Movie Review - Moana

Moana (2016)

Featuring the vocal talents of Auli'i Cravalho, Dwayne Johnson, Rachel House, Temuera Morrison, Nicole Scherzinger, and Jemaine Clement

Directed by Ron Clements and John Musker

The fact that I watched Moana more than a month ago and am just now getting around to writing a review should tell you something.  It's not that Moana is particularly bad -- I enjoyed it a little bit  more than Frozen and 2016's Zootopia -- but it's so generic that it's a bit difficult to get excited about it.  Nothing about it particularly roused the cinematic corners of my brain despite its nice animation and solid voice acting.

The story of our titular character begins when she is a toddler, fascinated by the ocean, but told by her father and mother (Temuera Morrison and Nicole Scherzinger) that their Hawaiian tribe doesn't venture out into the water.  As she grows older, a now teenage Moana (brightly and confidently voiced by newcomer Auli'i Cravalho) is encouraged by her grandmother (Rachel House) to explore the vast aquatic landscape and when Moana's tribe finds its food supply deteriorating, Moana ventures out on her own to try and help her people.  Along the way, she meets the demigod Maui (Dwayne Johnson) who eons ago stole the heart of island goddess Te Fiti who is systematically going island to island damaging the landscape.  Together Moana and Maui try to help one another tackle Te Fiti and regain stability across the Hawaiian islands.

The most successful aspect to Moana is the voice acting.  Auli'i Cravalho has a gorgeous singing voice, yet imbues Moana with spunk, personality, and charisma.  The titular character would not have been as successful as it is without Cravalho at the vocal helm so kudos to the casting department for finding this unknown.  Coupling that with Dwayne Johnson's hilariously egotistical Maui and the scenes between these two main characters turn into a treat.

Unfortunately, the film itself plays out a little too episodic and generic to feel unique.  The trials and travails of Maui and Moana do little to advance the story, instead they simply feel like individual segments without a cohesive through-line.  (A meet up with a giant crab which takes up a good ten minutes is amusing, as an example, but in the end proves rather fruitless in the grand scheme of things.)  The music by the immensely popular Lin-Manuel Miranda doesn't help advance the story either a la the Menken-Ashman 90s era collaboration that brought us The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast.  Miranda's songs are decent -- Moana's yearning (and Oscar-nominated) "How Far I'll Go" and Maui's fun "You're Welcome" being the best -- but in the end, they do little to add depth that we didn't already see.  That being said, Miranda certainly has crafted better tunes here than we saw in Disney's last musical extravaganza Frozen.

There are some incredibly odd editing and directorial choices that harm the film sometimes (and I never find myself saying that about animated films), but overall, despite the somewhat negative tone of this review, Moana works...it just doesn't soar.

The RyMickey Raing:  B-

Movie Review - What We Do in the Shadows

What We Do in the Shadows (2015)

Starring Taika Waititi, Jemaine Clement, Jonny Brugh, Cori Gonzalez-Macuer, Stu Rutherford, Ben Fransham, and Jackie van Beek

Directed by Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi
***This film is currently available on HBO Now***

I certainly haven't laughed as much during a movie in 2015 as I did while watching the New Zealand import What We Do in the Shadows, a mockumentary that takes us inside the shared flat of a group of vampires as they deal with each other, everyday life in New Zealand, and, of course, werewolves.  Completed on what I can only assume was a small budget, the writing and directing team of Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi have crafted a hilarious spin on vampire tales by placing the audience into a Real World-type setting where creatures of the night stop acting nice and start getting real.

I went into this fairly fresh - unaware of the story, characters, or overall tone and I would like to reward my readers with that experience as well should they care to give this one a chance.  Filled with both physical comedy and verbal barbs, Clement and Waititi (who also star as two of the vampire roommates) prove equally adept at presenting both kinds of comedy onscreen.  There's a self-awareness on display -- several times they question the omnipresence of the "documentary" film crew recording them -- that proves to be perfect in setting the not-so-serious tone.  There's almost a sense of whimsy present and, considering the subject matter, it makes the whole thing even funnier as they try and paint a pleasantly "normal" atmosphere amongst the vampire crew.

With a great ensemble who are all adept at creating laughs, What We Do in the Shadows is a treat.  As mentioned, I'd discuss more, but I don't want to ruin the experience for others.  Surely, this will pop up in the RyMickey Awards in the months ahead and I'll delve into it a bit more there.  As long as you buy into the type of comedy - which will either occur in the first ten minutes or not -- I can't imagine you won't have a good time with this one.

The RyMickey Rating:  A-

Movie Review - People Places Things

People Places Things (2015)

Starring Jemaine Clement, Regina Hall, Stephanie Allynne, Jessica Williams, Michael Chernus, Gia Gadsby, and Andrea Gadsby 

Directed by Jim Strouse

***This film is currently streaming on Netflix***

Simple, yet charming, People Places Things tells the story of graphic artist Will Henry (Jemaine Clement) whose longtime girlfriend Charlie (Stephanie Allynne) reveals that she is leaving him on their twin daughters' fifth birthday.  Will spends a year focusing on teaching and when one of his students (Jessica Williams) sets him up with her English professor mother Diane (Regina Hall), Will begins to realize that there may be life for him outside of Charlie.

While I recognize that Jemaine Clement's dryly humorous personality may not be for everyone, I was a big fan of his short-lived comedy series Flight of the Conchords and Clement's tone is very similar in director-writer James Strouse's film.  Clement exudes a lackadaisical, yet caring nature and he brings a heartfelt (and sometimes heartbroken) drollness to the film that many actors may find difficult to convey.  Regina Hall provides a nice counterpoint, playing a very intelligent woman who wants her college age daughter to realize her mother can be strongly independent, yet also wants to find that special someone with whom to share her life.

No one will ever mistake People Places Things for being incredibly deep, but it brings a believably humorous treatment to a somewhat hefty life situation.  Clement and the cast do a great job of carrying both the comedic and dramatic moments of the film.  Sometimes these low-budget indie comedies can seem too "edgy" or "hip" for their own good.  That's not the case here in the slightest -- if anything, Clement's character is a bit of an anti-hipster (despite being a comic book artist).  I appreciated this tone that writer Strouse brings and I'm definitely interested in seeing his work in the future.

The RyMickey Rating:  B