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Just got back from the cinema where I watched Vaiana (known as Moana outside of Europe) in English, so I figured I would write a review of it.
SPOILERS BELOW
As usual, bad points first, good points after.
Bad points:
1. The pig was completely unnecessary. I mean, it's barely even in the movie, why even bother including it? It's the chicken that's the real animal sidekick, the pig is just there at the start of the movie.
2. The thing with the ocean choosing Vaiana makes a few plot holes, namely why the ocean didn't help her at crucial times, and personally I think it might be a bit overpowered.
3. Maui's ability to wield the hook again came kind of abruptly. He just needed a good heart-to-heart, and he was fine? I dunno, it's not a major bad points, just something that kind of bothered me.
4. Some of the background people just look too... similar to each other, honestly. They all have kind of the same wide-jawed robust-bodied appearance, which is an okay appearance, but it would be nice to see a bit more variety in the faces and body types, because as it is the majority of them look like they could be siblings, in my opinion.
Good points:
1. Decent music. While I don't remember most of the songs, I've still got How Far I'll Go stuck in my head, and I know I quite liked the whole sea voyaging song thing too. Some of the songs were a bit meh, but the main ones were good, in my opinion.
2. Very nice visuals. The animation in this movie is really beautiful at times, and the lighting is also always stunning. I love the whole Polynesian aesthetic this movie has, with all the jagged, repeating patterns and tiki-looking masks and coconut pirates and all that stuff. The boats are also really beautiful to look at, and they have a nice ancient and epic feel to them.
3. I like the story. I personally think this movie handled the whole girl power thing a lot better than Brave did, Brave was too heavy-handed about it. Vaiana is a badass without having to say so. This movie didn't even mention the fact that Vaiana is female, there was no mention of marriage or romance, the only thing that hindered her from leaving the island was that her parents were worried about her safety, and rightfully so, as the ocean is a dangerous place. Vaiana wasn't the archtypical rebellious princess; she rebelled, yes, but she didn't do it for the sake of being rebellious, she did it because her island was dying and she had to leave to save everyone. She didn't even really protest against her responsebility as the next chief, she did her duties and tried to do what her parents wanted, and she wasn't bad at it either.
It was really refreshing to see a movie without romance, those ones are kind of rare to see, especially from a Disney princess movie. I really like that this is not a story about romance or being a rebellious teen, but rather a big adventure.
I also really like her relationship with her grandmother, and the fact that after Maui abandoned her, instead of giving up completely, she decided to do it all herself and safe the world on her own instead. I also like the revelation that Te Ka was Te Fiti all along, and had just been corrupted by the loss of her heart, it was a nice touch to see that the big bad monster wasn't just evil after all.
4. I really like the character designs. Vaiana's outfit is beautiful yet practical, and Maui's animated tattoos are awesome.
5. It's nice to see a Disney princess with both parents alive and well throughout the entire movie. I know the whole "dead parents" or "dead mum" thing are a bit more typical of the older Disney films and has been subverted in many of the new ones, but it's still nice to see. Also nice to see Vaiana teaching her parents and her entire village how to sail at the end of the movie.
6. Also feel I need to mention the Kakamora, the coconut pirates. I loved that scene. It came out of nowhere and had no impact on the plot, but the Kakamora and their ships had such a fun design that I don't mind. They somehow managed to make them cute and funny while at the same time legitimately threatening.
All in all, it's a good movie, and I liked it. If I could give it a score of 1-6 where 1 is lowest and 6 is highest, I'd give it a 5.
However, I do feel like mentioning that this is the first Disney-Pixar film I've seen where I didn't like the short film before the movie. Did anyone else find it dumb and clichéd? Most of all I just hated how all the characters looked like something Despicable Me might've barfed up.
SPOILERS BELOW
As usual, bad points first, good points after.
Bad points:
1. The pig was completely unnecessary. I mean, it's barely even in the movie, why even bother including it? It's the chicken that's the real animal sidekick, the pig is just there at the start of the movie.
2. The thing with the ocean choosing Vaiana makes a few plot holes, namely why the ocean didn't help her at crucial times, and personally I think it might be a bit overpowered.
3. Maui's ability to wield the hook again came kind of abruptly. He just needed a good heart-to-heart, and he was fine? I dunno, it's not a major bad points, just something that kind of bothered me.
4. Some of the background people just look too... similar to each other, honestly. They all have kind of the same wide-jawed robust-bodied appearance, which is an okay appearance, but it would be nice to see a bit more variety in the faces and body types, because as it is the majority of them look like they could be siblings, in my opinion.
Good points:
1. Decent music. While I don't remember most of the songs, I've still got How Far I'll Go stuck in my head, and I know I quite liked the whole sea voyaging song thing too. Some of the songs were a bit meh, but the main ones were good, in my opinion.
2. Very nice visuals. The animation in this movie is really beautiful at times, and the lighting is also always stunning. I love the whole Polynesian aesthetic this movie has, with all the jagged, repeating patterns and tiki-looking masks and coconut pirates and all that stuff. The boats are also really beautiful to look at, and they have a nice ancient and epic feel to them.
3. I like the story. I personally think this movie handled the whole girl power thing a lot better than Brave did, Brave was too heavy-handed about it. Vaiana is a badass without having to say so. This movie didn't even mention the fact that Vaiana is female, there was no mention of marriage or romance, the only thing that hindered her from leaving the island was that her parents were worried about her safety, and rightfully so, as the ocean is a dangerous place. Vaiana wasn't the archtypical rebellious princess; she rebelled, yes, but she didn't do it for the sake of being rebellious, she did it because her island was dying and she had to leave to save everyone. She didn't even really protest against her responsebility as the next chief, she did her duties and tried to do what her parents wanted, and she wasn't bad at it either.
It was really refreshing to see a movie without romance, those ones are kind of rare to see, especially from a Disney princess movie. I really like that this is not a story about romance or being a rebellious teen, but rather a big adventure.
I also really like her relationship with her grandmother, and the fact that after Maui abandoned her, instead of giving up completely, she decided to do it all herself and safe the world on her own instead. I also like the revelation that Te Ka was Te Fiti all along, and had just been corrupted by the loss of her heart, it was a nice touch to see that the big bad monster wasn't just evil after all.
4. I really like the character designs. Vaiana's outfit is beautiful yet practical, and Maui's animated tattoos are awesome.
5. It's nice to see a Disney princess with both parents alive and well throughout the entire movie. I know the whole "dead parents" or "dead mum" thing are a bit more typical of the older Disney films and has been subverted in many of the new ones, but it's still nice to see. Also nice to see Vaiana teaching her parents and her entire village how to sail at the end of the movie.
6. Also feel I need to mention the Kakamora, the coconut pirates. I loved that scene. It came out of nowhere and had no impact on the plot, but the Kakamora and their ships had such a fun design that I don't mind. They somehow managed to make them cute and funny while at the same time legitimately threatening.
All in all, it's a good movie, and I liked it. If I could give it a score of 1-6 where 1 is lowest and 6 is highest, I'd give it a 5.
However, I do feel like mentioning that this is the first Disney-Pixar film I've seen where I didn't like the short film before the movie. Did anyone else find it dumb and clichéd? Most of all I just hated how all the characters looked like something Despicable Me might've barfed up.
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I loved Moana a lot! I agree a bit with your point about the ocean. I'm not sure if you saw the movie in English, but in the English version Moana's grandmother sings "the ocean is mischievous, I like how it misbehaves" in the big opening song, so I think they wanted the ocean to be unpredictable. However, Jill Bearup, an online reviewer that I really like, made a good point in saying that it lowered the stakes quite a lot that Moana had all the terrifying power of the ocean on her side. You're right about the background characters all looking similar and the pig being kind of pointless, though.
I really enjoyed the character design of Moana's grandmother-- especially her sloping shoulders. They did a great job of making her appear elderly, but also strong and tough. And I adored Moana's hair; they really nailed the look of wavy, thick hair. I have the same type of hair, and I used to get so upset when I was a kid that my hair was full at the bottom, and comparably flat on top, even though that's just gravity without interference from a teasing comb and six cans of hairspray. It makes me happy that they showed that type of hair and made it look beautiful. I know it's not that simple, but maybe younger girls seeing this movie will feel that their natural thick and wavy hair is also beautiful.
The best scene was when Moana beat the drum and had the vision of her ancestors out on the open sea. The opening drumbeat combined with the boat flying over the waves took my breath away! Also, in the English version Maui is voiced by The Rock and I think he was perfect for that arrogant character. "You're Welcome" was a funny song because it felt perfect for The Rock to sing, but the best songs in my opinion were "Where You Are", "How Far I'll Go" and "I Am Moana".
The short film at the beginning was just okay, but speaking as someone who's worked for a few horrible offices, that's NOT what happens when you try and achieve work-life balance and take your breaks, I'll tell you that much. I liked the gag of the brain constantly assuming all scenarios end in death, but it did get old eventually. I am certainly getting bored that all of the short films have a romantic component even if that's not the main focus. Even here, they shoe-horned in him getting married and having babies with the sunglasses girl. What? I guess I'm a bitter, non-romantic girl hahaha.
I really enjoyed the character design of Moana's grandmother-- especially her sloping shoulders. They did a great job of making her appear elderly, but also strong and tough. And I adored Moana's hair; they really nailed the look of wavy, thick hair. I have the same type of hair, and I used to get so upset when I was a kid that my hair was full at the bottom, and comparably flat on top, even though that's just gravity without interference from a teasing comb and six cans of hairspray. It makes me happy that they showed that type of hair and made it look beautiful. I know it's not that simple, but maybe younger girls seeing this movie will feel that their natural thick and wavy hair is also beautiful.
The best scene was when Moana beat the drum and had the vision of her ancestors out on the open sea. The opening drumbeat combined with the boat flying over the waves took my breath away! Also, in the English version Maui is voiced by The Rock and I think he was perfect for that arrogant character. "You're Welcome" was a funny song because it felt perfect for The Rock to sing, but the best songs in my opinion were "Where You Are", "How Far I'll Go" and "I Am Moana".
The short film at the beginning was just okay, but speaking as someone who's worked for a few horrible offices, that's NOT what happens when you try and achieve work-life balance and take your breaks, I'll tell you that much. I liked the gag of the brain constantly assuming all scenarios end in death, but it did get old eventually. I am certainly getting bored that all of the short films have a romantic component even if that's not the main focus. Even here, they shoe-horned in him getting married and having babies with the sunglasses girl. What? I guess I'm a bitter, non-romantic girl hahaha.