Here’s why I’m the last guy anyone asks when it comes to film criticism: sometimes oftentimes my opinions vary greatly from whatever passes as consensus these days. Case in point: I can’t stand Kubo and the Two Strings. It’s beautiful and (mostly) hand-crafted, sure, but the mythology is all over the place. I lost track of who was supposed to collect which totem to level up and defeat the alien/god/grandpa-thing. Worse yet, I didn’t care. Now we have Moana, a very similar story of a kid striking out on her own to defeat an evil deity. The visuals are gorgeous but not precious; the characters crack the archetype ceiling; and the mythology has about twenty less moving parts than Kubo. If only the songs were as catchy as they are persistent, this might have been great family fun. Then again, there’s nothing wrong with simple, well-executed, four-quad entertainment.
Listen to Kicking the Seat Podcast #173 for a deep-dive into Moana with Don Shanahan of Every Movie Has a Lesson!