully.  Dwayne Johnson lends his talents as her lead sidekick, a demigod named Maui.  Once again, he proves himself as being one of the most charming and charismatic actors working today, and just like in this past summer's Central Intelligence, he shows incredible comedic timing.  He hasn't done a lot of voice over work in the past (outside of playing his "The Rock" character in a string of wrestling video games), but he shows a real knack for it.

As the film opens, Moana is living an idyllic existence on a tropical island, the daughter of the Chief of her people (Temeura Morrison) and his wife (Nicole Scherzinger).  Moana is an adventurous girl who longs to explore what lies out on the open sea, but her father forbids any thoughts.  Her grandmother (Rachel House) tells tales of how her people used to be voyagers of the sea, but those days are behind them, and her people seem content to stay put on the island.  But when their lifestyle on the island is suddenly threatened, Moana has no choice but to board her own makeshift raft, and go beyond the reef.  Her mission is to track down the legendary demigod, Maui, and restore the stone-like heart that he once stole from an Island Goddess to its rightful place.  In order to accomplish this, both Moana and Maui will have to venture into the Realm of Monsters to retrieve his magical hook, as well as face down some strange coconut-like creatures who act kind of like they stepped out of a Mad Max film.

Moana is essentially an old fashioned adventure story, and a fairly simple one at that.  There is no romantic subplot, and aside from some encounters with some unfriendly creatures like a giant crab in the Monster Realm, nothing that can be considered a huge threat until the climax of the film.  The journey of self discovery that its heroine takes is the main emphasis here, and it's told with a lot of heart and humor.  The humor here is provided not just by Maui, who gets the best one-liners in the film, but also by her animal sidekick - a chicken named Heihei (voice effects provided by Alan Tudyk) who is so incredibly stupid, he could make Dopey from Snow White apply for membership in Mensa.  This is not a plot-driven movie, as it's the characters and the songs that are supposed to drive the film.

Fortunately, the filmmakers have been successful in both aspects.  Moana is a confident, likable and intelligent girl who sets about solving her own problems without waiting for someone to help her, while Maui comes across as one of the better comic sidekicks to come out of Disney in quite a while.  The look of the film is obviously gorgeous, with some wide water shots that rival some of the stuff we saw last summer in Pixar's Finding Dory.  There are also some inventive touches to the film's look.  I particularly liked how one of the tattoos on Maui's body is a tiny caricature of himself who can come to life and act as a silent commentator on the action.  As for the songs, there's nothing here that will dominate the airwaves like "Let it Go" from Frozen (which I'm sure will be a relief to many parents), but the songs are still memorable, with Moana's anthem "How Far I'll Go" and Maui's introductory number "You're Welcome" being the highlights.

There's no denying that Moana is a throwback to a somewhat simpler time of animated storytelling, but it's still highly entertaining, and has more than enough energy for just about anyone in the audience to enjoy it.  The characters are bright and personable (well, except for Heihei), it's lovely to watch, and it's just highly appealing.

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