Moana (2016)
Directed by John Musker
In Ancient Polynesia, when a terrible curse incurred by Maui reaches an impetuous Chieftain's daughter's island, she answers the Ocean's call to seek out the demigod to set things right.
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39 films that influenced Moana
What critics say influenced Moana
As both a gentle ecological parable and the first Disney cartoon showcase for a Polynesian cast since “Lilo & Stitch” (2002), it could scarcely be otherwise.
The Hawaiian tropics that Disney painted several years back in the cute but slight “Lilo & Stitch” can’t compare.
There’s the welcome cultural aspect of the female explorer, of course, plus the fact that the film gives its heroine a healthy, more realistically proportioned physique (reminiscent of the Hawaiian characters in “Lilo & Stitch”), rather than forcing Moana into the mold of past princesses.
On the plus side, the filmmakers have drawn inspiration from a new cultural setting — indigenous Polynesian culture and mythology — a move crucial to the success of Lilo & Stitch and The Princess and the Frog , which also featured brown-skinned heroines.
In contrast to the sylph-like figures of Frozen , Moana has a sturdiness that recalls the Hawaiian heroines of 2002’s Lilo & Stitch .
It’s been a slow road to self-realization for Disney heroines, but the old tropes have steadily been strengthened through films like Mulan , Lilo & Stitch , The Princess a nd t he Frog , Tangled , Zootopia , and Frozen .
Moana’s grandmother, the human equivalent of that mystical old chanting tree in Pocahontas, knows the cause of this curse: It all goes back to Maui (PEOPLE Sexiest Man Alive 2016 Dwayne Johnson ), demigod of wind and sea, and his betrayal of Te Fiti, who outranks him as a full-fledged nature goddess.
"Moana" reminds of countless past Mouse House musicals, from 1989's "The Little Mermaid" to 1995's "Pocahontas" to 2013's " Frozen ," and on those terms it is decidedly commonplace, likable but without those extra shots of imagination and inspiration that turn a good picture into something truly special.
Disney loves their non-talking animal sidekicks ( Tangled , Frozen , Pocahontas ) and Alan Tudyk’s cowardly chicken is also responsible for a lot of laughs.
Moana also draws on a wrinkle familiar from films like Mulan and Pocahontas : The heroine isn’t just buoyed by her own inner strength, she’s drawing on the teachings and traditions of her culture as well.
As a depiction of foreign culture and legend, this is “Pocahontas,” without being patronizing, “Mulan” with funnier combat.
Además de las inevitables alusiones (conscientes e inconscientes) a su propia obra, ambos directores han referido al western Temple de acero ( True grit , 1969) como una importante fuente de inspiración para Moana .
It still boggles my mind that nearly all the studio’s directors venerate the work of Studio Ghibli and Hayao Miyazaki (there are a horde of masked coconut beasties in this film which are clear homages to the kodama of Princess Mononoke), yet can’t find time in their own films to simply appreciate silence or stillness for a minute or so.
Maui hollers as they go into battle against a tribe of malevolent coconuts (just go with it; it’s an homage to Miyazaki’s Princess Mononoke) — but in Moana’s case that’s clearly not true.
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That Moana is helped at every stretch — by sidekicks, sometimes even by the ocean itself, which tends to curl up into a humanoid shape, a la “The Abyss” — takes some of the wind out of her sails.
Moana's destiny is clear from childhood, when lapping waves beckon, at times resembling water aliens from The Abyss.
Moana is called to her quest by the sea itself, represented by a beckoning, often playful water column reminiscent of a similar element in James Cameron’s “The Abyss.”
If that daddy-daughter dynamic sounds familiar, it may have something to do with the fact that “Moana” was directed by John Musker and Ron Clements, best remembered for a very different oceanic fantasy called “The Little Mermaid.”
The directors of Moana are John Musker and Ron Clements, as close to living legends within Walt Disney Animation Studios as you can find; they’ve also directed The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Hercules, and The Princess and the Frog, among others.
Directed with confidence, care, and a deep-seated respect for Polynesian culture by John Musker and Ron Clements (“The Little Mermaid,” “Aladdin,” “The Princess And The Frog”) under Jared Bush’s equally touching, heartfelt original screenplay, it’s a buoyant, impressively lovely work of popping visuals, textured storytelling and toe-tapping music numbers, all of which come naturally and progressively during its smoothly realized 103 minutes.
Made with the involvement of veteran Disney co-directors and co-writers Ron Clements and John Musker (Aladdin, The Little Mermaid), Moana takes the skeletal structure of a hero’s journey and turns it into a multilayered feast for the eyes, ears and heart that refuses to talk down to adults or children.
“Moana” may not be “The Little Mermaid” or “Aladdin,” but the film, set among the islands of Polynesia, boasts not only cultural authenticity but also a young heroine who is steadfast and proud, even as she struggles to find her way.
Clements and Musker were behind Disney animated classics The Little Mermaid and Aladdin, but they were also responsible for 2009’s mediocre The Princess and the Frog, which similarly attempted to blend an underrepresented cultural tradition with familiar Disney storytelling styles.
Not unlike Robin Williams’ Genie in “Aladdin,” another Musker-Clements creation, Maui is a boisterous agent of show-stopping supernatural chaos.
The directors of Moana are John Musker and Ron Clements, as close to living legends within Walt Disney Animation Studios as you can find; they’ve also directed The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Hercules, and The Princess and the Frog, among others.
Directed with confidence, care, and a deep-seated respect for Polynesian culture by John Musker and Ron Clements (“The Little Mermaid,” “Aladdin,” “The Princess And The Frog”) under Jared Bush’s equally touching, heartfelt original screenplay, it’s a buoyant, impressively lovely work of popping visuals, textured storytelling and toe-tapping music numbers, all of which come naturally and progressively during its smoothly realized 103 minutes.
Made with the involvement of veteran Disney co-directors and co-writers Ron Clements and John Musker (Aladdin, The Little Mermaid), Moana takes the skeletal structure of a hero’s journey and turns it into a multilayered feast for the eyes, ears and heart that refuses to talk down to adults or children.
“Moana” may not be “The Little Mermaid” or “Aladdin,” but the film, set among the islands of Polynesia, boasts not only cultural authenticity but also a young heroine who is steadfast and proud, even as she struggles to find her way.
Clements and Musker were behind Disney animated classics The Little Mermaid and Aladdin, but they were also responsible for 2009’s mediocre The Princess and the Frog, which similarly attempted to blend an underrepresented cultural tradition with familiar Disney storytelling styles.
And as with Musker and Clements’ previous film, “The Princess and the Frog” (2009), which featured a rare African American heroine in a 1920s New Orleans setting, a conscientious effort to diversify the company stable has already met with appreciation and trepidation alike.
The directors of Moana are John Musker and Ron Clements, as close to living legends within Walt Disney Animation Studios as you can find; they’ve also directed The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Hercules, and The Princess and the Frog, among others.
Directed with confidence, care, and a deep-seated respect for Polynesian culture by John Musker and Ron Clements (“The Little Mermaid,” “Aladdin,” “The Princess And The Frog”) under Jared Bush’s equally touching, heartfelt original screenplay, it’s a buoyant, impressively lovely work of popping visuals, textured storytelling and toe-tapping music numbers, all of which come naturally and progressively during its smoothly realized 103 minutes.
Clements and Musker were behind Disney animated classics The Little Mermaid and Aladdin, but they were also responsible for 2009’s mediocre The Princess and the Frog, which similarly attempted to blend an underrepresented cultural tradition with familiar Disney storytelling styles.
Whereas Clements and Musker’s last film, The Princess and the Frog, got bogged down in storytelling cul-de-sacs and less than inspiring music from Randy Newman, Moana has a buoyancy that allows it to glide across its gorgeous renderings of aquatic life.
That's not an easy task, and if you doubt that check out 2009's Creole-spiced "The Princess and the Frog," the movie "Moana" directors Ron Clements and John Musker set in 1920s New Orleans.
The directors of Moana are John Musker and Ron Clements, as close to living legends within Walt Disney Animation Studios as you can find; they’ve also directed The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Hercules, and The Princess and the Frog, among others.
This body art element is a terrific, unlikely creative flourish — Disney ink gags?! — and something that helps distinguish what directors Ron Clements and John Musker are crafting from the vision of swaggering godhood they delivered in “Hercules.”
Despite ostensibly being a “Disney princess” film (more on that shortly), one of the film’s more immediate predecessors seems to be Hercules, in its mix of lighthearted conflict and real menace.
They also made "Aladdin," "Hercules," and "The Princess and the Frog," and they've returned to apply the time-tested Disney formula to the myths of Polynesia.
The tattoos not only fail to clarify the story, but they come across like the Grecian Urn segments from the animated “Hercules” that Clements and Musker also directed.
But “Moana” feels more like the directors’ 1997 animated collaboration “Hercules,” from the big, boisterous heroes to the stylized animations used to fill in backstories — the paintings on Grecian urns in “Hercules,” Maui’s tattoos in “Moana.”
(Granted, their Treasure Planet isn’t the most faithful adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island, but it is still an adaptation of that story.)
Directors Ron Clements and John Musker are veterans of Disney oceans, having directed "The Little Mermaid" and "Treasure Planet," and their first all-computer-animated tale bursts with color and vitality.
The concept was developed and finalized in part by Ron Clements, known for his distinctive contributions to “Hercules” and “Treasure Planet” (two of the more original visual feasts of the modern Disney canon), and here he does not disappoint in creating a space of thoroughly original images.
That same fiery climax also feels surprisingly (and pleasantly) reminiscent of the “Firebird Suite” sequence in Fantasia 2000, as we see a winsome female character face off against a visualization of environmental destruction, only to incur a sort of verdant rebirth.
Te Fiti and Te Ka are borrowed directly from the Firebird Suite segment of Fantasia 2000 , with its pagan spirits of life and destruction — though where Fantasia 2000 presents its lava monster and life-giving sprite as opposed, dualistic principles, Moana takes a more monistic approach.
Voiced by Jemaine Clement , Tamatoa delivers one of the funniest and most exciting sequences, and — aside from Moana’s ballad — provides the film’s best song, a funky track reminiscent of “Oogie Boogie’s Song” in The Nightmare Before Christmas.
The number has an off-kilter quality to it, reminiscent of The Boogeyman in The Nightmare Before Christmas.
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Even Pixar’s Brave, in spite of not indulging in romance for Princess Merida, has the notion of arranged marriage built into its premise.
Yet one remarkable thing that the film does do is that it spends next to no time on Moana’s gender and her reaction to those around her – unlike Brave, which told another, similar heroic journey, Moana’s simply heroic from the get go, having to prove her worth to herself rather than to a community that thinks less of her off the bat because she’s a girl.
It's the premise of " Moana ," but it's also that of "The Little Mermaid," ''Beauty and the Beast," ''Mulan," ''Brave" and scores of other animated films about teenage girls.
Disney/Pixar cases are more nuanced than most, but the trope is alive and well in Ratatouille and Brave .
" Moana " ($ $ $ and 1/2): In the tradition of "Brave," only significantly more watchable, this titled, strong-willed princess of a Pacific island doesn't need no stinkin' love interest to float her boat.
Pixar's Brave attempted something similar, but its focus remained too narrowly on self-consciously bucking fairy-tale norms that this film avoids without a second thought, and its macro view of Moana's responsibilities to others makes her more than a cipher.
Moana is being released as we approach the 80th anniversary of Disney’s first full-length animated feature, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, and comes only a couple of years after the mammoth success of another Disney princess film, Frozen.
That’s a stereotype Disney itself has helped create since 1937’s “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,” but the studio has been steadily updating its attitude for the gender-equal 21st century.