Moana

Type: Movie

Score: 7/10

Date modified: Mar 14, 2026

I feel like sometimes its easy to forget how good 2010s animated Disney was even if they were past their prime by that point and this movie is a prime example of that. I’m probably a little biased towards it but even though it was more of an Islander Māui than a Māori Māui (if you get me) it was still cool to see. I’ve seen enough movies about European legends, Japanese legends, Chinese legends, I think it was a long time coming. I think it was a pretty alright portrayal of him too, being more of a trickster but generally good guy rather than some perfect hero. I guess they left out a couple of things, but I made sense for them to cut out all the jawbone business considering it was a kids film. I could’ve done with him being a little more shredded but whatever at least he has good tattoos.

Aside from some pride as a true New Zealand patriot I think the film holds up in its own right. The animation is just fantastic, it’s bright, colourful and dynamic. It even switches styles at points like during the embarrassingly (for me) good “You’re Welcome”. It’s not just You’re Welcome though, the music in this movie is (surprisingly) pretty great. I didn’t expect to add songs for a Disney movie to my playlist, but here we are. You simply can’t have Shiny in your and not expect me to like it, the dude singing it even sounds strangely similar Bowie.

The writing is probably this film’s weakest point, I like Māui and Moana and their general dynamic but I can’t bring myself to like the dumbass pig. The smaller characters are pretty good too like the Grandma and Tamatoa of course but I’m fairly sure Pua has more screen-time than both of them (or maybe it just felt that way) and I hate him. The story itself was decent but seemed to fall by the wayside a little near the end, it kind of made Māui’s character development feel cheap. Even still I had a pretty fun time rewatching Moana, it’s no masterpiece but especially for a kids movie this was a pretty good time.