Pronounced….
A colleague of ours still insists that the title of Disney’s live action adaptation of the animated film is pronounced Moaner and we have pointed out that if this was the case it would not have featured a brave spirited Chieftan’s daughter but instead hapless half-witted unemployable wretch Prince Harry. Moana or Mo-an–ah as its actually pronounced is the latest in a long line of live action remakes of animated Disney favourites but arrives only 10 years after the original film.
The story of Moana….
Moana (Catherine Laga’aia) is the teen daughter of Polynesian chief and it’s her grandmother Tala, (Rena Owen) who sees her granddaughters heroic leadership that is needed to recover the stolen heart of the creation goddess Te Fiti and reverse the famine that plagues the people of her island, Motunui. But to succeed she joins forces with the swaggeringly arrogant demigod Maui, thaty was voiced in the carton by Dwayne Johnson and played in this live action version by Dwayne Johnson sporting an outrageous wig more suited to the ‘before’ shot of a shampoo conditioner ad.
Maui has his own reason for teaming up with her as he needs to retrieve his fishing hook that’s the source of his own power and to do that he must confront a giant crab Tanatoa voiced, as in the cartoon, by Jemaine Clement.
A necessary remake?
Disney’s live action versions of their animated back catalogue has proved extremely lucrative for the studio but for a live action film this is remarkably top heavy on CGI animation and green screen there’s seemingly little difference with no spin on the set pieces or song and dance routines making this making this something of an unnecessary remake that pales beside the original animated film.
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Here’s the Moana trailer…..
