Didn't see one of these threads for Disney's latest and greatest. Heading to the theater tonight for a 6:15 showing on opening day. I've heard pretty mixed reviews. Anywhere from "the next Frozen" to "just okay".

I'll give a review when I get back.

Random bullet points (because that's how I think)

- Another "coming of age" story for a princess, albeit in a completely new, original way.
- Really liked the soundtrack. You can hear Lin Manuel's fingerprints throughout.
- Troy Polamalu apparently plays a random villager... Only saw that in the credits afterwards.
- Don't see it touching Frozen. It's good, but not at that level.
- The animation is the best so far from Disney in my opinion.
- "How far I'll Go" is my pick for the best song.
- if you like Flight of the Concords, you'll enjoy one of the scenes in the movie.
- There are only a few jokes that go over the kids' heads, less than I remember from other Disney Movies.
- The short before the movie was pretty clever and I enjoyed it. It's basically "Inside Out" but with organs instead of emotions. Hard to describe, but was enjoyable.

Give it a solid B+.

Agree with the B+, but the animation (specifically the water and hair) was incredible.

CoachRTM said:

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- Really liked the soundtrack. You can hear Lin Manuel's fingerprints throughout.

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Yeah, that song The Rock sung was very reminiscent of the King George songs in Hamilton.

My kids loved it. They have been listening to all the songs on YouTube since we got home.

Agree with the above, the water animation was incredible.

I thought it was really good.
Soundtrack great.
The whole crab scene was goofy but I think they were purposely going over the top with it.

Loved the Beauty and the Beast trailer. That movie is going to make $1BB+

The Shiny song, You're Welcome (Maui's song), and How Far I'll Go are all great. How Far I'll Go gave me chills quite a few times and is very reminiscent of Going the Distance from Hercules.

Apparently Lin Manuel wrote the song Maui song to fit Dwayne Johnson's voice which is pretty incredible. Dude is getting that Disney money right now with writing for Star Wars and now this.

Fun movie that is just gorgeous. Reminded me of watching a movie version of Zelda Windwaker.

Alan Tudyk plays a stupid chicken . . . yes . . . and got some of the most consistent laughs.

I definitely understand early reviews that that the ocean was a character. Very very cool.

All this coming from a 26 yr old dude.

I saw it with the family and enjoyed it thoroughly. Beautiful animation, great music. I understand the glowing reviews and $80M+ opening. This one is going to be big for Disney.

Saw it Friday night with my family. I really enjoyed it. You could definitely hear Miranda's style in the songs. Only one complaint: Shiny (the crab song). I didn't like that part, it didn't really fit in.

Lord_TyTy said:

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Saw it Friday night with my family. I really enjoyed it. You could definitely hear Miranda's style in the songs. Only one complaint: Shiny (the crab song). I didn't like that part, it didn't really fit in.

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I hated the Shiny song and the whole crab scene as I stated above. However, I have listened to the song a few times since the movie and have come to enjoy it. It is actually quite funny.

The scene is kind of like watching Napoleon Dynamite. It take more than one viewing to appreciate it.

I absolutely loved the Shiny part. Best part of the movie.

Gap said:

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This one is going to be big for Disney.

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Might as well make this your signature as it will continue to be true over the next 4 months.

I liked it a lot. Better than frozen, but that's not saying much. Frozen was a mess.

I absolutely loved this movie and can't wait to see it again. The animation was gorgeous.

I especially loved that Moana had 2 parents and there wasn't a stereotypical princess plot of the girl resisting a marriage/love interest to seek "something more". She is going to be chief and her love life was NEVER mentioned which was truly refreshing.

Loved that the dumb chicken was the side kick instead of the pig too. That was a great running gag.

Loved the music - Lin Manuel was all over that and the crab scene seemed like a Ziggy Stardust number.

After seeing beauty and the beast roughly 200 times with my niece when she was little, I cannot WAIT to see the live action. That trailer was awesome.

Really beautiful film and I enjoyed the story, thought it was creative and really fun. The animation was outstanding and the water and other VFX animation was just amazing.

I thought Inner Workings, the short, was absolutely fantastic. Brilliant concept and really cool style choices.

One fun note, I was in LA a few weeks ago for an animation conference and heard a great story on the chicken. Apparently the character wasn't working and they were ready to cut it, but they gave the lead animator on the character a day to try to figure something out. He got the idea that the chicken was really, really stupid and knocked out some test animation that they loved and they ran with it.

Saw it tonight and really liked it. Incredible animation, and a decent enough story. The characters were really likeable. I had listened to a few songs ahead of time because I'm a huge Lin Manuel fan and they didn't know me away, but in the context of the movie, they were incredible and I fell in love with the music.

The animation was so great I would consider seeing it again. Really good movie overall.

animation was pretty amazing, some of it was almost too good. water and hair looked ultra realistic which almost didn't fit.
story was solid

music was great, especially for LMM fans.

I know some people think the "Shiny" scene seemed out of place, but it was my favorite of the movie.

Took my daughter to see it tonight. Did not really have much expectation for it but we both agreed it was far better than we thought it would be. Great animation. Music was good too. And I really did like the story.

Took my 10 year old daughters to this and they really enjoyed it. I thought it was great as well. Good fun times with the kiddoes.

On a secondary note, the Beauty and the Beast trailer did nothing for me and I'm not really excited about that film at all, but my daughters were very excited about it so I'm sure I will be seeing it at least once when it hits the screen.

B&TB trailer was kinda pedo with Emma Watson looking so young...

Pretty cool script-to-screen video that illuminates the process a script takes when it makes it to a finished product.



I have only seen Moana once, but I wouldn't be surprised that it is one of those movies that gets much better upon repeat viewings.

I thought it was decent. Thought I was going to love it. The first ~3 songs were very strong. I told my wife at one point "it's going to end with a slightly different version of this song and I'm going to be crying."

Unfortunately, I didn't think it all came together quite like I would have hoped, or quite like some of the great Disney/Pixar films do. I guess the themes or the lesson or something just didn't seem as neatly tied together as they often do. My enthusiasm waned as it went on. Maybe that's just me.