Moana

And now we've come to Disney's newest Classic and one of my most anticipated movies of this year, Moana. I was really excited for this movie, not just because of the fact that its another Disney Classic and they already did one that was amazing this year with Zootropolis, but also the fact that Ron Clements and John Musker are returning to direct and you all know by now that they are both my two favourite Disney directors after directing movies like the Great Mouse Detective, the Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Hercules, Treasure Planet and the Princess and the Frog. They are fantastic at directing Disney Classics and it shows here now too. I'm just going to say it off the bat, this is a fantastic movie. It's not as good as Zootropolis this year, but I still thought that it was fantastic. Disney has done it again with making another amazing and enjoyable Classic. Right now Disney feels like it's unstoppable with making amazing Classics ever since Bolt and that was released in 2008 and they're still doing fantastic. And yes, I'm going to be talking about the full story spoiler filler. So if you haven't seen this movie yet and you want to and you don't want it spoiled, go watch it and then read this. What's the story? It opens up with a narration by an old woman telling the tale of Maui. Maui was a demi-god who has these powers and one he stole something called the Heart of Te Fiti's. And ever since he stole it and lost it, everything around the Earth has slowly been dying. We then find out that the old woman was telling the story to some small children. One of the children is Moana, a girl who, after that, goes to the water and sees it moving for her. She walks closer and it pulls back to let her pass. She then finds the heart that looks like a rock but then her father comes while she's on the sand and takes her away and she drops the heart. Many years pass by and Moana is now a teenager who really dreams about going out to the ocean because she loves it so much but her father forbids it. She's training to be the chief of their tribe. But they find out that a bunch of things there are dying like the coconuts and there aren't any fish. Moana suggests going over the reef to get the fish but then her father yells at her saying no one is allowed go over the reef and she's not allowed go into the water. Her mother then explains that the reason her father won't allow her to go into the water is because when he was younger, he and his best friend went sailing at night but something happened and the best friend died. But that night, the old woman, who's Moana's grandmother, shows her a cave of old ships. Apparently the people there used to be voyagers but after the islands were in danger from dying because Maui stole the heart, they stopped at this one island which is where they are. And apparently the grandmother has the heart. She gives it to Moana and to have Maui put it back where it belongs. Moana runs off to tell everyone and what they have to and about the boats. The father gets angry and decides to burn all the boats but then it turns out the grandmother is dying and she tells Moana what to do and to go off to find Maui and save the world. So Moana takes one of the boat from the cave and even a stupid chicken named Heihei sneaks on board. They find the island where Maui is and he tricks her into a cave and tries to steal her boat to sail off an get his magic fish hook he can use to shape-shift. Eventually, of course, they go off but at first Maui wants to get his fish hook off some big crab thing but first, they encounter some coconut headed pirates and there's an entertaining scene with them. They then make it to the island where the giant crab guy is and they get the hook and even Moana does some stuff to help Maui and that makes him change his mind about her. And also, before that, the reason he decided to help her in the first place is because she tells him that if he does this and saves the world, he'll be a hero again. Anyway, they eventually get along and get to the island when they need to put the heart but there's this huge lava monster trying to stop them and get the heart for itself. Moana tries to go right through but Maui says it a bad idea. The monster swings at them and Maui uses his hook to block it but they get blasted back. Moana wakes up after getting knocked out to find Maui's hook is broken and he's angry at her. He turns into a hawk and leaves and Moana begins to question herself thinking she was the wrong choice and she thinks she isn't the chosen one. But then her grandmother appears and tells her that she is the right chosen one and Moana decides to try it again. She heads back to the island and the monster appears again. She manages to get past it and keep going but then the monster blasts her forward and knocks her off her boat. It's about to kill her but then Maui appears again to help her. He keeps the monster busy while Moana keeps going but the island's gone. She then realises that the lava monster is the island. She manages to stop it and calm it down and put the heart on it and it returns to normal. It's actually a real island that's kind of alive and it thanks them. But it doesn't speak. It restores life back to everything and even gives Maui a new hook after he destroyed the first one to help Moana. Maui leaves and Moana goes back to her island and her father releases all the old ships with Moana as the leader. And that's the story. Just like the Zootropolis this year, this movie is absolutely surprising on so many levels. Especially the animation. Every year Disney getting better and better with their C.G.I animation. The textures here are so amazing. Especially the water. I'm not going to lie, I hate water. In real life I hate water but after seeing this, I am absolutely positive that Disney knows 100% how to do animated water. They have mastered it. It's also amazing to see Ron and John back to direct because, like I said, they know exactly how to direct Disney Classics. And now the characters. I really loved the characters here. Moana was my favourite. She's very entertaining and fun and adventurous and a whole lot of fun to watch and she's very likeable. Maui was also really good. He's funny and likeable. I forgot to mention he has these tattoos on him that can move and he can interact with them and the scenes with them were hilarious. And I also forgot to mention his backstory. Apparently his parents abandoned him as a child and threw him into the ocean but apparently the gods found him and gave him these powers. He was also just a lot of fun to watch. And like I said, the animation is fantastic. Maybe some of the best Disney's done in a while. And of course, there's the songs and music. I'm not going to lie, the music and songs here are fantastic. Say for one thing, there's one song in this that isn't that great. It's a good song, but it's also just the least of all of the songs in this. But the other songs are really fantastic. Especially one song in particular that I absolutely loved. "How Far I'll Go." This song is one of best songs I think Disney has done in ages. It is so amazing. So amazing that I think it's right up there with Let It Go from Frozen. Listen.

I think it's fantastic. Especially during the opening when Moana sings it for the first time and then the scene after Moana talks to grandmother on the boat and gets encouraged to go to the island again. It was also fun to watch the scenes where Maui had to help Moana with the boat because Moana doesn't really know how to sail one so he helps her. Another thing that was funny was Heihei. That really stupid chicken. He was really funny. And on the whole, the movie is super fun and entertaining. Now, as far as negatives, there's only a few. I'm kinda sad to say that it has flaws but it does. I would say the biggest problem for me is the fact that this movie does follow a lot of old Disney clichés. There's some things in the middle of the movies that are predictable because they've been in other Disney movies. Another flaw is that whole thing with that one song that, while still good and enjoyable, wasn't that great. And my last problem is I think the movie doesn't have the same rewatchability as I would want. I mean I do want to rewatch it and buy it like all the other Disney Classics. But in terms of comparing the rewatchability of Zootropolis, I think I kinda want to rewatch Zootropolis more and it does suffer from the fact that it's trying to be kinda like those other Disney movies. Especially like the Little Mermaid. Am I the only one who got that? But besides that, I love this this movie. It's another fantastic Disney Classic and I knew it was going to be fantastic and it was absolutely. Disney is doing a phenomenal job with their Classics and this is another fanastic one and I can't wait for it to come to DVD so I can add it to all the rest I have. The cast is amazing, the animation is amazing, the characters are amazing and the story is amazing. I honestly can't recommend this movie enough. But if you have free time, definitely go and see it. It's a fantastic film. Thank you for reading and please comment down below to tell me what you think.