Thrashbrowns v. Mouse House, Round 13

 Moana (2016)

The Story:

A terrible blight has taken hold of the island of Motunui, and young Moana (Auli'i Cravalho) discovers she's been chosen to set off on a quest to save her island and the rest of the world. To do so, she must find the demigod Maui (Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson) and bring his ass across the sea to restore Te Fiti's heart. Along the way, our heroes must deal with some tiny, coconut-armored pirates, a giant bedazzled crab and finally, a pissed off lava monster. Oh, and some self-discovery happens along the way, too. 

Has Thrashbrowns seen this? Why or why not?

I hadn't seen this, and since I was reviewing movies as part of my job by the time this came out, I'm not sure how I missed it. Oh, that's right. I went to Bad Santa 2 instead of this one.

The Good:

First off, this movie is GORGEOUS. The colors, the character design, the animation... it's all so, so lovely. There is seriously not even a plain-looking frame in this flick. So visually, it gets a big thumbs-up.

The casting is spot-on as well. Johnson is a riot as Maui and it is always good to see Temura "Jango Fett" Morrison getting work, whether he's appearing on screen or doing voice work. And it cracks me up to know that Alan Tudyk plays Hei Hei the chicken.

Moana packs some pretty potent musical numbers, too. I was especially taken with "You're Welcome."

Oh, and the best scene in the movie was the one with the coconut pirate dudes. I want a whole movie about those guys. It couldn't be any worse than Minions...

The Bad:

Here, I feel I need to pose a question. When does a movie stop being a tribute to an exotic culture and start to become a deception, a case of the filmmakers using the trappings and visuals of another culture to tell the same old damn story they always tell? Cuz I got a major feeling that that is exactly what's going on here. Call it cultural appropriation if you want. I'm calling it the cinematic equivalent of a shady car salesman constantly repainting some old, shitty jalopy and reselling it to you. And that made it really hard for me to fully engage with this flick.

Does Thrashbrowns get why people love this so much?

Sure. It's a visual feast, full of good acting and even has a few laughs. The music is pretty solid, occasionally exceptional. And the story about becoming who you're meant to be has been done to death, but here there are at least some inventive flourishes.

Did Thrashbrowns like it?

Overall, I did. But my issues with the tired main narrative means I don't really care if I ever see it again. Oddly enough, Moana did make me wish I could ditch whatever's wrong with me that makes it so hard for me to enjoy movies like this. Cuz there's some good stuff here. Alas, I am who I am. At least I'm not about to start a YouTube channel where I overanalyze Disney kiddie flicks like they're fucking Dostoyevski or something.

I did like Moana better than I liked Bad Santa 2, if that helps...

Up Next:

I'm thinking about opening it up for requests again. If there's something you want me to look at. leave a comment or hit me up on Facebook.