GoKawiilNearly a decade ago, the first Moana animated movie hit theaters and showed the world what professional wrestling fans already knew: Dwayne Johnson can sing.
More importantly, though, the movie was a game-changer for Walt Disney and opened the door to broader representation in stories like this -- centering on an all-Polynesian cast, aside from Jemaine Clement, who plays a giant jewel-loving crab. Moana, in its first two animated installments, continued the refreshing trend that Frozen and Brave began, subverting the romantic princess trope that has long been established as a Disney mainstay.
All this is to say that, as a father of a 7-year-old girl, these movies have been on regular rotation in my home and have since burned their way into my memory bank. So, I'm sure I'm not alone when I say that, when I first heard Disney was making a live-action Moana, I couldn't help but feel this was all for profiting off of IP and nothing else.
Read more: How Disney crafted water for its visually stunning 'Moana'
Catherine Laga'aia stars in Moana. Disney
To be clear, Disney's live-action Moana (which hits theaters on Friday) is an absolutely unnecessary addition to the franchise. But despite that, it's fun. In fact, it's the most fun I've had in a theater while watching one of these live-action retreads. And that's a relief, because I didn't want to see another Will Smith-as-Genie-from-Aladdin situation play out on the big screen.
That's not to say I didn't have my reservations. During the opening moments of the film, which establish Moana's family and village of Motonui, I found myself weary as things start off slowly. The same musical numbers and plot points from the 2016 film inform the story beats.
I've already seen these moments in animated form, and while the musical and dance numbers do connect (thanks to it being real, live human people doing the singing and dancing), it felt like I was seeing another example of a live-action adaptation falling into the re-do traps of its predecessors without adding anything new or noteworthy to the mix.
Those fears were short-lived, though, thanks to the introduction of Catherine Laga'aia as the titular hero. Her performance, alongside Rena Owen's, who warms up the screen as her grandmother Tala, is an absolute delight and sets the stage for the adventure to unfold.
The stakes of the story are the same: Moana ventures out beyond the reef, after warnings not to by her father Chief Tui, to find the demigod Maui, who stole the green stone heart of the earth goddess Te Fiti, in order to save her village from the spreading decay that has followed said theft.
... continue reading