Just ten years after the release of the animated original, Disney’s live action Moana may be the best live action remake yet! Having said this, I do think it would have benefitted from some more years in between this and the original animation.
But while there may be some nostalgia lacking in regards to time passed, the story follows the same as the original with shot-for-shot recreations and (thankfully) only one new song by Lin Manuel Miranda. If not nostalgic, at least it is familiar.
If you haven’t seen the animated movie, here’s the story in a nutshell – or a coconut even. Moana, a village chief’s daughter, is drawn to the ocean and the ocean seems drawn to her. Knowing the stories of Polynesia’s past and with her island of Montunui slowly dying, Moana is reminded of the heart of Te Fiti and how it can restore order if returned. Forbidden to go past the reef, she discovers that her ancestors were voyagers and, going against her father, sets sail to achieve the task the ocean, and her grandmother, have set her; find the demi god Maui and get him to remedy his act of thievery by returning the heart to its rightful owner.
The bonus of Disney deciding to make this film when they did is that we get Catherine Laga’aia as our Moana. The strength, vulnerability, sass, determination and openness to learning that she bought to the character was magnetic and we love seeing Aussies crush it on the worldwide screen!
Dwayne Johnson’s Maui, while fun to see the voice in flesh form, felt underwhelming. I was distracted constantly by the wig and how disproportionate it made Maui look and his performance felt flat at times. It feels like he needs to sit between a film and theatre style energy but maybe it’s the change of look between the lovable cartoon demi god and a more defined human.
Thomas Kail, director of Hamilton, seems to have brought his theatrical flair to the big screen and it really is beautiful when you look at it shot by shot. My only gripe with all the live actions, including this one, is the heavy use of CGI.
While I know it would be cruel to animals if you were to get a real chicken to swallow hot rocks, I miss the SFX days where physical and practical effects were done with tangible, visible equipment, puppets included. It will always be a shame that we can’t meld this art form with CGI, not choosing the latter over the former.
Moana hit cinemas across Australia on Thursday 9 July and, although I haven’t been entirely glowing in this review, Moana is an excellent celebration of Polynesian culture and I love when a princess gets to own her own destiny so if you are a fan of the original, I think this will be the movie for you!
