Return to old-fashioned storytelling Moana
Its 95 per cent rating on the movie review website Rotten Tomatoes is an indicator of the acclamation Moana has received from offshore critics, as they’ve seen in this movie a welcome return to the old-fashioned storytelling of the Disney of old.
They’re right, in that Moana has a proper young heroine, the eponymous Pacific princess (voiced by Auli’i Cravalho), a lush, magnificent soundtrack (our own Opetaia Foa’i can claim a share of credit), and an almost old-school style of animation. It’s also been rightly applauded for taking a Polynesian story and telling it – barring the furore over demi-god Maui’s barrel chest – with respect and accuracy.
Bonus points for the voice work, which is uniformly excellent, from Cravalho and Maui’s Dwayne Johnson, to other Kiwis involved – Rachel House, Tem Morrison and Oscar Kightley, and Jemaine Clement as a scene-and trinket-stealing crab, Tamatoa.
But it’s the diversion into the cave of the pilfering crustacean that made me realise what’s missing. Tamatoa delivers a witty, clever song which hints at Clement’s former Conchords work, some sharp repartee and a bit of excitement. But otherwise, this is a very linear tale which takes Moana on a hunt for the wayward demi-God Maui, then to persuade Maui to restore the heart of Te Whiti, and thus restore lush life to the Pacific. The route for both Moana and the viewer is clearly waymarked from the start and the conclusion all too apparent: even kids deserve a touch more subtlety.
This is classic 60s Disney, but I can’t help but feel there was a level of sophistication at work in a movie like Frozen which would have helped elevate Moana from a safe holiday blockbuster to a kids’ film that will endure. I could, of course, be entirely wrong – everyone else seemed to love it. I just liked it. - Steve Kilgallon