#moana mix

[thewhizzyhead]

I know that this brainfart is like a "well fucking duh" moment given that Barrett wilbert weed originated both musical Veronica and Janis, but like,,,auli'i cravalho could make for a good musical movie veronica and I mean that genuinely

[boredbonkers]

nimona blows u guys are gay

[dhsantiago]

A little Moana for my niece

[radioactivepeasant]

If they didn't want me digibashing Disney pieces like paper dolls they shouldn't have made the lasso tool 😈

Side note: how on earth did Daxter shove his hair through that aviator cap?!

[animatedminds]

On Moana 2:

I'm torn. On the one hand, the various areas of Polynesian folklore and history are collectively an extremely interesting subject for an animated period film to cover and it bugged me that a lot of it got left on the cutting room floor the first time so Disney could tell it's vaguely self-digging "anti-princess, but actually a princess" story.

So a sequel to explore that more would be amazing. Plus Moana was a fun character who felt like she only somewhat got to stretch out and shine in her own movie, so more of her without the story holding her back sounds great in the same way Frozen 2 really improved the amount of space Elsa had as a character (in my opinion).

On the other hand, because of the way they did it the first time around, I would really just prefer if they made a new film set in that region that's actually based on an actual folktale.

[youremyonlyhope]

Stupidly I decided to watch this video just now.

Today would have been my Grandma's birthday, but we lost her last fall and then my Nanna in the winter.

I did not think that a commentary video on Rugrats would make me uncontrollably sob. But I blocked out how sad the Mother's Day episode was. And combining it with Grandma's birthday...

I've spent the last 10 minutes or so doubled over crying.

[timaeuslover001]

I WISH people would stop making up stuff like “the Disney Formula” or “the MARVEL formula” 🤦

As if they exists and they don’t. Each movie have a 3 act plot but not all happen on the same way or with the same characters.

They have too it all this isn’t a 90 minute frame.

And not ever Disney movie is the same anyway

Disney films are Hot garbage these days and Marvel Film.

If any common denominator is the attempt at humor by mocking the very thing they’re trying to sell to you.

Hence why I say if you like mcu films and modern Disney stuff

You.are.nor.REAL.fan of Disney or Marvel.

The two are VASTIY different in morals, values, Quality and storytelling.

[call-me-maggie13]

Things my cat has cried about today

I did not allow him in the heating oven.

I refused to open the already open bathroom door.

I did not let him climb in the dishwasher I was trying to start.

He wasn’t allowed to go outside and play with the raccoons that are feral and literally 5 times the size of him.

I sneezed.

He couldn’t open the drawer in my dresser that doesn’t open.

He wanted to attack my can (that still had soda in it) and I moved it out of his reach.

I took a shower.

My brother laughed.

My other cat fell asleep on my lap and he decided that was his nap spot but he didn’t want to share it.

I kicked him out of the laundry room.

I took a nap.

I woke up from a nap.

I did not put Moana on for him to watch.

A bird chirped outside my window.

He wasn’t allowed to stick his head in a burning candle.

He walked out of a room with people and didn’t like that no one was in the room with him. After he walked away. On his own volition.

His name is Frank, it is short for Frankenstein and he is very, very, extremely stupid.

Update because I keep getting asked! Frank is not an orange cat, he is a Siamese mix that I pulled out of a dumpster at eight weeks old! Here are some pictures!

[fandomfluffandfuck]

Thinking about sloppy, dirty Wakanda husbands...

It's fucking sweltering, every breath that comes out of Steve comes spilling out as a rasping groan that grates against each of his ribs, dragging like fingernails, filling his lungs luxurously and grinding out of his throat with his hot hanging-open mouth, panting and heaving, not just breathing. Heaving. He's flat on his fucking back with his chest swelling and sinking rapidly but he may as well be pinned to a spinning top with how his mind is racing, zooming, swirling. Every inch of him is on fire. Sweltering. The sheets of Bucky's bed stick to his back--scratch that, the hay making up Bucky's mattress on the floor of his sweet, cramped little hut in his merciful slice of paradise is sticking to his back through the layers of sheets. It's surprisingly comfortable for being just straw but the composition of whatever the fuck he's pinned to, riding the rocking deck of a ship, is the last thing on Steve's mind when, when there's--

F-fuck.

Fuck it.

Steve reaches out and fucking sliiiiides Bucky--all trembling and slick and wet--off his dick. He doesn't fucking care how bad it aches or how much his throbbing, hard cock twitches and weaps at being lewdly and loudly pulled out of Bucky's feverish, clenching hole. The sound of it.

Jesus.

It's sloppy.

They're all messy, fucked up on each other, blotting everything else out but their frayed edges and misfiring nerves. Steve doesn't care about how strung out they are or how fucking much his dick hates him right now for doing that. The real motivation, hot and growling, is his twisted mouth. It's watering. Even as his chest heaves and the lungfuls of sucked in air do their damnest to dry out his gaped-open lips--he needs a taste.

And he's gonna goddamn get one, his fumbling hands sinking into the fat of Bucky's hips, jerking him forward by his irrestiable curves. Just a taste. He needs it.

Bucky, shocked and dispaired by the sudden emptiness, complains, his voice climbing up in register, "Steeeeve," his voice breaks, "n-noo-!" At the same time--with Steve's hands all over him, the only difference that his dick isn't still stretching out that greedy hole--his lush lower lip juts out, a fucking dream, and that sweet cleft in his chin, shadowed below his beard, trembles.

He's the picture of debauchery. Enough to make a grown man cry.

Steve's too busy to notice whether his eyes are stinging or blurring with tears on account of how he's growling, "up here," though. He won't have it. He's groping, pulling, and slapping. He's a fucking caveman, manhandling him like this. He doesn't care. He needs this man. Sue him.

Fuck him.

Bucky's complaints quickly fall into sheer, jagged groans like tumbling off the edge of a mountain. And all it takes is the magic of Steve's tongue, then he's suddenly oh-so easy and weak.

Steve. wants. a. taste. and he'll have one. Now.

His tongue flicking and lapping teasing circles, pointing and fucking in deep, getting his beard wet with his own mess and the lube dripping like molten glass from Bucky's hole, smeared over the curves of his backside, eagerly finding it's way down his thighs. Fuck. Steve's eyes roll back so far they snap shut. He's good.

Tastes good.

Steve's reduced into a sticky, thick, boiling of pleasure, caveman, and Bucky's changing his tone further to belly-deep groans and salacious moana mixed into a stupor-inducing cocktail. He's arching his back, too, sticking his fat ass out with shivers raising in the hair on his legs under Steve's groping, petting, unkind-and-possessive-yet-wordhipful touch, goosebumps 'cause he feels so good, he can't take it. Neither of them can take it. But mostly Bucky.

As Steve tongues him, kissing his hole like he'd kiss his mouth, only dirtier, more tongue and more commanding and more sensitive, more, more, more, Bucky's alternating between spreading his thick thighs, feeling too good, wanting more, getting close, and he needing to make room to squirm yet also clenching his legs tight every so often, randomly letting his leg muscles spasm and squeeze like the velvet-slick interior muscles of his fluttering hole, treated so well--Steve's jaw is aching--he tightens his thighs around Steve's head until he runs out of oxygen. Steve's watched a few too many videos of people built suspiciously like Bucky's squeezing the life outta some poor watermelons a few too many times. He. Yeah. That's him. He's red enough in the face for it. Choking and tonging Bucky and tasting him.

Still, though, Steve's starved and, for as much as he wants, craves, needs, Bucky dancing on his tongue, squirming and grunting and groaning and panting for it--he needs him to just fucking take it, too.

It's hard to hold him down when he's the one on top, or it would be if Steve weren't a supersoldier pumped up to an aching throb on lust. Pity. So, all he's got to do is bury his face in deeper, feeling the heat and tasting the delicacy of him and hearing him enjoy it and knowing him, knowing him so deep and intimate. Lips and teeth and tongue. His whole fucking face. His nose against the fat little flush of his perineum, rubbing and pressing. His jaw rubbing him raw with his beard, scruffing and scratching until Bucky can't take it anymore--he won't be able to sit later.

Steve buries in deep and holds himself there, one hand bruising around his plush, curved hip while his muscular forearm pins Bucky's wet, hard dick to his belly, trapping it to scrape dangerously against his hairy forearm and against his own soft belly and fuzzy treasure trail.

Bucky moans in agony, too much friction with too much tongue. Too good. Denied and yet too good.

Steve wants him to cum just from his tongue and lips and teeth on his twitching, cock-stretched hole and he Steve knows Bucky thinks he's an asshole for it. Maybe he is. Maybe he's a possessive, selfish bastard that needs every peice of him. He needs him to cum because he made it so. Why have such a pretty fucking man work for anything? He doesn't need to ride his face, he doesn't need to ride his dick, he doesn't need to grind his dick against him, he just needs to take it.

Take it.

Take it, Steve growls like an animal, teeth tight against the inside of his asscheek, biting more color into him. Yeahhh, he'll be fucking raw later. Worse than a sunburn.

Reacting, Bucky scrambles to get ahold of the pleasure, his hand searching for something, anything to hold onto, first he's blindly groping the wall, palm and curled fingers thumping against it dully as his head tips back, hair spilling over his shoulders in a silky rush of waves too gorgeous to be real, then he finds purchase on Steve's hair and he pulls, oh, he pulls, his arm flexing and bulging and if Steve's mouth wasn't already busy at his hole, eating him, he'd be trailing sloppy kisses up that fucking arm. He loves it so fucking much.

All of Bucky, god, he loves Bucky. A man. He loves this man more than life itself. He'd give anything for him. He'd give it all again, in just the blink of an eye, but he can't exactly do that immediately, so, he does the next best thing--he pulls him harder down against his bearded jaw and rubs up against the inside of his round asscheeks and butter-soft, iron-strong thighs, marking him up more, impossibly more, making him sigh and gasp and groan, barreling toward orgasm recklessly. He's gonna bust all over Steve's forehead and hair and it'll be impossible to get out when they're only got a lake at their disposal for washing but Steve isn't thinking clearly enough to give a single fuck.

All he's thinking about is the little, sloppy, loose hole he's ravishing and these hanging balls smothering him. He's thinking about Bucky. Bucky's pretty body. Gnawing at him, lavving his tongue over him, sucking his rim, fucking him with his tongue--Bucky Bucky Bucky Bucky Bucky Bucky Bucky Bucky Bucky Bucky BuckyBuckyBucky Bucky Bucky Bucky Bucky BuckyBucky BuckyBuckyBuckyBuckyBucky.

[jq37]

Who Is Allison Moore?: A Disney's Wish Mystery

OK, this is a little off the rails and random but this has been driving me crazy since I looked into it last night.

So, Disney's 100th Anniversary movie Wish is coming out soon and people have had a lot of hot takes about it so I wanted to do some digging. As part of that, I looked at the writers and two people have a "Screenplay by" credit: Jennifer Lee and Allison Moore.

Jennifer Lee, of course, wrote Frozen--their biggest princess hit in the modern era so that makes total sense to me. If you're coming out with a new princess movie for the big centennial of course you'd tap her. But I'd never heard of Allison, and when you look at her name on Wikipedia:

No blue link. So I headed to IMDB to check out her credits, figuring maybe she was some hot new talent recently promoted from within who did storyboards on some recent projects like Moana or something. But when I went to her IMDB page, this is what I found (after a brief mix-up with a Dexter's Lab actress):

Her Producer credits come up first and...huh. That's a lot of adult live action TV projects. Well, maybe her Writing credits are where this starts to make sense:

What? That can't be right, can it? The only vaguely Disney-esque thing on that credit list is Beauty and the Beast and, to be clear, that is a CW reboot of a 1987 procedural with the logline, "A beautiful detective falls in love with an ex-soldier who goes into hiding from the secret government organization that turned him into a mechanically charged beast." And she wrote two episodes on it.

And look at Disney's official page about Wish!

Everyone else on this page has credits that make sense--Frozen, Frozen 2, Raya, Encanto. And the two credits they list for Allison?

Night Sky and Manhunt.

Night Sky, an Amazon Prime show that she wrote one episode for and was cancelled after one season. And Manhunt--and show about hunting the UNABOMBER--that ran for two seasons and that she wrote two episodes for. Those are her two credits that they put up there next to Frozen and Encanto.

I have been scouring the internet trying to figure out who this woman is and how she got this job and I have come up *empty*. This is the big 100th anniversary movie! Why would they have one of the two screenplay writers be someone who seemingly has never done something like this before??? Like, I understand that not having done something before doesn't mean you can't do a good job, but it usually means you don't get the keys to the biggest most anticipated projects in the company's history!

They presumably could have gotten anyone they wanted for this and they picked this person and I have zero clue why and it's driving me crazy. If anyone has ANY information that could illuminate this at ALL--an interview, a social media post, gossip from your cousin who's a gofer at Disney--please let me know because I feel like I'm going full Pepe Silvia over this.

12/26 Edit: A SMALL UPDATE IS HERE!

[jacarandaaaas]

YALL NEED TO STOP MAKING US LOOK STUPID😭 I promise like 95% of us are not like this

Saw this on twitter and I had to laugh

I get it that Disney is often limits themselves when they design characters but this is such an insane comparison lmao

[so-much-for-the-seashells]

Baking With BF!Dean Winchester Headcanons

✨ Dean Winchester x GN!Reader ✨

*sighs in 2014 was 10 years ago* Minors do NOT interact, this is not “rizz-ing!” Off you go!

A/N: I love writing these because they’re like half baked yet surprisingly endearing thoughts and it’s fun haha.

Icons by me!

All notes are appreciated! Hope you enjoy!

Content Warning: I have a bad sense of humor and make some sex jokes but nothing too explicit, at least I think so. Definitely still 18+

( ˘ ³˘)♥︎ ♥︎ ♥︎ ♥︎ ♥︎ ♥︎ ♥︎ ♥︎ ♥︎ ♥︎ ♥︎ ♥︎ ♥︎ ♥︎ ♥︎ ♥︎

-3 favorite things to bake with him

1. Pie (obvs)

2. Brownies (sometimes with pot…)

3. Cookies (all kinds)

-okay, now that that's been established...

-one day you had jokingly suggested the bunker should do a cookie jar

-this was taken seriously; not only by Dean, Sam and Cas; but also by literally every regular passerby. Even Rowena's made a batch of red velvet cookies. (We threw those ones away, we couldn't trust that they weren't poisoned, made of blood, or both)

-but if it's just the usual crew (you, the brothers, and Cas) then you have a weekly rotation

-and Dean regularly suckers you into "helping" him, even though you both knows he’s capable of being a big boy (and I mean he is a big boy if you catch my drift) and doing it himself

-those candy apple green eyes work wonders

-anyhoo

-one of his favorite, stupidly cheesy things to do is as follows:

-you’ll have a taste of the batter/dough/filling, as one does (it’s always good cause the two of you together are an unstoppable force in the kitchen) (alone is a different story- it’s usually Kraft Mac n Cheese cups)

-and while you’re trying it, making faces, he’ll look over and innocently ask if he can try it

-like “Can I get some, sweetheart?” (And yes he most certainly can get some.) (batter, I mean) (definitely batter) or “can I try some, doll?”

-and no matter how many times he’s tried it you’ll say yes

-so he’ll lean down, cupping your cheeks in his rough hands and kiss you as passionately as humanly possible

-like, these kisses could literally bake the cookies or whatever because of how hot they are

-and he’ll make sure he really gets to try it

-and then he’ll pull back with a smirk, cause he’s done it at least 30 times before and you still let him and still like melt into a puddle every single time. Without fail.

-you guys like to put on Disney soundtracks in the background when you bake. High school musical and Moana primarily, but he’s also taken with the soundtrack of Julie and the Phantoms. (He complained about the show being unrealistic supernaturally speaking and then was adamant that there should be a season two and cancelling it was a crime worthy of hell)

-also, rock, obviously. As a fan of Bon Jovi, you best believe you sell him on them and slow dance to Bed of Roses while things are in the oven. It’s only right.

-if you’re listening to heat of the moment and Sam the baby giraffe walks in he will get those sad eyes, making both of you scramble to make him something else, like some keto hidden veggie brownies or some shit, to make him feel better

-now, in specifics

-pie is for fun. You two usually make one to split for after dinner. Roughly once a month, but should be more often. Well, that’s not fair if you count creampies

-apple is his favorite, ofc. You use Mary’s recipe, and you’re the only person in the whole wide world that he trusts with modifying it in any way

-you also make them for him if he’s sick or if you guys have for some reason had a fight. The latter is rarer, but does still happen on occasion

-it’s okay though, because pie will always make things better

-cookies are almost exclusively for the jar. These are made on random frequencies, usually a lot at a time.

-he likes butterscotch a lot, and you find a way to mix your favorite flavors into either one monstrosity or one beauty of a cookie

-you guys have in fact made your own recipe. It’s awesome. Like, prized possession material.

-and then brownies

-they’re literally just pimped up store bought mix. Preferably Ghirardelli, for maximum bougie-ness

-and then sometimes you guys add some fun time grass

-you’ll do that when you just want to have a soft night. You’ll always way up to him laying on you and holding you like a koala though- may your back be prepared

-overall he just really enjoys spending time with you in any way that he can and baking is a great way to do that

-Dean Winchester is precious

-I rest my case

If you have any ideas for more headcanons, send a request! My box is always open!

Xx

[jealousmartini]

2ND LOLIROCK DR INTRODUCTION

𓏲࣪ .𖥔˚ It's the Ocean! Yes it connects all the kingdoms of Ephedia and united them as one..⋆. 🌊˚

But don't you know the Ocean is a kingdom in itself..?⊹ ₊ ⋆

╭╔═════════════♱═════════════╗

[ # 000 :: BASIC INFO ]

Name :: Diana

(pronounced dee-yana, occasionally mispronounced dye-ana)

Age :: 17

Nicknames :: Danni, dandi

Princess of :: Vistaria

Current occupation :: Member of 6 member girl-group, O.M.G! (Oh My Gosh!)

genres :: (k)pop rock, electro, hiphop, EDM

Positions :: Main/lead singer, main dancer, face of the group, visuals, "maknae"

Debut song :: GIRL FRONT (by loona)

Hobbies :: Music production, lyric writing, drawing, dancing, singing

Fashion style :: Y2K, 80s fitness style

Likes :: Swimming, the ocean, Kpop, 80s fitness, choreography, fruit, the colours orange and pink,

Dislikes :: iris. I really don't like her girll.. and especially when she's with that Nathaniel guy like GET A ROOMMMUH🙄😒

[ # 001 :: APPEARNCE ]

Black ariel mixed with moana idk what else to tell you

[ # 002 :: PRINCESS STUFF ]

Magic jewellery :: A protected locket. Pearl beaded thread with a crystal ball in a heart-shaped locket.

the thread the pearl the locket

(*teal and blue accents)

Magic (crystal) colour :: TEAL, blue, and yellow

Magic circle's middle shape :: two circles

one smaller and above the other. Think of the yin and yang ( ☯️) but odd

Kingdom's representative colour :: Teal-blue

Kingdom's representative shape :: Spiral sea-shell

Magic abilities :: Crystal magic, Water manipulation (also through communication/singing), sea animal communication, healing

Wand turn weapon type :: Trident/Spear

My Shanilla :: Pre-shanilla

[ # 003 :: BACKSTORY ]

The Kingdom Vistaria, is the most powerful and respected kingdom as it holds the most dangerous and feared creatures in its abyss; oddly enough unharmed, tamed and loved by the Queen of Vistaria, whilst being intimated by the King.

Somehow, Greymorr had planted a curse that destroyed the barrier the king and queen created that safely separated the creatures of the Abyss from the general lives in the society of Vistaria. Not only did this free the monsters of the Abyss, but it altered their understanding and connection to the kingdom making them go rogue, destroying anything in their path.

Luckily, he wasn't able to control them into obeying his orders and instead went against anything that tried to assert order onto them. Even the Vistarian Royal couple. At this point, Diana was 15 years old and the king and Queen sent their daughter to the second closest Planet to them, Earth, with her pearl pendant protected by a positively cursed locket. She needs to find the other princesses on Eath to help her get more powerful and return back to Vistaria and defeat Greymorr.

[ # 004 :: RELATIONSHIPS ]

N/A

╰╚═════════════♱═════════════╝

I took this chance to be ariel yeah yeah red hair and everything what about it

[hiwaaranit]

Looking at a the asks you answered about indigenous people in fantasy and about indigenous rep by non-indigenous writers, I have a follow up question, if you don't mind- Seeing how common it is for fantasy works to use cultural mish-mashes, especially like medieval Europe-ish or Warring States fantasy Japan, is there a way to respectfully incorporate indigenous cultures into that sort of world (particularly ones near to each other), or should it be avoided entirely, in your opinion?

Surprisingly Peter Pan 2023 did a great job, still it’s weird that native people are just chilling in neverland but I appreciate that they faced their past and hired native people. I think about harry potter’s little grubby hands trying to world build magic lore for the United States AND IM HORRIFIED. Already the four houses and eventual "monsters" in that setting is making my stomach hurt, honestly that is cultural appropriation and commodification at its finest, the worst example. Then I think about ATLAB and the mixing of cultures is kinda crazy like I love the show so much! But at the same time this is kinda crazy! I’m not sure if I’m comfortable with the level of commodification and the melting pot of cultures. If I saw someone cosplaying the "sun warriors" like🧍‍♀️it scares me. We know that culture isn’t a custom 😣🙏 right? Right? At what point do they say "put a headdress in the show" and everyone starts cosplaying, like a Disney Pocahontas/mulan/moana custom situation, ITS CRAZY. I’m saying this because you don’t want to go the avatar or the Harry Potter direction there is some crazy nuances that can only be created and managed by indigenous people.

I can’t recommend their videos enough because they really do get into cultural sensitivity and misappropriation of them.

[ofmdrecaps]

11/27-28/2024 Daily OFMD Recap

TLDR; Republic of Pirates Cont'd; Rhys Darby; Taika Waititi; Vico Ortiz; Kristian Nairn; Rachel House & David Fane; Lindsey Cantrell; Minnie Driver; Fan Spotlight: Amuseoffyre; Love Notes;

== Republic of Pirates Cont'd ==

More and more pictures from Starfury Events keep coming out so I'll post more as I find them!

Source: Starfury Events Twitter

= Rhys Darby =

Good news! Uproar was recognised at the ADG Awards!

The Cryptid Factor won the Bronze Spotlight Award (from the 2024 NZ Podcast Awards!)

Source: Rhys Darby's Instagram

He was also interviewed about That Christmas which is coming to Netflix on Dec 3!

Source: Rhys Darby on That Christmas

And there's more Darby Daily Doodles up on Rhys' Substack!

Source: Rhys Free Substack

= Taika Waititi =

Taika's wife, Rita's birthday was on the 26th! Happy belated birthday Rita!

Source: Taika's Instagram

Some older pics of Taika from his time in japan, he was kind enough to sign a bluray and take some pictures with a fan!

Source: Instagram

= Vico Ortiz =

Vico was kind enough to post more Republic of Pirates pictures!

Source: VIco's Instagram

A video of Vico's Standup!

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Vico Ortiz (@puertoricaninja)

Source: Vico's Instagram

= Kristian Nairn =

Last chance to preorder your WJW T-Shirts! https://www.kristiannairn.store/store

Source: Kristian Nairn's instagram Stories

= Rachel House & David Fane =

More shots of the cast out at the Moana 2 Reo Māori premiere!

Source: David Fane's Instagram

= Lindsey Cantrell =

Our dear Set Decorator for S2, Lindsey Cantrell is working on getting those certificate of authenticities signed for the winners of the @ofmd-buys-boats raffle!

Lindsey also posted lots of BTS photos on the 28th! You can check them out here (since I'm running out of photos allowed on this post).

Source: Lindsey Cantrell's Instagram

= Minnie Driver =

Minnie embracing no make up while not feeling well <3 Gotta say Minnie, you look amazing <3

Source: Minnie's Instagram

= Alex Sherman =

Our friend @asneakyfox asked Alex Sherman about who wrote the line "Warmth, good food, and orgasms" and the answer was a mix of Alyssa Lane and Taika!

Source: @asneakyfox's bsky

== Fan Spotlight ==

= A Muse Of Fyre =

Our dear crewmate @amuseoffyre was kind enough to allow me to share these fantastic pictures of the cast and their muppets! Every one of the cast members were so impressed with their phenomenal work (and some of them actually ran off with them!) Congrats hon! So glad you got to go to your first con and had such a great time! You deserve all the kudos for this fab work!

Source: AMuseOfFyre's Instagram / 2

== Love Notes ==

Hey there lovelies. I am very tired and catching up again, so tonight I shall leave the love notes in the capable hands of BethDrawsThings. She has some lovely words and I feel very much the same, You are doing great, stay safe out there okay?

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Beth Evans (@bethdrawsthings)

Source: BethDrawsThings Instagram

[synergysilhouette]

Saw "Moana 2" and...(Review with Spoilers)

In retrospect, I'm not surprised that Disney's highest-grossing Disney princess movie (not adjusted for inflation and Anna and Elsa aren't part of the Disney princess line) got a sequel. That said, given the track record Disney has had lately since "Strange World," I'm also not surprised with the decline in quality. So here's my thoughts on it in 3 points.

The music is...different--Thankfully, Disney got the same people to do the score, but when the film was envisioned as a TV show, they decided not to approach Lin-Manuel Miranda (or maybe he was busy) and instead approached Barlow and Bear for the music. Now to be fair, the soundtrack is NOT bad, but it's not as good, either; Matangi's song feels very showtune-y rather than an epic song set in the Pacific Islands, and every song except Moana's feels like a downgrade. Granted, I do blame this on the transition probably not giving them as much time to grow and change the songs, but I still find it to be disappointing. I think the songwriters could've been better suited for an original film and Disney get LMM back the moment they decided to make a sequel film.

2. The new characters aren't anything special--First off, Simea doesn't do anything to impact the plot in a way another character couldn't. When you give the main character a sibling in a sequel, you expect them to have an impact. Simea's goal was likely to show the bigger stakes Moana could face and all the leaves behind, but the first film was also life or death for her and her people, and her parents could still serve as what she leaves behind, especially since they're older and Moana takes on new responsibilities. Moni as a storyteller seems like he should be a source of encouragement and remind Moana of her grandmother, instead of a fanboy. Plus why he reveres Maui despite him almost destroying the world would be interesting to explore. Loto being the science-y girl in a world with clear fantasy elements would be interesting to explore, especially since she doesn't seem offended or in denial of it. Kele is supposed to be the farmer, but visually, we don't see how that comes into play that much. Moana pretty much does most of the work. Matangi is also just a servant to the main antagonist Nalo, but he isn't interesting or symbolic like Te Ka, and Matangi is a weird mix of villain and helper. I'd have rathered she was a villain akin to Eris from "Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas" and was simply outwitted by Moana. Her small role and message of getting lost felt underutilized. And it's SAD that the Kakamora feels more interesting than the rest of Moana's crew. The wayfinders at the end of the film and in the art book looked much more interesting, and I'd have enjoyed them filling the roles Kele, Moni, and Loto had. On the bright side, Moana as a character wasn't ruined, even if the film didn't do any favors for her.

3. There's no real message and the plot is very boring--The film continues on the message of the restoration of cultural identity, but nothing the characters experience really show a conflict that threatens that. In the first film, sailing and wayfinding is forbidden due to Te Ka's influence causing the ocean to be tempestuous. As such, they lost a big part of their culture. Maybe the film could've focused on Nalo (or Matangi) venturing out to destroy Moana rather than her coming to him due to her possibly being the hero to unite the people across the Pacific. They'd manipulate the humans and cause rifts between the people of Motunui. It'd be more domestic, but perhaps have Moana going to different islands, meeting other wayfinders, and trying to weed out Nalo's deception could work. This is all assuming you wanted a strict villain over a trickster deity or a more nuanced antagonist. And side note, but the modern dialogue (ie butt dialing, hair flip, and fanfic were so cringey to me).

Overall, the film is...fine. I need to hear about what was going on during production, because I can't blame it all on "it was gonna be a tv show first." It wasn't as good as the first film, nor would it win a "battle of the sequels" with "Frozen 2," but it's better than "Wish," and while that's a low bar, it's something I could be happy with for a brief period. 5/10

(And I'll probably add this film to my "alternate take on the Disney revival era" post--but I'd like to hear a little bit more about the production for the film before I do.)