Disney tale rides a wave to female empowerment
Moana (out of 4) Animated adventure featuring the voices of Auli’i Cravalho, Dwayne Johnson, Jemaine Clement, Rachel House, Temuera Morrison and Alan Tudyk. Directed by John Musker and Ron Clements. Opens Wednesday at major theatres. 107 minutes. PG
You can never have too many positive role models in these tempestuous Trumpian times, especially female ones.
Disney duly delivers with Moana, its newest animated empowerment saga. The title Polynesian princess is voiced by lively newcomer Auli’i Cravalho.
It’s a movie of elemental appeal — the nature visuals are a knockout — that has the bonus satisfaction of a tuneful soundtrack co-written by Lin-Manuel Miran- da. (Miranda’s hit Broadway musical Hamilton is a current source of vexation for America’s newly elected Tweeter-in-Chief.)
“No one goes beyond the reef!” commands Chief Tui (Temuera Morrison) of Motunui, a remote South Pacific island where peace and prosperity reign.
But when blight hits the coconut crop and the fish nets come up empty, the gods of nature need appeasing — and that will only happen if boastful Hawaiian demigod Maui (voiced by Dwayne Johnson) returns the magical Heart of Te Fiti, an artifact he stole in a plot-setting prologue.
With the tacit blessing of her wise Gramma Tala (Rachel House), the headstrong and heroic Moana disobeys her papa, as offspring will, and sails out past the reef to confront Maui and attempt to set things right.
She’s accompanied by a crazy rooster named Heihei (Alan Tudyk), which likes to eat rocks, but Maui is equally nutty, with quirks as big as his ego.
The story is dependably Disney — directors John Musker and Ron Clements previously helmed The Little Princess — but the characters and visuals are highly distinctive.
Jemaine Clement amuses as the voice of a50-foot crab named Tamatoa, who loves bright shiny objects. Moana and Maui also encounter pint-sized coconut pirates called Kakamora — toy stores, ahoy! — as well as a fire-hurling lava creature that might have small fry ducking under theatre seats, and maybe a few adults, too.
The best creations, though, are the silent ones: the tattoos on Maui’s body function as a sarcastic Greek chorus and our feisty title heroine is frequently saved by a sentient wave.
Moana is a movie of natural delights.