Disney Scores High Points With “Moana”
In the world where women and girls are becoming more outspoken about their rights, the movie Moana, came out at the perfect time. The latest Disney movie, directed by Ron Clements and John Musker, is about the Ancient Polynesia community that has been cursed. In the result of the cursed, the island lost their crop production. To put the community out of misery is soon-to-be the first female chief of her Polynesian tribe named Moana (Auli’I Cravalho). Moana’s goal is to go to Demigod and reverse the curse of her island. During her journey, Moana stumbles upon Maui (Dwayne Johnson) and his character just made Moana’s journey more entertaining to watch. Maui’s funny personality triggers Moana’s sense of humor, making her livelier.
If we compare Moana to a previous Disney hit Frozen, we will see a similar strong female character, but with a different interpretation. Meaning, in Frozen, the female characters are sisters, they can depend on each other and lean on each other. However, in Moana the female character only has herself. No one is going to cheer her on because she is in the middle of the ocean and the only person that can push her is herself. In interpretation, Frozen tells its audience that family will help you get through hard times, but the film Moana tells its young audience that you can do something big without depending on others. Young girls can be independent and achieve something great in life without depending on others.
What makes Moana more beautifully presented compared to the other Disney movies are the quality of the animation. Roy Clements and John Musker’s experience with animation helped perfect the animation of Moana. Roy and John both worked together previously on another Disney movie, Little Mermaid. Roy and John don’t have anything to their disadvantage because both worked on an animation that involves large bodies of water. With the advancement of technologies, Roy and John were able to expand their creativity to another level. As an example of creativity, Roy and John showed the hills of flowers and transform the flowers into a large god-like human and then transform that into a volcano. Their animation is so realistic, it looks like you are not watching an animation.
If you are a fan of Disney movies and believe in empowering girls to strive for the best, Moana is for you. This movie will leave you feeling happy and inspired as soon as you leave the box office. It is very entertaining, funny, and sad at the same time due to diverse personalities of the characters. Disney keeps it classic but adds a slight change that makes their product even better and more fun to watch.
