A thread for Disney's MOANA staring Auli'i Cravalho and Dwayne Johnson, songs by Lin-Manuel Miranda

LMM did "How Far You'll Go," "You're Welcome" and "Shiny," which are all pretty memorable

Aye, the latter two memorable for their sheer nails-on-chalkboard annoyance lol!

I say this as the parent of two (growing) girls who sing these songs all the time.

Yeah, I didn't mention the kids, my only hope is that when their journey with Moana is over, that their takeaway is the beautiful Pacific Islander culture/music and not LMM's shlocky cornball showtunes...

(haha I'm truly glad I can vent these normally unsaid opinions to you guys and not the family).

you seem to be implying that shlocky cornball showtunes are a bad thing

and I'm not done! I will admit "How Far I Go" is not awful, and that I actually enjoy most of "Where You Are" which I think Te Vaka do the music & the non-lead vox on.

I don't like cornball showtimes, particularly, but for those who do - which include most kids and pretty much anyone that likes showtimes, period - these cornball showtimes are quality. It definitely beats the schlocky bullshit neo-Christian rock stylings of Greatest Showman or Dear Evan Hanson or whatever.

Gone from Netflix, fuck!

;_;

For those who like Te Vaka / Opetaia Foa'i / Olivia Foa'i as much as I do, I found this rare gem:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Mu5XnpdCgY

It's an extended version of the opening prayer/song which Opetaia extended for another part (reprise?) of the movie but was not included in the final cut. The first minute should sound fairly familiar to those of us who've watched a million times, but around the minute mark is where it turns into something amazing.

John Lassetter asked for me to write a piece to go with the Disney castle logo at the beginning of the movie, and that’s when I wrote “Tulou Tagaloa”. Later on, the directors were playing around with an idea which involved Moana finding the ‘heart of te fiti’, and as they liked ‘Tulou Tagaloa’, they asked me to write an extended piece for it. This piece is the ocean telling Moana, in a nurturing sympathetic tone, of the task that awaits her. ​And once again, my daughter Olivia adds her magic touch to it.

-Opetaia Foa'i

I guess this is my Te Vaka thread now (sorry, not sorry):

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/w3cszd49

rewatching this movie under the influence of pregnancy hormones is...a lot

My daughter's award-winning theater program at her middle school performed a preview of a semi-secret pilot version of a live musical version of this at the Junior Theater Festival in Atlanta last year, which was pretty much the last thing she did before lockdown.

man this movie rules. there are just a couple jokes/moves i could do without but overall one hell of a story, several amazing songs, and that water is gorgeous.

love it so much! baby moana is such a cutie

Because I have to do it, here's my daughter's theatre program (public school!) at work doing bits of Moana:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uee08PkdX5E

They killed it, but their Maui in particular was great.

That's awesome.

You should send this to Opetaia Foa'i. The language for most of the PI songs is sung in Tokelauan which wiki says there are only 4,260 speakers globally, he would get a kick that people are celebrating his language/culture.

i've been looking for a place to post this animated short... this must be the place

it's "based on the long-hidden history of four healing stones on Waikiki Beach placed there as a tribute to four legendary mahu who first brought the healing arts to Hawaii." insightful into Hawaiian concepts of gender and healing, beautifully rendered.

https://www.kapaemahu.com/

Wow... I'm an ignorant tourist who has passed by those stones many times without paying my respects. Will rectify that on my next visit. Thank you for posting davey.

you bet!

i'm a longtime resident and i didn't know the story either

I think it's currently on Criterion Channel, too, which is cool.

Man, Moana is great and still looks amazing.

Apparently they just surprised announced a sequel, supposedly out November, reportedly repurposed from a TV project? Sounds like a hail Mary/Moana move.