Grade: A Directed By: Ron Clements & John Musker Release Date: November 23, 2016 Starring: Auli'i Cravalho, Dwayne Johnson There's a sequence that occurs late in Moana where I realized that the film's titular character had already earned her spot among some of Disney's best characters over the last hour and a half. Abandoned, adrift on a damaged boat, and presented with the option of giving up on her quest and returning home, Moana instead steels herself to keep pushing forward alone, patching up her boat and putting to use all the lessons she'd learned up to that point about sailing to tackle what could quite possibly be a suicide mission on her part. To call Moana a great addition to Disney's long list of princesses would almost be, in my eyes, a disservice to her character, as the fact that she's a princess really has no bearing on her development throughout the film, nor does the simple fact she's "a girl." Though the film breaks the fourth wall a bit via a few lines from the demigod Maui, who points out these things, neither her gender nor her status defines Moana or her goals. Manufactured conflicts like arranged marriages or themes of finding love present in past movies involving princesses are nowhere to be found in Moana, which instead wisely fixates on the idea of listening to that little voice in the back of your head whispering that the world is at your fingertips if only you dare to live a little and discover it for yourself. From the start, Moana dreams of sailing beyond the reef around her home, the tropical island of Motunui, a paradise that the film never suggests is a bad place for Moana, who truly loves the people of the island - who love her back - and is torn between doing the "right" thing and staying to lead them and following her heart out beyond the sea. After coconut crops begin to wither and the fish supply seemingly vanishes, Moana sets out to solve the problem, which involves finding Maui and forcing him to return the heart of an island goddess named Te Fiti that he had stolen long ago, the negative consequences of which are beginning to be felt by Moana's people. Without going too much further into narrative spoilers, Moana's adventure is filled with the expected level of wit, adventure, and emotional depth that has defined some of Disney Animation's best films, anchored by an excellent lead character unshackled from gender expectations. Moana - both the character and the film itself - is a breath of fresh air, and that's all you really need to know before I get any deeper with this review. Disney's on a hot streak this year; Moana is no exception, and I wouldn't be surprised to see it nab a win for Best Animated Feature when the time comes.
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Grade: B Directed By: David Yates Release Date: November 18, 2016 Starring: Eddie Redmayne, Dan Fogler, Colin Farrell, Katherine Waterston, Ezra Miller Related Reviews: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (2001), Chamber of Secrets (2002), Prisoner of Azkaban (2004), Goblet of Fire (2005) It's 1926, and names like Harry Potter and Lord Voldemort are decades away from being known throughout the Wizarding World. Instead, the wizarding community fears Gellert Grindelwald, a Dark Wizard with evil ambitions whose sudden disappearance has sparked concern across the globe about what he could be up to. Against this backdrop of growing danger, magizooloist Newt Scamander arrives in New York with a suitcase full of all kinds of magical creatures, and it doesn't take long before some of them get out, threatening to expose the Wizarding World to the muggle - or No-Maj, as the Americans refer to them - community. For Harry Potter fans, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is a dream come true. It's been nearly a decade since J. K. Rowling's groundbreaking series came to a close and five years since the final film adaptation of it hit theaters, and though it has continued to live on in various ways via things like the Wizarding World at Universal Studios parks or the Harry Potter and the Cursed Child stage play, we haven't really been given something to truly sink our teeth into. As a breeding ground for unlimited storytelling potential beyond the adventures of Harry Potter, the Wizarding World has remained relatively untapped up until now, and Fantastic Beasts - written by Rowling herself, no less - serves as an introduction to a wonderful new era for the franchise that will, hopefully, prove fruitful for years to come. As I covered in my Retro Reviews for the first four Harry Potter films, I absolutely love the books and respect the films, and while I wanted more stories out of the Wizarding World, I was also reluctant, as the idea of there being too much of a good thing exists for a reason. When Fantastic Beasts was announced, I was excited, especially for the fact that Rowling herself would be penning it, but I couldn't keep that niggling voice in the back of my head completely silent from whispering that it could fall apart, underwhelm, or fail to live up to all that Potter provided. All this is to say that I went into Fantastic Beasts on Thursday evening with my hopes high but expectations in check. Fortunately, I came out the other end of the film relatively satisfied with what I had seen and curious now that the table has been set for a much larger course over the next few years via four planned sequels, even if I have some minor issues with Newt Scamander's first adventure. Retro Reviews are frequent looks back at films I've already seen to conclude whether or not they still hold up, taking into consideration both the time period and circumstances during which they were made and how they work in the modern day to offer a more in-depth exploration of the film itself than those found in my standard first-time reviews. Related Reviews: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (2001), Chamber of Secrets (2002), Prisoner of Azkaban (2004) Retro Reviews are frequent looks back at films I've already seen to conclude whether or not they still hold up, taking into consideration both the time period and circumstances during which they were made and how they work in the modern day to offer a more in-depth exploration of the film itself than those found in my standard first-time reviews. Related Reviews: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (2001), Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002) |
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