Maui, a demigod whowas worshipped as a hero by his clan of ocean voyagers ends up stealing the heart of ‘Te Fiti’, their goddess of prosperity who casts a spell of darkness. Fearing harm from the evil forces unleashed, the clan hide their instincts and restrict themselves to a small island and learn to survive as peasants. A thousand years later the descendant of their chieftain, a little girl Moana is leading them as the dark spell affects their lives and she is chosen by the ocean to find Maui and restore Te Fiti’s heart.
Language:
English
Running Time:
107 min
Rating:
PG (MPAA)
Release date:
24 November 2016
Directed by:
John Musker
Ron Clements
Produced by:
Osnat Shurer
Written by:
Aaron Kandell
Chris Williams
Don Hall
John Musker
Jordan Kandell
Pamela Ribon
Ron Clements
Starring:
Alan Tudyk
Aulii Cravalho
Dwayne Johnson
Bappi Lahiri
Christopher Jackson
Music by:
Lin-Manuel Miranda
Mark Mancina
Opetaia Foai
Shot by:
Rob Dressel
Adolph Lusinsky
Editing by:
Jeff Draheim
Distributed by:
Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

What’s Hot

  • An expansive canvas featuring the wide and vast ocean and a clan of voyagers is just the perfect milieu for the animators to push the limits of imagination. The characters, ships and islands are given a strong dose of by the technical team to virtually transform us into another dimension. A visual experience which will linger around in our memories for a long time!
  • The fun doesn’t end with the visuals as the songs and the music score play an equally impressive role in defining the success. The songs are too good to ignore with “How Far I’ll Go” and “You’re Welcome” being the top picks that are bound to have us humming along. The befitting score from Mark Mancina is another aspect that deserves special mention.
  • Directors Ron Clements and John Musker score handsomely with such strong character traits penned for Maui, Moana and her family despite being a movie largely targeted at kids with positive vibes. This makes the experience quite endearing for adults and adolescents as well who can relate personally to the many life altering decisions and the associated dilemma from the view of the characters!
  • The movie also pads up with a tone of sarcastic humor with Maui’s antics during the initial exchanges with Moana. They are much enjoyable with well written witty dialogues. The quirky little chicken and its frequent and funny incursions into the frame is a nice touch that doesn’t go unnoticed.

What’s Not

  • The narration could have been restricted to leave out a few minor events that have little or no bearing on the story. What could have easily wowed us as a 90 minute wonder, ends up giving us a feel that the episodes with the pirates and the realm of the monsters could have been managed better.

Badges

VFX
Direction
Music

Verdict

Verdict Stamp

Disney goes all-in with ‘Moana’ to create a whole world of imaginary characters with great depth of character traits as well. When they spring to life backed by top-notch technical wizardry and brilliant songs, the movie is nothing short of a marvel!