Moana – A Magical Addition to Disney’s Collection
“Moana is both a revival of the Disney classic and a bold step away from their time honored tales,” writes Meredith Placko in a review for Comicbook.com.
“While she may be the daughter of her tribe’s Chief, and will one day lead her people, this reluctant leader is unlike any Disney heroine we have ever met before,” she writes. Moana is the hero of this story – “one young girl who will stop at nothing to save her people.”
Placko points out that while “we saw notes of this in Brave”, “Moana accomplishes this without putting the age old tropes on their title character’s gender.” “From the get go, Moana is destined to be the next chief. There is no threat of marriage to someone she finds unworthy of her stature that keeps her from wanting to ascend that role; simply the desire to explore and see what lies beyond the reefs.”
John Musker and Ron Clements, two of the most acclaimed Disney directors, brought the movie to life.
“There’s a rich and exciting history in the stories of the Polynesian people,” said Musker, who had always been intrigued by the Pacific Islands.
The team did a lot of research and took a trip around the Pacific to immerse themselves in the cultures of Tahiti, Fiji, and other island nations and their culture.
“Having spent so much time with the people of Polynesia, the team knew they had to do right by them and set about casting with a distinct idea in mind,” as reported in the article. With the exception of Alan Tudyk, Moana’s entire cast is made up of people with ties to the islands including Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, New Zealander and one-half of The Flight of the Conchords duo Jemaine Clement and Auli’i Cravalho.
“The story of Moana is endearing and refreshing to the time honored Disney classics, and similarly it is the music that brings the movie to life,” writes Placko. “It is also the history that Moana teaches us, in the albeit abbreviated and Disney-fied tales of Maui and his adventures, that sticks with you long after you have left the theater.”
Article Source: Comicbook.com, Meredith Placko, November 24, 2016
Image Source: Youtube
