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Moana |OT| - "If you wear a dress and have an animal sidekick, you're a princess"

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I guess we look for different things in these movies as if I had to rank individual aspects it'd vary quite a lot from what you've got. But I don't really think about them in that sort of way, I take the movies as a whole and consider the sum of all the parts.

Keep in mind that even if my opinion differs from yours I think all three are achievements in their own right :) There's no correct order.

True. All of them are fantastic. : )
 

BumRush

Member
If I had to rank the three - as others have - I'd say Moana > Tangled > Frozen, with Moana getting a slight nod because I'm a sucker for water settings and the soundtrack was absolutely incredible.
 
I'm just going to add some comments:
I would've preferred Maui not getting a replacement hook. makes it more of a personal sacrifice for him then and also resolves having a demigod at the end of the story. If you just HAVE to give his powers back to him then maybe have him discover it was him all along and not the hook
The legend of Maui is synonymous with his fish hook in Polynesia. To separate him from it would be pretty offensive I think.
 

mrkgoo

Member
The legend of Maui is synonymous with his fish hook in Polynesia. To separate him from it would be pretty offensive I think.
Hmmm. Maybe.

Fine with it as it is, just would've liked
Some sort of better completion to his arc I guess.

With more time I'm warming up to it a bit more too and I already thought it was fantastic.

But can someone clear something up for me?

at what point did her ancestors stopped being voyagers? The story would imply her father was an ocean lover and stopped because his friend was killed. And his mother also remembers.

But the Moana's father said that each rock on the summit was placed by each generation of chief which would implant a dozen generations.
 

Oozer3993

Member
Hmmm. Maybe.

Fine with it as it is, just would've liked
Some sort of better completion to his arc I guess.

With more time I'm warming up to it a bit more too and I already thought it was fantastic.

But can someone clear something up for me?

at what point did her ancestors stopped being voyagers? The story would imply her father was an ocean lover and stopped because his friend was killed. And his mother also remembers.

But the Moana's father said that each rock on the summit was placed by each generation of chief which would implant a dozen generations.

Her ancestors had stopped voyaging 1000 years before the movie. Her father felt a calling to the sea, but he was not a voyager. His one attempt at sailing past the reef ended in his friend dying.

The movie was actually was inspired by the actual 1000 year cessation of voyaging by people in the Pacific. Archaeologists still aren't entirely sure why they stopped or why they started up again.
 

mrkgoo

Member
Her ancestors had stopped voyaging 1000 years before the movie. Her father felt a calling to the sea, but he was not a voyager. His one attempt at sailing past the reef ended in his friend dying.

The movie was actually was inspired by the actual 1000 year cessation of voyaging by people in the Pacific. Archaeologists still aren't entirely sure why they stopped or why they started up again.

Ah, sweet thanks!

so the father's calling was like Moana but his experience was enough to put a stop to his and his desire to hold Moana back. Sort of feel like it should've been someone closer. It works still though.

So yeah his own calling and pulling back is separate from the voyaging of his ancestors.
 

Replicant

Member
Story
Frozen > Tangled > Moana.

Characters
Tangled > Frozen > Moana.

Apart from the very standard story of Moana, I think the characters are sadly the weakest link. Moana and Maui are nowhere near as lovable as Rapunzel or Flynn, who both had incredible chemistry. Nor do I think they're as memorable or relatable as Anna or Elsa.

Animation
Moana > Tangled > Frozen.

Songs
Frozen = Moana > Tangled.

I feel like Moana is more even when it comes to the songs overall, however, it doesn't reach the highs of both 'Let It Go' or 'For the First Time in Forever'.

Overall
Frozen > Tangled > Moana.

Just saw it today but this is basically similar to how I felt. Song-wise Moana was better than Tangled but not as memorable as "Frozen". "You're Welcome" was the only one that I really like.
 

Lan Dong Mik

And why would I want them?
Story
Frozen > Tangled > Moana.

Characters
Tangled > Frozen > Moana.

Apart from the very standard story of Moana, I think the characters are sadly the weakest link. Moana and Maui are nowhere near as lovable as Rapunzel or Flynn, who both had incredible chemistry. Nor do I think they're as memorable or relatable as Anna or Elsa.

Animation
Moana > Tangled > Frozen.

Songs
Frozen = Moana > Tangled.

I feel like Moana is more even when it comes to the songs overall, however, it doesn't reach the highs of both 'Let It Go' or 'For the First Time in Forever'.

Overall
Frozen > Tangled > Moana.

Pretty much exactly how I feel except the music in Frozen is on a completely different level from anything in Moana or Tangled imo. "Love is an open Door" "In Summer" and "Let it Go" have to be the best/most popular Disney songs in years. "Let it go" is probably in the top 3 most popular Disney songs of all time at this point.
 

Mistle

Member
I feel that the music is Moana is much better suited to the movie than in Frozen. I get that Frozen is catchier and clearly king in terms of popularity, but a good handful of the songs felt out of place to me. I like Frozen's songs individually, but Moana has fantastic songs and they all serve to drive the characters and narrative in meaningful ways.

If I had to I'd place Frozen a distant third in terms of story, which I felt was hollow and directionless. The lack of a compelling narrative collapses the rest of the elements for me, which I guess is why I much prefer Moana and Tangled. Frozen feels like it once could have been great, while Moana feels like an artists vision fully realised.
 
Saw it yesterday. It was pretty good but I didn't like the last twenty minutes, felt a little bit rushed. I need to rewatch it again but for now my list is Tangled > Frozen > Moana. I would have liked more adventure.
 
It just dawned on me how much do these movies make me behave like a kid when I was thinking the other day that the climax of the film should have had her get severe burns while the ocean is doing its best to shield her. That is such a 12yo thing to think about.
 

Toa TAK

Banned
Finally saw it today, and I enjoyed it a lot. So far, it's my favorite of the recent Disney animation films, beating out Tangled and Frozen for me (as I remember jack shit about either of them, or their songs excluding Let It Go). The animation and overall art direction make it a winner for me as well as Moana herself. Story is standard stuff, and while I don't think it's really the best of that Disney has put out, that's not to say it wasn't a really solid flick nonetheless.

I'd like to see the directors remake Treasure Planet after this. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
 
I actually thought that them stopping voyaging for a thousand years gave more impact to those scenes showing the voyages. The only caveat is that those canoes wouldn't last 1000 years in a cave like that but then again, demigods and sentient coconuts exists in the universe.

Favorite song is We Know The Way for that reason. I like journey stuff like that, it makes my imagination run wild.
 

Malyse

Member
Finally saw it today, and I enjoyed it a lot. So far, it's my favorite of the recent Disney animation films, beating out Tangled and Frozen for me (as I remember jack shit about either of them, or their songs excluding Let It Go). The animation and overall art direction make it a winner for me as well as Moana herself. Story is standard stuff, and while I don't think it's really the best of that Disney has put out, that's not to say it wasn't a really solid flick nonetheless.

I'd like to see the directors remake Treasure Planet after this. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

TOO BAD. This was their last film.
 

Monocle

Member
Story
Frozen > Tangled > Moana.

Characters
Tangled > Frozen > Moana.

Apart from the very standard story of Moana, I think the characters are sadly the weakest link. Moana and Maui are nowhere near as lovable as Rapunzel or Flynn, who both had incredible chemistry. Nor do I think they're as memorable or relatable as Anna or Elsa.

Animation
Moana > Tangled > Frozen.

Songs
Frozen = Moana > Tangled.

I feel like Moana is more even when it comes to the songs overall, however, it doesn't reach the highs of both 'Let It Go' or 'For the First Time in Forever'.

Overall
Frozen > Tangled > Moana.
Solid post.
 

Finaika

Member
Story
Frozen > Tangled > Moana.

Characters
Tangled > Frozen > Moana.

Apart from the very standard story of Moana, I think the characters are sadly the weakest link. Moana and Maui are nowhere near as lovable as Rapunzel or Flynn, who both had incredible chemistry. Nor do I think they're as memorable or relatable as Anna or Elsa.

Animation
Moana > Tangled > Frozen.

Songs
Frozen = Moana > Tangled.

I feel like Moana is more even when it comes to the songs overall, however, it doesn't reach the highs of both 'Let It Go' or 'For the First Time in Forever'.

Overall
Frozen > Tangled > Moana.

Frozen is a beast.
 
TOO BAD. This was their last film.
They can't, they have to do one more

Moana was supposed to be the first film to use Paperman's technology but it wasn't developed enough to support a feature-length film. Let them do something great with that style before they hang it up.
 
A return to 2d inspired aesthetics would service Disney well I think. With the advent of 3d animation exploding in Hollywood, and all the animated movies looking very similar, it would serve Disney well to adopt that type of style back. Would easily set them apart from the competition and would make for much more timeless, classic scenes, I think.
 

8bit

Knows the Score
Went to see this with the children as it's cold outside. I was in a Swiss cinema, so we saw an English language version that had the lead character referred to Vaiana all the way through.

Does the US English version refer to her as Moana?


(Loved the Shiny song and the Pirate Coconuts, the rest not so much.)
 

Palmer_v1

Member
Went to see this with the children as it's cold outside. I was in a Swiss cinema, so we saw an English language version that had the lead character referred to Vaiana all the way through.

Does the US English version refer to her as Moana?


(Loved the Shiny song and the Pirate Coconuts, the rest not so much.)

Yeah, her name is Moana in the US version.

Did they even change the lyrics to the song where she goes "I am Moana!"? That's odd
 
Yeah, her name is Moana in the US version.

Did they even change the lyrics to the song where she goes "I am Moana!"? That's odd

Foreign lyrics are usually only very loosely related to original ones - fitting with the tune is far more important

I assume the vaiana name was chosen to be cognate with vahiné.

I much preferred moana to frozen myself but I never was a huge frozen fan. Or maybe I have let-it-go PTSD

Final thought: wish that adorable pig had been the sidekick instead
 

Kyuur

Member
Went and saw this finally; I think its easily the best 3D film, and one of the best Disney films period. I loved the visual diversity in certain sections (end of Shiny, parts of You're Welcome), really puts the argument of 3D-staleness to rest in my opinion (if many of the shorts didn't already do so).
 

8bit

Knows the Score
Yeah, her name is Moana in the US version.

Did they even change the lyrics to the song where she goes "I am Moana!"? That's odd

I must admit I didn't notice but I assume so. I was more surprised that the entire dialogue must have been done multiple times to account for such regional nuances, I just assumed although it was called Vaiana here that the US/UK English voices would have referred to Moana without too many changes.
 

Quonny

Member
The animation in 'Shiny' is really fantastic. The emotion on Tamatoa's face and general mood is really good.

The song on it's own is kinda just meh, but it fits really well in the movie and gave Tamatoa a lot of character.
 

Nepenthe

Member
I feel that the music is Moana is much better suited to the movie than in Frozen. I get that Frozen is catchier and clearly king in terms of popularity, but a good handful of the songs felt out of place to me. I like Frozen's songs individually, but Moana has fantastic songs and they all serve to drive the characters and narrative in meaningful ways.

If I had to I'd place Frozen a distant third in terms of story, which I felt was hollow and directionless. The lack of a compelling narrative collapses the rest of the elements for me, which I guess is why I much prefer Moana and Tangled. Frozen feels like it once could have been great, while Moana feels like an artists vision fully realised.

You and me are kindred spirits. Frozen's song pacing and their thematic necessity to the film are rather atrocious considering Disney's pedigree (let's cram the first half with a billion songs of tenuous importance and then leave the last half with a reprise and a shitty romance song), and I less prefer the Avenue Q stylings to the South Pacific-infused score and witty Hamilton-inspired songs. At the very least you can fault Frozen on the existence of Fixer Upper, while Moana has no song that is anywhere close to bad. I also feel similarly to the plot, where Frozen has a fine if somewhat fast-paced set-up that's just thrown away entirely for the twists. Moana is more straightforward, but it doesn't look down on me with a hamfisted Shyamalan ending. Indeed, the climax is awesome.
 

VanMardigan

has calmed down a bit.
I loved this. Loved every second. It helps that the "princess" character FINALLY looks like my daughter and is in a beach setting where my kids can relate. The Rock was fantastic, the animation superb, Clement is still a superb scene stealing bad guy (loved Nigel in Rio). I will own this on day one for Blu ray 4k.
 

wetwired

Member
Here you go: https://youtu.be/4fRdwJch6uo?t=212

I heard he plays guitar (and sings?) in a different movie too.

haha holy shit, the grandma is the mum from Soul Mates

maxresdefault.jpg
 
I just saw it and thought it was great, but I'm a sucker for nautical themes.

I wasn't too impressed by the songs, and my complaint is the same as with Frozen: the lyrics are way too specific and explicit. In my view, song lyrics should be a little vaguer, giving them room to take on a life of their own.

This seems to be the trend in Disney movies, with hiring Broadway writers, and I hope it doesn't last. Theater songs can be used for exposition, but I'm used to songs in film being a little more timeless than that.

I can imagine if Aladdin was written by the same crew, A Whole New World would probably have lines like "We're flying over a city 🎶 there are lots of lights below us and the romantic atmosphere is making us feel closer to each other 🎶"
 
Just saw it today, really enjoyed the movie. OST is seriously fantastic, some top tier songs I'm still humming hours later.

And I liked seeing versions of cultural themes/stories I read about when I was little up on the big screen finally. That was cool.
 

Fliesen

Member
I just saw it and thought it was great, but I'm a sucker for nautical themes.

I wasn't too impressed by the songs, and my complaint is the same as with Frozen: the lyrics are way too specific and explicit. In my view, song lyrics should be a little vaguer, giving them room to take on a life of their own.

This seems to be the trend in Disney movies, with hiring Broadway writers, and I hope it doesn't last. Theater songs can be used for exposition, but I'm used to songs in film being a little more timeless than that.

I can imagine if Aladdin was written by the same crew, A Whole New World would probably have lines like "We're flying over a city �� there are lots of lights below us and the romantic atmosphere is making us feel closer to each other ��"
i actually feel quite the opposite. I don't want each of the songs to be some kind of 'single release-bait'. It should be an original song written for the movie, about the movie, from the point of view of the character singing it.

Like, as beautiful as 'Can you feel the love tonight' is, it's an Elton John song in a Disney movie. It feels out of place to me. (like, why does a lion sing a song about "Kaleidoscopes") Same for 'You'll be in my heart' by Phil Collins.

I feel like the better (or more iconic) Disney film songs have been rather expository - Under the Sea, the songs from the Jungle book, etc.
 

Axass

Member
Best Disney movie since Frozen.

Yeah, her name is Moana in the US version.

Did they even change the lyrics to the song where she goes "I am Moana!"? That's odd

They changed everything, in fact the songs are completely rewritten and adapted.

She's called Vaiana here in Italy, because Moana Pozzi was a nation-wide famous pornstar of the 80/90s, who even got into politics. I do not approve of the name change, but I mean, we're the guys who called Zidane from FFIX "Gidan", just because Zidane was a famous football player, while "gitano" basically means "gypsy", so... what do you expect.

I guess Switzerland got the same deal (maybe he watched in the italian-speaking part of the country).
 
Yeah that Vaiana Moana thing cracked me up, there's also a bunch of trademark issues with various albums.

That aside I hated how her grandma became a force ghost to spell everything out for her. I liked the symbolic nature of the manta ray already it really wasn't necessary to break that up. Also makes for a stronger character moment of moana.

Some songs sounded very hamilton esque, which is a given with Lin Manuel Miranda writing some of the songs.
 

Malyse

Member
Yeah that Vaiana Moana thing cracked me up, there's also a bunch of trademark issues with various albums.

That aside I hated how her grandma became a force ghost to spell everything out for her. I liked the symbolic nature of the manta ray already it really wasn't necessary to break that up. Also makes for a stronger character moment of moana.

Some songs sounded very hamilton esque, which is a given with Lin Manuel Miranda writing some of the songs.

I believe you mean ALL of the songs.
 

Malyse

Member
didn't 3 people collaborate? Not all the songs had a strong hamilton influence.

LMM wrote all the lyrics was my understanding. At the very least he wrote lyrics on every song. Opetaia Foa'i did some songwriting to (obvs. LMM wasn't writing in Samoan) but he did the majority of the work and that's no telling if LMM sort of gave English lyrics to be translated in Samoan (which would make sense seeing how close the English lyrics line up with the translated Samoan). If you google Moana songwriter, he's the one coming up.
 
i actually feel quite the opposite. I don't want each of the songs to be some kind of 'single release-bait'. It should be an original song written for the movie, about the movie, from the point of view of the character singing it.

Like, as beautiful as 'Can you feel the love tonight' is, it's an Elton John song in a Disney movie. It feels out of place to me. (like, why does a lion sing a song about "Kaleidoscopes") Same for 'You'll be in my heart' by Phil Collins.

I feel like the better (or more iconic) Disney film songs have been rather expository - Under the Sea, the songs from the Jungle book, etc.
That's an interesting perspective. I still thing Moana's and Frozen's songs are a little too explicit -- characters literally saying that they're scared or excited or happy -- but you're probably right that they're memorable.

Now on another topic, the thread title reminded me of this: when Maui calls Moana a princess and she denies it... how the heck does she know what a princess is? :p
 

DeviantBoi

Member
Finally got to watch this movie tonight and it was beautiful.

Definitely my favorite Disney movie in a long, long time.

I know that Let It Go is probably the most popular Disney song of all time (maybe top three), but I don't care much for the message in the lyrics.

If I had a daughter, I would love for her to be more like Moana and nothing like Elsa.
 

Sunster

Member
Oook so I guess I'm in the minority. Moana>Tangled>Frozen Frozen had some memorable songs and all but the plot was nothing we haven't seen before.
 

mrkgoo

Member
Oook so I guess I'm in the minority. Moana>Tangled>Frozen Frozen had some memorable songs and all but the plot was nothing we haven't seen before.

That's probably my order.

I just thought Frozen was a bit all over the place. You have two sisters, each with their own story, a fake love interest, a red herring villain, two side kicks, and then the random-as trolls.

A lot of things don't really make sense at all.

I like the design of the characters though. And you can do worse role models for a little girl than Elsa.
 
Just got back from seeing this with my sister.

Top 5 Disney material tbh, this and Zootopia has made me super excited for whatever they're doing next.

Really loved the songs too, which has been long missing from Disney flicks (Tangled songs were forgettable, and while Frozen had some great ones it also had some real stinkers).
 

Malyse

Member
Just got back from seeing this with my sister.

Top 5 Disney material tbh, this and Zootopia has made me super excited for whatever they're doing next.

Really loved the songs too, which has been long missing from Disney flicks (Tangled songs were forgettable, and while Frozen had some great ones it also had some real stinkers).
Wreck It Ralph 2 is next.
 
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