TheRealYuma
Since: Feb, 2014
12/14/2016 00:00:00
Not to mention Maui is over 1,000 years old. A non-platonic relationship between him and Moana would not be kosher, to put it mildly. Nick and Judy are far from perfectly platonic. For one thing, there\'s the actors\' differing interpretations. Secondly, below the surface is open to interpretation. Though I rank Moana above Frozen, yes, it\'s formulaic-ness is a problem. Other movies manage to make formulaic work, like Turbo with its crazy gags and stellar supporting characters, along with a strip mall that\'s more accurate to the people of LA than other movies, but Moana does not have much beyond a different setting to make it stand out.
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Competent, but...
Moana ticks a lot of boxes for me, before the movie even has a chance to start. Everyone has a secret list of things they will give a movie extra credit for, if it simply has them in it. Kevin Smith joked that his thing was giant robot spiders. Movie Bob said his were superheroes and Kiaju. Mine are chickens, the sea, and tikis. Moana ticks all those boxes.
What it also has is a neat little adventure story, in which a promising young daughter of the chief must save her paradise home by delivering the magic thingamabob to the hidden glade of wherever. It is a standard fantasy quest, but transplanted into a fresh, new and gorgeous setting. Stale medieval Europe is swapped out for a Disnified Polynesian Triangle. With that also comes a nice buddy movie, in which the heroine, Moana, has to work with/babysit a petulant demigod. Their relationship, like the one in Zootopia, is perfectly plutonic, and I'm glad Disney has come around to the idea that boy and girl doesn't always mean marriage. Here it makes sense that two pragmatic, singleminded heroes are more interested in getting the job done than making goo goo eyes.
There is a cost though. Moana is a competent film, but we have come to expect more from Disney by now. Zootopia looked at microagressions, Frozen examined sisterly love, and Moana gives us nothing more than a formula. There is the barest hint of a parable about environmental responsibility in there, but not in any meaningful sense. Moana is worth watching for its good nature, colour and excitement, but not for an awful lot else.