So I just saw it today.....

My emotions about this film have gone back and forth since it was released. However I decided to give it a watch today and here is what I thought:

PROS

1) The Music- Since the composers were announced a lot of people have been wondering whether we would have a Frozen style Goliath. Many were disappointed that the songs were not as catchy as the Frozen songs. In a way in kind of reminds how the music from the Princess and the Frog was widely panned by fans even though it was authentic to the region it was set in. Personally I've never liked the soundtrack to Frozen and I've always found the songs to be oddly bland. Bit when it comes to this movie? I thought the songs were perfect! I'm a actually upset there weren't more of them! This also has the best Disney score since The Incredibles!

2) The Culture - A huge draw to me was how was Disney going to tackle Polynesian culture? Disney has an interesting track record when it comes to non European cultures. See Aladdin, Emperor's New Groove and Brother Bear for reference. Hell even other European cultures they've been eh on--such as Hercules. I was really fascinated by how much this movie immersed me in the culture of this people! This didn't feel like a bunch of white guys showing us what they thought Polynesian culture was this was actual Polynesian actors, singers, musicians, composers, producers and writers telling us what they know their culture to be. It was nice to see something that was both authentic and entertaining unlike Pocahontas which tried to do the same thing but failed.

I really enjoyed how they took Polynesian mythology and translated it in a way I could understand but they weren't diluting it. They were just making it accessible. I really loved the scenes where Moana encounters the spirits of her ancestors. It truly moved me. And my goodness that ending! I was overcome! I had never seen anything like this on film--especially in animation before! The closest I think Disney has gotten was the final piece in Fantasia 2000. But my god what an ending!

3) Moana- The novice they found to voice Moana was fantastic! She had all of the confidence and cadence of a pro! Her performance was engaging, funny and so very personable. She felt like an actual teenage girl and that's because she was! In fact she shone so bright she outperformed her demigod costar!

4) The Animation- This is the finest work Disney has ever done in regard to CGI humans. The hair, the bodies, the facial features, the way they moved. Every bit of this felt authentic. These characters didn't just feel like brown versions of the Frozen cast or the Brave cast. These were clearly definable and distinct people who belonged to a totally different culture. As a black man seeing a culture being represented so fully in terms of the people who inhabit it was edifying.

CONS

1) Dwayne Johnson- I get why they casted him. He's the most instantly recognizable big name actor of Polynesian descent. They needed to get asses in seats and having The Rock voice your main character is a great way to do it. But his voice was distracting. The design they built for Maui was one so powerful and Uber masculine and yeah I know physically Johnson is that but vocally it just didn't work for me. Maybe they should have tweaked the design or maybe changed out the actor but it just didn't do it for me. That being said I understand the importance of having a great and famous Polynesian demigod voice by one of his own but I think going with an unknown Polynesian actor like they did for Moana would've been best.

2) Lack of Characters -This isn't a huge one for me but I'm a fan of large casts. The bigger the better and this one was relatively sparse. I felt like some opportunities were missed. I definitely wanted to get to know the people of Monatunui more. I definitely thought the final boss should have been given a voiced role and I was expecting for them to have one. Zootopia hit the mark more for me in that it literally had a cast of dozens. However the characters Moana does choose to focus on are well developed, likable, distinct and very personable. The only major supporting character who I wish had a little more development was Moana's mother. Like every other character had their time to shine and she was just kinda there. She felt expendable.

5) Tomatoa- As much as I liked the song on its own the sequence was a bit outta nowhere and the character himself was not as memorable as some of the other Disney villains. Granted he wasn't the main villain but I felt like some opportunity was missed with him. I was hoping he'd be chasing after the Macguffin the main characters were carrying but alas no. For what it was it was entertaining but it felt stiff. Visually I could tell they were going for something similar to Dr. Facility's villain song. However your character is a giant crab so you aren't going to be able to get that much movement outta him and the scene just felt a bit empty. It is similar to the remake of The Jungle Book where they try to recreate King Louie's song but there was not nearly enough movement to carry the energy of the song. The music in Tomatoa's song was doing most of the heavy lifting in the scene whereas the animation was actually too pulled back.

Overall this definitely ranks in the Disney movies I will watch again and again.