Even as an adult it’s easy to see why kids are so enamoured by Disney films and their most recent computer animated Pacific islands epic Moana continues the magic.
The film follows Moana, voiced by up and coming 16 year old Auli’i Cravalho, who is the daughter of a Polynesian tribe’s chief.
For her entire life she has been groomed to take on the role of chief of their insular tribe but longs to travel beyond their little island’s reef to the rest of the world.
Eventually she is prompted into action after her island starts dying because of some ancient shenanigans that left the goddess of life Te Fiti without her heart (a small green stone).
The Ocean itself chooses Moana to return the stone to Te Fiti and stop the death and destruction plaguing the water and islands.
She seeks out the demi god Maui, voiced by Dwayne ‘the Rock’ Johnson who was the one who originally took the heart from Te Fiti.
Disney animators clearly take pride in their work and Moana is inundated with stunning visuals of water that take your breath away.
While I’ve never been a fan of songs in films there are a few catchy tunes.
However parents shouldn’t despair, your children probably won’t be singing the main track How Far I’ll Go as obsessively as they did with Frozen’s Let it Go (please note, I can’t offer any guarantees on this).
The story is very familiar in parts and follows similar princess/heroine formulas that have been seen in films like Brave, which will need a shakeup in a few years if Disney wants to keep people interested.
While I’m not well versed in Polynesian culture and there may be plenty of offensive aspects to this film it was great to see Disney explore somewhere other than Europe.
The real stars of the film weren’t even human.
A suicidal rooster called Heihei and a tattooed version of Maui on Maui himself stole every scene they were involved in.
If you have a child and are alive post-boxing day you basically have to see this film with your children at some point.
No doubt your children will also insist you have to purchase all the toys to go with it as well.
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Distributor: Disney Studios
Rated: PG
Release date: December 26
