OVP: Moana (2016)

Film: Moana (2016)
Stars: Auli'l Cravalho, Dwayne Johnson, Rachel House, Temuera Morrison, Nicole Scherzinger, Jermaine Clement
Director: Ron Clements and John Musker
Oscar History: 2 nominations (Best Animated Feature, Best Original Song-"How Far I'll Go")
Snap Judgment Ranking: 4/5 stars

It always feels strange to me at this point to realize that Disney has been better than Pixar for a few years now.  While for a long while there Pixar was consistently one of the most creative forces in movies, it has become such a glut of sequels and nothing approaching its truly magical run with films like WALL-E and Up, that honestly I don't even get excited for original Pixar movies anymore, as (let's face it) Inside Out is very good but it's not as good as WALL-E, and it's possible nothing that Pixar ever makes again will approach that high-point.  But the weird conundrum is that Disney, while also never approaching something as strong as WALL-E, has quietly amassed a resume of solid critical hits, culminating in 2016 with arguably the Mouse House's two best movies since the 1990's, Zootopia and Moana.

(Spoilers Ahead) Moana came out months ago (if my plans are seen through, I suspect you'll be seeing a lot of reviews of 2016 movies in the next couple of weeks as I finally get through a backlog of articles I've been sitting on forever), so the plot is familiar to most of you, but for those who don't know, I'll give a quick rundown.  Moana (Cravalho) is a young Polynesian princess who dreams of getting off of her island, but is held back by her duties to her people and an over-protective father.  Then, one day, the crops on her island start to wither in relation to a curse that was cast a millennium ago, and Moana (against her parents' wishes), sets forth on an adventure to undo the curse, specifically by convincing Maui (Johnson), a demigod who stole a goddess of the ocean's heart, to steal the heart back from a volcanic demon and return it to her, thus saving her people in the process.  It sounds a little confusing, but works pretty smoothly in the film itself, and being that this is Disney, Moana succeeds, and in a nice twist on the princess narrative, she never has to fall in love to do so.

The film itself has a relatively tried-and-true, girl-power narrative that has become so common with Disney in recent years you'd almost think it would get tired, but it's aided by a wonderfully spry storytelling power (I felt like the movie moved pretty quickly, save for a short dry spell after Maui abandons Moana briefly toward the end), and is aided by having some of the most glorious animation I've seen from a Disney picture in a long time, as well as terrific music.  The animation is lovely-the animators make much use of the blue of the constant waves, and particularly some glorious shots at night, as well as the realization of the goddess Te Fiti is gorgeous, and the running gags of Maui's tattoos are clever and striking.  Honestly-not since perhaps Ratatouille has a Disney film's visual style so well-matched its personality.

The music, of course, is aided by Lin-Manuel Miranda's genius and him just saying "forget it" to being "hip" about Disney movies, making this the most Broadway-friendly musical from Disney I've seen that doesn't have "Howard Ashman" in the credits.  I loved all of the tunes, and while one can argue about Jermaine Clement and Dwayne Johnson mugging a bit too much in their songs, songs like "We Know the Way," "I Am Moana," and in particular the Oscar-nominated "How Far I'll Go" soar in the picture.  It feels mean to compare it, as I liked both movies, but here we see what a larger musical can do for a film compared to Frozen, which loses some of its luster when it only occasionally features songs.  It's hard to fathom that Moana came out the same year as Zootopia, a decidedly different side of Disney, or that both ended up being so, so good.  Well done all around.

Those are my thoughts on Moana, a delightful movie experience in theaters or at home (I've watched it both places!).  As you've surely seen it, share your thoughts below, and in particular I'm curious what your favorite film from the post-2009 period is.