Moana

[Dacey]

This could be seen as "old news" since I think news on this movie leaked much earlier than Disney intended. But now it's officially happening.

http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=124209

Seems to more or less being following that unofficial "pattern" I brought up for the studio earlier (fairy tale, "boys" action comedy, fairy tale, etc.). In any case, I'm hoping this continues Disney's winning streak (which at least at the moment it looks like Big Hero 6 won't break).

BTW, am I wrong when I say that Disney has no animated movie set for 2015 because they have two Pixar films that year?

[EricJ]

M&C are usually the best directors at the studio when it comes to creating memorable male characters (Aladdin, Hercules, Prince Eric, Jim Hawkins)--
Fortunately, Moana's not a princess, so they don't have to give in to studio pressure and make Maui a comically irredeemable jerk just to let the young girls in the audience know she probably shouldn't marry him. (Like they did with Naveen. )

Princess & the Frog still had too much Eisner-era "No, really, we HATE princesses, honestly!" baggage dating back from its early storyboards that screwed around with M&C's attempt to tell a good character story, but with this being their first one of the Lasseter era, should be interesting.
Unless they put Jennifer Lee on the script, and Maui still strategically ends up as a male-bashed jerk.

[Dan]

Disney must've been impressed with the Bambi trailer to cast Rock in the male lead.

[Dacey]

Technically, he was probably actually "cast" quite some time ago. The "news" that he would be involved got leaked a while back.

[Dan]

Thus the laughter at the end of the post.

[Dan]

Snippets from the D23 presentation Disney has allowed to be released.

[Dacey]

Very brief footage revealed on Disney Channel...

[Dan]

I was hoping they'd at least give us a sound bit from the Maui introduction scene that we saw at D23. Hopefully when the trailer is ready (probably at the Zootopia release) they'll show off more of the beauty we got to see.

[Dan]

Hey, what do you know, the teaser showed the fun Maui scene from D23.

[EricJ]

To wit:

(Anyone else getting a Hercules vibe from Maui's "living" tattoos?)
And with Musker & Clements, it's also feeling like that "do-over" for Tiana and Naveen, and what if they really did have a story that fit the location universe?

[Bill1978]

Thank you Eric, I was trying to work out what the tattoo animated sequence reminded me of. Definitely very Hercules urn in vibe. Am I the only one though that when they see hand drawn animation in a computer animated film, wishes the whole movie was done in the 'traditional' style?

I always think I expect too much from the first tease of a new Disney animated film. Once again I am feeling a bit meh about this first viewing. There appears to be some beautiful animation, but without any hint of a basic storyline, I'm left feeling 'That's it?' No doubt this will change with further footage releases.

I know the song used is to help set the Pacific Islander vibe, but I am hoping that the songs are more 'Broadway-esque' that what we here in the trailer. And since the composer just won his second Tony, I kinda have high hopes for the songs. I would like them to be more orchestral than the ones in Frozen though.

[Dacey]

Ugh. Just...ugh.

https://www.yahoo.com/style/critics-are ... 10998.html

There's enough actual fat shaming going on in the world (read some internet comments on the new Ghostbusters if you want proof) without people getting "upset" about something that isn't doing it at all.

[EricJ]

Uh...Most islanders ARE fat. Primitive societies considered fat more attractive, since it meant you came from a tribe or island with a greater bounty, and weren't in any danger of starvation.
(And it's hard to tell whether Maui is supposed to be Hawaiian or NZ Maori, but it's pretty well covered either way.)

And if it was the girl, then we could conceivably have some actual basis for attention-paranoid "shaming", but if it's the comedy-relief demigod, he's not allowed to be physically funny? That's just....weird or desperate, take your pick. That's like accusing Phil from Hercules of being a negative portrayal of short people.
It's the sort of complaint you get RIGHT after the trailer hits by people who don't know what the movie's about--Like the Twitter who went on a crusade that Inside Out was "shaming" fat people because Sadness was short and round, and Joy was slim and happy, and openly confessed she'd never seen the movie and was just guessing, but still!

[Randall]

Just silly. The character looks powerful to me, not fat.

And, isn't "fast shaming" about making people feel guilty for being fat? Having a heroic figure being fat doesn't sound like shaming to me at all.

And he's not fat.

[Ben]

He's not fat, he's big boned!

Seriously, that's one well-built guy. And, voiced by Johnson, he must have been okay with it or he'd have been pretty vocal and not so out there vocally supporting the film, right?

Just another dumb way for people to find something to do. If Moana herself was super-slim (she looks like a good heathy young woman to me) they would then complain this was an attempt to turn fuller-figure girls into stick-insect stereotypes rather than celebrating what real people look like.

And both these characters look like real people!