Nothing new but fun familiarity
Film critic Jason Evans is here to tell you everything you need to know about movies in less time than it takes to splash water on your face. His reviews are exactly 100 words long (99 is too short, while 101 would be wordy). Here is his 100-word review of the live-action Moana.
The Premise: This film follows the exact same storyline as the 2016 animated original. Moana (newcomer Catherine Laga'aia) is the teen daughter of the chief of a Polynesian island tribe. Her tribe does not venture to deep sea, but Moana feels a call to explore the ocean. When her island begins to suffer from diseased plants and fish, Moana’s grandmother encourages her to take a raft and find the demi-god Maui (Dwayne Johnson) so they can together restore the heart of Te Fiti. The film is directed by Thomas Kail, who directed the Broadway production of Hamilton, and features a new song by Lin-Manuel Mirada that shows up in the end credits.
The 100-words: This Disney cash grab is completely unnecessary. It brings almost nothing new to a story we already know. It was especially frustrating to see so many digitally animated characters (the chicken, the pig, the coconut pirates). Why use cartoonish animation if your whole point is to make this seem more real? But, I still enjoyed the nostalgia of it and found myself swept up by the staging of the musical numbers. The cast does a nice job, especially Moana’s grandmother -- the stealth MVP of the film. No one needs these remakes, but at least effort went into making it.
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