Moana

[jazzflower92]

Dang! All of the negativity here. But, you guys do have great points. The giant crab and the coconut pirates are definitely from John Lasseter and his power. Musker and Clements wouldn't write these characters-or at least take it more seriously. I do worry about these two characters because they sound phoned in as if they're trying to be hip and cool. Especially the crab who sounds extremely pointless as the lava goddess (who is NOT announced for some reason) could be the one who has the fishing hook to make the story more appealing and serious. But, hey: That's not appealing to tweens and 5 year olds. I feel like that this movie might be excellent, but Lasseter is stripping it away from its true potential.

I don't see how the crab is trying to be hip or cool, unless he start doing some cringeworthy slang. Also why assume it was Lasseter who came up with the ideas, just because you are not on board with it.

[Disney's Divinity]

Presenting...the coconut pirates.

A promo image for the Trick 'r Treat sequel.

[D82]

I think the change is probably for the better, because before he seemed too similar to Sebastian from The Little Mermaid in the sense that he was also tasked by King Triton to keep an eye on Ariel.

Both ideas were bad, in my opinion. They should have just scrapped the character entirely. Hei Hei already comes across as annoying, stupid, and useless as a character.

I admit the character doesn't look too interesting or useful, but maybe his personality can lead to funny situations in the film.

Tbh, I still think Lasseter told them to re-create TLM in as many ways as possible. Ocean setting, girl coming of age story, father who bans his daughter from the landsea, etc., only trashed through the Lasseter meatgrinder (chase scene, buddy roadtrip). You even get the cut grandmother from TLM tale.

I noticed those similarities too. The buddy road trip, for example, is most likely Lasseter's idea, but the similarities to The Little Mermaid can perfectly come (consciously or unconsciously) from the directors themselves.

Presenting...the coconut pirates.

A promo image for the Trick 'r Treat sequel.

I suppose that unlike both of you I must be too optimistic about the film, but I actually like their designs too. They look comical to me because they try to look fierce, but are cute at the same time. And John Musker and Ron Clements love comedy and adventure, as proved by films like Aladdin or Hercules, so I think it's not strange that there are characters like the Kakamora or the giant crab in this film.


Here are the same character images in higher resolution. The descriptions are also different and give some more details: http://www.slashfilm.com/disneys-moana-characters/

[disneyprincess11]

I don't see how the crab is trying to be hip or cool, unless he start doing some cringeworthy slang. Also why assume it was Lasseter who came up with the ideas, just because you are not on board with it.

It seems very childish, compared to their earlier works (minus Hercules). We shall see in November

[estefan]

How are all of you getting advanced copies of this movie? Can I get a copy, too?

I feel there's the usual song and dance before every Disney animated film on here. Still images and marketing material is nitpicked to death and people are worried about the final product and think it won't be any good. Then the movie comes out and is well liked or even loved. This all feels like a repeat of the reaction to Zootopia...and Big Hero 6...and Frozen...and Wreck-It Ralph prior to release. We should really have more trust in these filmmakers and maybe wait until seeing the entire film before criticising the characters (don't think I don't remember the hate Olaf got just from his design and casting announcement), potential cliches and animation.

But then again, I'm weird. I need to see the entire film in context and put together in its final form before I'm able to criticise it and say what I feel doesn't work. I certainly can't tell if a sidekick is going to be annoying when I haven't even heard one word of dialogue.

[D82]

Stitchkingdom.com has extended descriptions of the characters:

http://www.stitchkingdom.com/disney-moa ... ses-87198/

[DisneyEra]

SHE AIN'T NO PRINCESS

[Disney's Divinity]

I feel there's the usual song and dance before every Disney animated film on here. Still images and marketing material is nitpicked to death and people are worried about the final product and think it won't be any good. Then the movie comes out and is well liked or even loved.

Except I'm not giving the opinion of everyone or trying to predict audience reaction; I'm only giving my opinion on what I see. Nearly every time I haven't liked what's come out prior to the release, I didn't like the film once I saw it either, so what's your point?* Individual posts speak for individual opinions, they aren't generalizations about what everyone thinks. If you want to know, I'm sure this film will do well financially, just like Big Hero 6, Tangled, and all the other trash I hated, but probably not as big as Zootopia did earlier this year.

As for criticizing a film that hasn't come out, that argument is nonsensical. They release images and trailers and advertisements for the express purpose of getting a reaction, hopefully positive.

*The only exception was Frozen. TP&TF I expected to like. The things I didn't like going into it, I didn't like after either (Randy Newman, the title/logo change).

[D82]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LS_VEqau9Ck[/youtube]

[DisneyFan09]

Cute video. And Pua is adorable

[Tristy]

SHE AIN'T NO PRINCESS

Ooh boy. The old "*insert name here* isn't your typical Disney Princess" thing.

Yes Disney. We get it. Your princesses have gone beyond Snow White. Please stop rubbing it in.

[DisneyEra]

SHE AIN'T NO PRINCESS

Ooh boy. The old "*insert name here* isn't your typical Disney Princess" thing.

Yes Disney. We get it. Your princesses have gone beyond Snow White. Please stop rubbing it in.

This kind of marketing is getting quite tiresome. It's like the executives at WDAS won't change if it's bottom line isn't effect. So as long as these modern princess features makes $100s of millions worldwide & sells tons of merch, this will just continue......

From the USA Today article:
Auli‘i Cravalho hopes that fans of her adventurous teen in the animated Moana will call her a heroine rather than a Disney princess

[Lady Cluck]

I feel there's the usual song and dance before every Disney animated film on here. Still images and marketing material is nitpicked to death and people are worried about the final product and think it won't be any good. Then the movie comes out and is well liked or even loved.

The vendetta against John Lasseter will never end. I certainly have some issues with him too but it's funny watching people repeat the same mantra over and over rooting for his downfall. He does have a lot of influence, but a significant amount of other talent goes in to these films so I don't care as much as others. He's simply not capable or talented enough to control everything, and I've liked most of the Disney output in recent years, especially compared to a lot of the garbage from the previous decade. I've also hated almost every marketing campaign so I'm used to that now as well.

With that said, I'm fine with the very limited amount of materials for the film so far, and I don't agree with any of it being an ominous warning sign of how bad it's going to be The animation looks nice and I'm sure the characters will come to life in motion and in the context of the story. I even think the crab will probably end up being funny as a minor antagonist, but I happen to like Jemaine Clement who is certainly capable of delivering a fun vocal performance.

Still probably won't get that excited for the film until I hear some of Lin-Manuel's music for it though.

[Sotiris]

Beautiful Moana sketches by Jin Kim. Jin's work always makes me miss 2D animation.


Source: https://www.instagram.com/p/BIX93hTgEh-/


Source: https://twitter.com/mamanoticias/status ... 1175767041


Moana painting shown at D23 Expo by Ryan Lang.


Source: https://www.instagram.com/p/BIYOXrlAB7S/


Moana playing with the ocean by Annette Marnat.


Source: https://twitter.com/RamasScreen/status/ ... 0452865024


Color script panels.


Source: https://twitter.com/briantong/status/758361855819599874


Storyboards.


Source: https://twitter.com/TikiAmbassador/stat ... 2472751104


Mural by Bill Schwab.


Source: https://twitter.com/briantong/status/758361855819599874


Another mural by Fawn Veerasunthorn.


Source: https://twitter.com/MadDadLifestyle/sta ... 4111875072

[DisneyEra]

I knew this image of Moana looked familiar, from a image I found last February. Thanks Sotiris

[Disney's Divinity]

The Moana drawings are really cute. The stuff with the ocean... I have a feeling there might be some people--mostly those who don't like Frozen--who will criticize this for trying to be like that film.

[D82]

Great find, Sotiris! Nice concept arts and images. Moana is getting a lot of promotion lately, don't you think?

By the way, I don't remember having heard the following two details about the story before (in bold):

Moana’s grandmother, Tala (Rachel House, Whale Rider), is a historian who is in tune with her people. She shares Moana’s love of the ocean and tells her stories of the demi-god Maui.

Maui (Dwayne Johnson, Furious 7, Central Intelligence) is so powerful, he “pulls islands out of the sea” with his magical fishhook. On one of his adventures, however, trickster Maui stole the ‘heart of Te Fiki,’ lost his magical fishhook, and became shipwrecked on an island. (‘Te Fiki’ is a best-guess spelling).

Without the heart of ‘Te Fiki,’ a darkness spread across the seas. This darkness is “taking away our fish” and way of life, explains Grandmother Tala.

Source: http://www.laughingplace.com/w/articles ... ts-part-1/

[DisneyEra]

Moana's reaction when you call her a Disney Princess

[DisneyFan09]

Pardon my juvenile remark, but here it goes; Lol!

[The_Iceflash]

I think some people need to get over their allergy/phobia/irrational hatred of comedic side kicks. If someone is going to let that pull a film down that's your problem and not the film's. We got to stop acting like they're inherently a bad thing.