6 Reasons to See Disney’s Moana

Image courtesy of Walt Disney Animation

The Magic of Montunui

Previously, Disney traveled to the Hawaiian islands for 2002’s Lilo & Stitch. And though they haven’t hand-drawn anything since 2009’s Princess and the Frog, they aren’t resting on their animated laurels. If anything, they’ve advanced so much as to overshadow their sister company, the animation legends at Pixar.

Moana’s island of Montunui is rendered beautifully, an island paradise so lush and green that it’s easy to understand why everyone is content to stay. Much of the film takes place outside, but the few interiors are warm and inviting. The nightscapes are nothing short of breathtaking. Disney’s most beautiful animation ever continues outside of Moana’s home, in places like the mysterious Realm of Monsters. Inside she meets Jemaine Clement’s Tamatoa, a 50-foot crab who loves neon. The various colors aside, Disney’s animators implement a bevy of different techniques that make the film breathe life into the island’s many myths.

Drawings of the monsters are rendered in tapestries, Moana and Maui are layered onto different backgrounds, there even appears to be a little stop-motion (or something passing for it) during the Tamatoa scene. All of this demonstrates the progress Disney continues to make in blending cutting-edge CGI animation while still retaining aesthetics of the 2D era.

Next: The Sound of the Islands