this is stuff you like and you know
we're about to get serious because i'm
putting my hair in a bun. You know as a
device to denote seriousness it probably
works better if you don't normally wear
your hair in a bun.
regardless that Moana, it's a bit good isn't
it?
And so it's time for a random collection
of my thoughts on the subject. I went to
see it just after Christmas making it
the fourth and final film i saw in the
cinema in 2016; the other three being
Ghostbusters (fun!)
Doctor Strange (trippy!) and Rogue One (fan
film war movie set in the star wars
universe!) of the four Moana definitely
had the most emotional punch
I mean you would expect that because
Disney but wow
but there are so many good things about
it that I want to mention like first it
looks amazing now, the water is
wonderful and the textures are fabulous
but you know what i noticed because
obviously the hair it looks so good i
love what pixar did with Merida's
hair in Brave but this is much more
naturalistic and it works so well man
that quicksilver engine is amazing and
buns! people putting their hair up when
they're about to do important things so
it doesn't get in the way! but back on
topic and spoilers incoming (you're
welcome)
Moana is your standard modern Disney
princess fare of girl has responsibility
but also wants to be herself
something-something destiny, high
jinks ensue
but it has a much more myth like
structure than something like frozen it
feels more like an oral story than a
written one because it divides itself
much more neatly into chapters there are
more obvious hook points for a
storyteller to remember where they were
and get back on track first we're on the
island and then we leave and then we
have to find Maui and then we have to
find the hook so we go to the realm of
monsters and then we try to beat the
person and that doesn't work and
we try again and then we're good. So that
was an interesting difference in feel
that I noted from their last big effort
it definitely felt more episodic
structurally. But regardless there was
one massive improvement which I noticed
from Frozen: REPRISES. Look I am NOT here
for your my Disney movie is better than your
disney movie i don't care if it's frozen
or tangled or lilo and Stitch that makes
you cry like a small baby but Frozen has
a major glaring flaw in my opinion: in
the second half of the movie there are
hardly any songs at all. let it go is
this fantastic amazing song and then it
happens and then we don't get a reprise
over any of the emotionally significant
moments which happened further along in
the plot and I think that was a flaw. for
the first time in forever gets a reprise
when Anna arrives at Elsa's castle but the
second half of the movie like I said mhm
but in Moana you have that who am I, I am
Moana/How Far I'll Go reprise and it's
just aa. In general the songs and the
soundtrack of Moana - fabulous
I mean I wasn't the hugest fan of Shiny
but I see what they were doing there
with their evil David Bowie glitter crab
and you know I think it worked. And
absolutely no romance at all!
I mean not like in brave where no
romance is part of the plot but just
there isn't any romance,
there's a thousand-year-old demigod and a
teenage girl and they're doing hero
stuff and it's great. Speaking of our
thousand-year-old demigod i really liked
him and his tattoos which dance also
great hair. Dwayne Johnson: fantastic choice
for the voice acting and actually I
can't think of anyone whose voice acting
made me go
no you're not quite right...everyone
was really good. and my favorite thing
about the plot: compassion and understanding
about who you are inside saves the day
and turns the sad lava monster back into
the Jolly Green Giant goddess island lady
person
hooray for that says I and also hooray
for granny, our designated dead person
for the movie. But she does in fact get
to come back as a manta ray and a
force ghost so swings and roundabouts. I
mean it's a disney movie and so we're
always going to have those
tropes which I mentioned earlier like I
want more, and destiny, couple of
designated dead people,
musical numbers... but you know I like
those things when they're done well and
they were and so everything was lovely.
and I keep bursting into song at all
moments so that's a pretty good sign too.
the only major thing I felt didn't work
quite so well was having the ocean on
side i mean i get the ocean chooses
Moana and yada yada but when all of
the terrifying power of the ocean is on
your side
the stakes don't feel quite as stakey
especially when what you're fighting
against is a lava monster who
demonstrably cannot go in the water with
no specific limitations on the power of
the ocean that danger doesn't feel that
dangerous and you're left asking questions
like why didn't the ocean just sink the
boats of coconut people? But like i said
i loved it a lot and i will definitely
be getting the DVD and possibly doing a
proper review of it at some point in the
future.
in the meantime patrons can go to
patreon.com/jillbearup and find
out what episodes are coming up in the
next couple of months and everyone else
can...
well if you become patron you can find
that out, but otherwise you can follow
me on Twitter and listen to me ranting
about I don't know
CS lewis Susan Pevensie, hair, Disney...anything
that comes to mind really.
regardless though I will see you all next
time for whatever episode is next on the
list.
look I wrote it down so I wouldn't have to
remember it! See you then! Okay we're not
being serious and epic anymore i can take
my hair down...