Moana★★★★1/2
Moana is rad
The Rock is a demigod
Heihei is the best
In Ancient Polynesia, when a terrible curse incurred by the Demigod Maui reaches an impetuous Chieftain's daughter's island, she answers the Ocean's call to seek out the Demigod to set things right.
I'm totally late on my review of this movie—I saw it back in December—so you'll have to forgive me for being unusually general with my review. Basically: this movie was wonderful, and yet another example of Disney's recent excellence in creating films with strong female leads and an important message.
The Rock is fantastic at Maui, natch, and his singing voice was a pleasant surprise. He basically is Maui, with less hair. I also really enjoyed Auli'i Cravalho as Moana; her voice is stunning, and I feel like we'll see a lot more from her in the future. (Perhaps literally, you know, since Moana's a cartoon character.) My favorite character in the movie had to be Heihei, however. That stupid chicken stole every scene he was in, and I love that Alan Tudyk "voiced" him. (Alan's such a vocal chameleon.)
The movie featured empowering messages of believing in oneself, listening to one's intuition, and taking risks, all of which are important for young girls (and boys) to internalize. They resonated with me, a not-so-young girl, too.
The soundtrack is also fantastic; Lin-Manuel Miranda did a wonderful job of mixing catchy Disney princess tunes with equally catchy Polynesian music. (Full disclosure: I've never listened to anything Hamilton-related, but even I know that he's a true talent.)
I highly recommend seeing Moana, if you haven't already. Just don't blame me when you can't get the songs out of your head.
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