Animation Disney's 'Moana'

Saw this tonight. Fantastic movie all around. I appreciated how strong of a story backbone it had.

Hollywood fell into a rut of "chosen one" stories. Those are classic stories but the problem is they forgot that the character still has to do the work to live up to those expectations. Thankfully the writers here know how to pull it off. Moanna is driven but also has to overcome inexperience and self doubt. She works to gain the skills she needs and to find her path. Though a classic story in that regard, it was actually refreshing to see it pulled off well.

Also refreshing: Not a goddamned hint of a romance story line. It doesn't need to be subverted or commented on, its simply not all a factor.

Maui is also a great and entertaining character who in turn struggles with knowing who he's supposed to be.

Animation wise this movie is gorgeous. I was excited from the first trailer on because it was clear that between this and Zootopia, Disney has reached a point where it's CG animation can acheive the stretch and squish and overall movement previously afforded by their 2d animated features. Disney is at the top of their game.

While there is a reveal regarding the villain of the film, I do wish they could have been developed a bit more. It's been a while since we've had a really good Disney villain.

Sidenote: I read a few months back that the directors admitted that the coconut pirate scene wasn't added until after they saw Fury Road. I can't say I would have noticed how similar that scene is to some of the Warboys scene had I not known about it before hand but it was funny to see.
 
The Second Disney Renaissance is still going strong.
 
http://variety.com/2016/film/news/box-office-moana-disney-allied-bad-santa-1201925356/

Kicking off the Thanksgiving holiday break with gusto, Disney’s animated adventure “Moana” opened with plenty of box office power and took in $2.6 million at Tuesday night preview showings starting at 7 p.m. in North America.

The “Moana” gross doubled the $1.3 million Tuesday preview record set last year by Disney’s “The Good Dinosaur.” It’s also far above the $1.2 million preview gross from “Frozen,” the $1.4 million Thursday preview total for “Big Hero 6” and the $1.7 million Thursday preview for “Zootopia” in March.

“Moana” is expected to easily top the holdover numbers for “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” during the five-day Thanksgiving holiday along with the openings for Brad Pitt’s thriller “Allied,” Billy Bob Thornton’s raucous comedy “Bad Santa 2” and Warren Beatty’s Howard Hughes comedy-drama “Rules Don’t Apply.”

http://variety.com/2016/film/news/box-office-moana-allied-fantastic-beasts-bad-santa-1201925913/

Disney’s animated adventure “Moana” is dominating North American moviegoing with as much as $88 million for the five-day Thanksgiving holiday period, early estimates showed Wednesday.

Brad Pitt’s “Allied” appears to be performing respectably with around $19 million for the five days while Billy Bob Thornton’s “Bad Santa 2” is heading for a decent return in the $12 million range. Meanwhile, Warren Beatty’s “Rules Don’t Apply” is generating only modest interest with about $5 million for the holiday period.

“Moana” opened with plenty of box office power by taking in $2.6 million at Tuesday night preview showings starting at 7 p.m. in North America. That doubled the $1.3 million Tuesday preview record set last year by Disney’s “The Good Dinosaur.” These latest estimates blow past earlier predictions that had the film opening in the $75 million range.

“Moana” may even match the all-time Thanksgiving record of $93.4 million for the five days, set two years ago by Disney’s “Frozen.”
 
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Just got out with the girlfriend, very well done. AMC has a little promo before it with Clements and Musker rattling off the movies they've done before, so people know what they're in for I guess. It had a lot of the trademark humor they're known for, a little anachronistic, but it works as it did with Aladdin and Hercules.

Hei Hei is officially my favorite animal sidekick.
 
Ha ha, I haven't seen the movie yet, but "You're Welcome" sounds like Dwayne Johnson's wrestling heel personality is doing the singing there. :funny:
 
Why you should never underestimate Disney Animation:

http://www.boxofficemojo.com/news/?id=4244&p=.htm

THURSDAY AM UPDATE: Moana exceeded last night's estimated Wednesday opening day, delivering a record-breaking pre-Thanksgiving opening day with an estimated $15.6 million, topping the previous record of $15.1 million set by Frozen before it went on to it's current five-day Thanksgiving weekend record opening of $93.5 million. At this point, industry sources are anticipating a possible new record for Moana, which could total as much as $94 million over the film's first five days of release.
 
I gotta wait until Boxing Day to see this. :down

Ha ha, I haven't seen the movie yet, but "You're Welcome" sounds like Dwayne Johnson's wrestling heel personality is doing the singing there. :funny:

I heard that song today, it's clear he doesn't have much of a vocal range, but I was still surprised at how well he was able to hold a tune.
 
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I heard that song today, it's clear he doesn't have much of a vocal range, but I was still surprised at how well he was able to hold a tune.


Here is Dwayne the wrestler at his best. He should have gotten a Tony for this. :funny:

 
https://***********/GiteshPandya/status/802178410999115776

Gitesh Pandya
@GiteshPandya

#Thanksgiving THU ruled by #Moana at $9.9M & #FantasticBeasts at $9.6M. Totals now at $25.6M & $111.1M. Big jumps today for #BlackFriday.
 
I really enjoyed the film. I think this was Disney's best animated movie in awhile.
 
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I like how it shot back up like 127% after Thanksgiving.
 
I like how it shot back up like 127% after Thanksgiving.

That's actually not a great result for Moana. :csad:

It's Black Friday increase is more in line with Tangled than it is with Frozen. BO doesn't look great for this right now but I'm hoping it rebounds well during Christmas just like Frozen did back in 2013.

240-250 million should still be a lock tho. The WOM should be very good. :D :D
 
^^ Good to know that Moana at least cracked 80 million. I just hope the WOM is very good for this one.
 
I don't think Moana should have a problem at the box office. There's virtually nothing big coming out until Rogue One.
 
Damn songs are still stuck in my head. **** you Lin Manuel Miranda.
 
Man, I'm reading so much good stuff about this movie. I can't wait to see it! :woot: At the end of December. :dry:
 
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See the line where the sky meets the sea... It's been in my head ever since. :funny:
 
Just FYI, Frozen had an opening weekend of $67 million. Big Hero 6 had an opening weekend of $56 million. Both movies opened in November. For animated movies, it's a marathon not a sprint.
 
Just FYI, Frozen had an opening weekend of $67 million. Big Hero 6 had an opening weekend of $56 million. Both movies opened in November. For animated movies, it's a marathon not a sprint.

You're talking about the 3 day weekend as opposed to a 5 day weekend during the Thanksgiving week in the US. Moana has done admirably but but it's BO so far is not that great because expectations were higher due to the inflated previews numbers and the high RT score/awesome reviews. I agree that the true test will be how it manages to do once Rogue One and Sing, both are in theaters.
 

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