Movies, Books & Disney+

Blu-Ray Review: Disney “Moana” Offers Bonus Features Worthy of Film

Denise

Disney Moana releases on Blu-ray/DVD on March 7th, 2017. One of the most popular animated films from last year, I am happy that the Blu-ray combo pack offers a decent amount of quality bonus features. This was Ron Clements and John Musker’s first CGI film – they are such a formidable team, having directed films including Aladdin and The Little Mermaid. I was fortunate to be part of a press day last year prior to the making of the film, and still found quite a bit I didn’t know contained within the bonus features.

Here are a listing of many of the bonus features, and my original Moana review of the film follows.
 
Maui Mini-Movie: Gone Fishing (2:28): This short features Maui, Mini-Maui and Moana. It’s cute and worth the 2 minute investment.
 
Theatrical Short Film: Inner Workings (7:13): This thought-provoking short took me two viewings last year to wrap my head around the story, so much is going on here. The character of Paul reminds of me Carl Fredricksen from Up.
 
The Elements Of…Hair (3:04): Hair and water have long been considered untouchable in films because of the difficulty of animation, and Moana features both of them in a very big way. This shows how new technology made this possible for Moana’s flowing hair.
 
The Elements Of…Lava (2:55): Te Kā the lava monster was created with a suprising amount of layers, and this shows how the animation was done.
 
The Elements Of…Mini-Maui (3:33): Eric Goldberg has animated Disney films for years, including being the supervising animator for the Genie in Aladdin. He was the supervising animator for Mini-Maui as well, drawing in 2D which was then animated onto Maui. He worked with pencil and paper, and says that Mini-Maui became Maui’s conscience, a “Jiminy Cricket with attitude”. Golberg says, “I think hand drawn should always have a place at Disney”. I agree! This is a fun look at the process.
 
Island Fashion (5:12): How costume designs for the film came about.
 
The Elements Of…Water (4:37): Water is a character in the film, and technology had to catch up during the filming process to allow the artists to make movie magic. The scene where baby Moana meets the ocean at the beginning of the film could not have been created just a few years back.

 

Voice Of The Islands: (31:12): This half hour bonus feature begins with co-directors Clements and Musker talking about how the movie came about and the research trips they took. The feature runs through many elements of the movie creation, including how the water was a character in the film; Fiona Collins and her beautiful hair that Moana’s hair was modeled after; and Auli’i Cravalho talking about voicing the title role (her first movie).
 
They Know The Way: Making The Music Of Moana (12:37): If you love the music of Moana, this is a nicely done bonus feature on the creation of it. The feature stars Lin-Manuel Miranda, Mark Mancina and Opetaia Foa’i along with other musicians and film stars. There is even a touching moment with John Lasseter.
 
Here is a look at some Easter eggs in the film.

 
There are also deleted scenes, and a few other features, along with film commentary.
 
Here is my original review:

Moana (Auli’i Cravalho) grows up in the island village of Motunui. There she learns the story of Te Fiti, the “mother island” who lost her heart because of Maui (Dwayne Johnson). Moana is drawn to the sea from a very early age, with it beckoning to her but also protecting her from harm. Her father, Chief Tui (Temuera Morrison) is very against her going out past the reef – in fact, none of the villagers can venture out. Yet her Gramma Tala (Rachel House) encourages her to make her own journey in life. As a baby, Moana finds a rock with a spiral on it – but it disappears until she is a teenager. The animation in the movie is stunning, the ocean and the landscaping are lush in a way that maybe we’ve not seen before. Flowing hair and animated water have often been avoided in Disney films until now, but the technology was created as the film was being made to allow for both to be shown in a new way. The water is actually considered a character.

Moana eventually learns that she comes from voyagers, though that had stopped a long time prior. Gramma Tala tells Moana that the ocean has chosen her, and Moana receives her rock back.

During this time frame, we meet Moana’s pet pig Pua and the stupid chicken HeiHei (Alan Tudyk). Pua actually figures very little in the movie, only showing up at the beginning and the end. Heihei makes the full journey with her, even though Maui (who she does find) considers him a snack. Heihei really is stupid, and he’s really funny as well. Heihei almost didn’t make it into the movie at all, but now he’s one of the stars of the film.

At times, Moana reminds me a little of Rapunzel. There is one scene where she is running around, and I expected her to scream “Best day ever”!

Moana does make her journey, and as I mentioned, finds Maui. He doesn’t come across as someone to be feared, but more jovial and he eventually becomes kind of a sidekick to Moana. He’s less of a hero in the movie than I think Moana is, though he does come through at the end. He sings a bouncy song “You’re Welcome”, which doesn’t have a noticeable (to me) Hawaiian feel to it, but I enjoy the overall sound. It’s really between that and “We Know the Way”, as to what viewers will remember most. “You’re Welcome” to me is more catchy. And by far I prefer the movie version of “How Far I’ll Go” to the pop one. That is usually the case. I do think that is played too often in the film. The songs overall are good in the film, some better than others. I would use the word “inconsistent” and that I often felt like I was hearing the same song over and over again.

There is one odd scene with a crab named Tamatoa (Jemaine Clement) – he’s villainous but maybe in a misunderstood way. It is a very funny scene, but I felt like it didn’t belong in this movie. It felt much more like…a homage to Tim Curry in The Rocky Horror Picture Show. And this scene, along with others sometimes use words that I’d call mild scatalogical humor (like what shiny rhymes with). Not only that, but I’ve noticed lately – in The Good Dinosaur and now Moana – where swear words are implied in a way that you hear a sentence and they stop short of the swear. It still continues in your head, which I find annoying in a Disney animated film.

There are Easter eggs in the film. I didn’t find them all, that will wait for the Blu-ray release. There is one at the end credits, and it is worth staying for.

Jared Bush is the screenwriter behind two big Disney animation films this year: Zootopia and Moana (he also co-directed Zootopia). I have had the chance to interview him for both. He is naturally very funny, which attendees of D23 Destination D learned just a few days ago. He talked about the collaborative process behind creating an animated film like Moana at the Moana press day a few months ago, and I have an article about that here.

Moana can be a little uneven at times, but I give it a B+. I enjoyed it even more than expected.

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