A Disney Princess By Any Other Name... "Moana"

Moana (2016)

Rated PG

Starring Auli'i Cravahlo, Dwayne Johnson, Rachel House, Temuera Morrison, Jermaine Clement,

Directed by Ron Clements, Don Hall, John Musker, Chris Williams

The Story:

Moana (Cravahlo) is the daughter of the Chief (Morrison) but dreams of a life beyond their island's reef. With fish becoming scarce, she wants to lead their people to new and exciting places, but is landlocked by her father and their tribe's ideals. When she discovers an ancient artifact, she sets out to find the demigod Maui (Johnson) and restore life to the dying sea.

It's the Disney Princess for the 21st century. She doesn't need a man to help save her...

No, wait.

Even the movie acknowledges Moana as the latest in a long line of Princesses:

"Okay, first, I am not a princess. I'm the daughter of the chief."

"Same difference."

"No."

"If you wear a dress, and have an animal sidekick, you're a princess."

Yep, she's a Princess all right!

I guess what they are really going for is that she doesn't need a love interest, and that's fine.

There's no room in this coming of age story for a romance, anyway.

The movie itself is fairly fun, if predictable.

The problem with Disney, and the Disney Princess genre if you will, is they have often set themselves bars that are difficult for subsequent movies to hurdle.

Place this one side by side with Tangled, and sorry, Moana doesn't stand a chance.

However, I look at this against Frozen, and I still wonder what people ever saw in that movie.

Different strokes for different folks.

It had its moments, and the bonding between Moana and Maui were indeed the strengths of the film.

But when you add in the deus ex machina of the ocean seemingly as a third character that tossed in save whenever it was needed...

Well, why didn't the ocean just take Moana straight to the end of her mission?

I know, lessons to learn and all that growing up stuff and redeeming Maui.

It's enjoyable enough, mostly harmless, and Jermaine Clement is awesome, and woefully underused as the villain.

Glad I saw it, but won't be rushing out to buy it or anything like that.


 Final Grade: B-

Spielberg Does It Again..."The BFG"

The BFG (2016)

Rated PG

Starring Ruby Barnhill, Mark Rylance, Jermaine Clement, Bill Hader,

Directed by Steven Spielberg

The Story:

Sophie (Barnhill) spots a giant (Rylance) outside of the orphanage one night. Since he was seen, he snatches Sophie up and runs away with her back to the land of giants. But this is no ordinary giant that eats kids, he actually befriends Sophie and the two begin to become friends. However, a human in the land of giants soon attracts the unwanted attention of the other giants that live there, and soon they are out to eat the delicious morsel.

It seems like Spielberg only makes two kinds of movies:

Those that become instant classics for generations

or

Those that are beautifully average and overall forgettable in the grand scheme of the movies.

This one falls in the latter category.

It's beautiful to watch, but really doesn't hold any interest for me to see again.

That's not how a family movie should be.

Of course, given Spielberg's own filmography, he doesn't really do "family" films all that often, the last one probably being E.T. back in the early 80s.

The last time he tried one specifically for younger audiences (I assume) would be Hook, and that one was critically and commercially shot down, so maybe he's wise to stay away from this type of movie and concentrate on action films and period dramas.

The voice cast for all of the giants do great work, and Rylance imbues the BFG with a wonderful spirit.

Barnhill will hopefully return in other films as she does a great job leading 85% of the movie for her first time on the big screen.

So the film itself is enjoyable enough, just nothing I feel would be one worth watching again in the future.

Final Grade: C+