Speaker 1: In twenty sixteen, audiences were captivated by the animated story
Speaker 1: of an island girl who saves her village by teaming
Speaker 1: up with the demi god Maui to stave off the
Speaker 1: impending blight. It was followed up by an adventure with
Speaker 1: similar stakes in twenty twenty four, which made over one
Speaker 1: billion dollars. Now in twenty twenty six Disney releases a
Speaker 1: live action version of the same story from twenty sixteen.
Speaker 1: It's Moana. I'm Ronald Young Junior, and I'm leaving the theater. Alright,
Speaker 1: This is Ronald and I am leaving the theater after
Speaker 1: seeing Moanna. Moana written by Jared Bush and Dana Ledue Miller,
Speaker 1: directed by Thomas Kale, starring Catherine Laka Ayah, Dwayne the Rock, Johnson,
Speaker 1: rena On, John Towey, Frankie Adams, and Jermaine Clement and
Speaker 1: as usual, for complete listing of the cast and crew,
Speaker 1: you can go to the link in our show notes.
Speaker 1: It is just me Today. Moana is the live action
Speaker 1: remake of twenty sixteen's Moana, made by Disney, who is
Speaker 1: continuing their streak of remaking all of their animated classics
Speaker 1: into live action films, despite this one only being made
Speaker 1: a very short ten years ago. And when you think
Speaker 1: about the fact that Mohana is only ten years old,
Speaker 1: we've already seen Moana two. They're working on Moana three.
Speaker 1: This movie is likely to make a billion dollars. I mean,
Speaker 1: it's gonna make a lot of money. I don't know
Speaker 1: if it'll be a billion dollars, but it's gonna make
Speaker 1: a lot of money. That's why they keep making them.
Speaker 1: That's why they keep remaking them and retooling them and
Speaker 1: making sequels because people go to see them. I don't
Speaker 1: even think that they go with the mindset of oh, no,
Speaker 1: is this a continuation of the Toy Story episode? I
Speaker 1: think it might be. Oh, if you have not listened
Speaker 1: to Toy Story five, that's a good part one of the
Speaker 1: kind of I don't know if it's going to be
Speaker 1: a rant, but just long observation. I will say we'll
Speaker 1: call it a pointed observation that I'm making about Hollywood.
Speaker 1: This is another movie that makes it hard to be
Speaker 1: a critic because if you go back to listen to
Speaker 1: How to Train Your Dragon, which was the live action
Speaker 1: remake that came out last year, maybe last year, and
Speaker 1: last year it made a lot of money. I don't
Speaker 1: remember what the numbers were, I'll have to look it up,
Speaker 1: but it made a lot of money. And all it
Speaker 1: was was a beat for beat remake of How to
Speaker 1: Train Your Dragon. So you have How to Train Your Dragon,
Speaker 1: and then you have How to Train Your Dragon the
Speaker 1: Live Action remake, So you have Moana, and then you
Speaker 1: have Moana the Live Action Remake, which is a beat
Speaker 1: for beat remake of the original film. So because it's
Speaker 1: a beat for beat remake of the original film, everyone
Speaker 1: that saw Moana in twenty sixteen and loved it or
Speaker 1: grew up on Moana. So let's say that those kids
Speaker 1: saw it when they were six and they're now sixteen,
Speaker 1: are they gonna go see Moana the Live Action Remake?
Speaker 1: Maybe maybe they grew up with a different relationship with
Speaker 1: the Rock as a result, and they want to see
Speaker 1: him as Maui in this film. So if you've seen
Speaker 1: Moana the original animated film, you've also seen Moana the
Speaker 1: Live Action remake already, you just haven't seen the Rock
Speaker 1: as Maui. And that's to me, the key difference between
Speaker 1: what they are doing with these live action remakes is
Speaker 1: that the live action remakes often are still animated. And
Speaker 1: when I say that, I look to something like The
Speaker 1: Lion King, a movie that is worse with live action
Speaker 1: recreation because the lions all of a sudden have no emotions.
Speaker 1: They're just lions, so they can't do all of the
Speaker 1: face shoal expressions that the animated lions are doing. And
Speaker 1: so when I watch Moana and I see the chicken,
Speaker 1: which I believe his name is Hey, Hey, or something
Speaker 1: along those lines, and the chicken is live action animated
Speaker 1: to look like the animated chicken it is, now I
Speaker 1: have the reverse complaint, which is to say, if this
Speaker 1: is supposed to be the live action remake, why wouldn't
Speaker 1: it just be a normal chicken? But you've essentially kind
Speaker 1: of Sonic the Hedgehog the Chicken, meaning that there was
Speaker 1: an original version of Sonic the Hedgehog that came out.
Speaker 1: Everyone was horrified, so they made it more animated looking,
Speaker 1: and everyone loved Sonic the Hedgehog again, which makes sense
Speaker 1: because this is an animated character from a different dimension. Anyway,
Speaker 1: this is just a chicken, and when you animated chicken,
Speaker 1: it could be dope be looking. You go to the
Speaker 1: live action remake of Bulan and the fact that there
Speaker 1: is no Oh Man, I'm gonna forget the dragon's name.
Speaker 1: I want to say Mushu. It's either she Fu or Mousho.
Speaker 1: And I'm guessing, so please don't write me angry emails.
Speaker 1: I'm looking it up now, I'm looking looking it up.
Speaker 1: Here's the cast at Moushu. Man, I see, I'll close. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and all of y'all came with the attitude all of that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: whatever it was. Mushoe, Mushoe's not in the live action
Speaker 1: remake of Mulan. And for me, if you watch Mulan,
Speaker 1: Eddie Murphy is very important to this film, very very important.
Speaker 1: So all of a sudden, we don't have this spirit
Speaker 1: guide anymore. And he's very funny in it. So the
Speaker 1: chicken is in Moana, but it's an animated chicken against
Speaker 1: all of these live action shots. The ocean is anthropomorphized
Speaker 1: in this live action movie, which there's a way that
Speaker 1: that works better with animation because of the flexibility and
Speaker 1: freedom that you have with animation. And granted again, this
Speaker 1: is and I know this is going to be confusing
Speaker 1: for people who are like but Ronald, isn't it animated?
Speaker 1: In the live action film, yes, but it's it's meant
Speaker 1: to be photo realistic. It's meant to look real. So
Speaker 1: that's different from the traditional sense of an animated film,
Speaker 1: even in the new style of animation that Mohana was
Speaker 1: made in twenty sixteen, as opposed to the style of
Speaker 1: animation that Mulan was made in when it originally came out.
Speaker 1: So I've said all that, let me just talk a
Speaker 1: little bit about the movie and I'll close it out.
Speaker 1: The movie's fine. I was really really touched by the
Speaker 1: first thirty to forty minutes of the film, when they
Speaker 1: are in the village on their island. I almost cried
Speaker 1: with a couple of scenes that happened. But when Mohana
Speaker 1: leaves the island and is with Maui, as soon as
Speaker 1: the Rock shows up, I'm less into the film, just less.
Speaker 1: So it was just it was fine, And I think
Speaker 1: this is where the animated portion worked better because I
Speaker 1: believed in Maui as a character with the Rock's voice.
Speaker 1: I do not believe in Maui as a character with
Speaker 1: the Rock's face. The rock and his face behind the hair.
Speaker 1: It just doesn't work for me. And if you listen
Speaker 1: to this before you see it, I will ruin it
Speaker 1: for you because he executes the role well if you
Speaker 1: close your eyes and just listen to what he's saying.
Speaker 1: But if you're watching him, I don't think the Rock
Speaker 1: sells comedy that well when he is the source of
Speaker 1: the comedy. If he is interacting with someone who is
Speaker 1: being funny, throw him in a movie with Kevin Hart, hilarious.
Speaker 1: Jumanji's coming out later this year. It's gonna be great.
Speaker 1: He's in it. He's going to be funny in that film.
Speaker 1: Most of the hilarity that we get from the Rock
Speaker 1: unless it's at the WWE where he's intentionally being over
Speaker 1: the top and very very silly in a way that
Speaker 1: is in a sport that is very very silly that
Speaker 1: you can enjoy. I just don't know if I'm getting
Speaker 1: him as truly comedic in this performance. There were parts
Speaker 1: that I laughed, and there are parts that he said
Speaker 1: stuff and I laughed, But overall I would just come
Speaker 1: back to looking at his face in that lace front
Speaker 1: and it just wasn't working for me. Now, on the
Speaker 1: other hand, Catherine Lakaaya, I thought she was fine. I
Speaker 1: don't necessarily think that she stood out. There were stuff
Speaker 1: she did in the first thirty forty minutes I thought
Speaker 1: was really good. As the movie continued, I just felt
Speaker 1: like she was doing her job. She didn't necessarily do
Speaker 1: anything that stood out completely. I hope she has other
Speaker 1: opportunities and is able to have a bright career because
Speaker 1: she deserves it, and I think she's a fine actress.
Speaker 1: But there was just nothing about this that stood out
Speaker 1: to me. But it's hard to make a role like
Speaker 1: this very unique when it's something that we're acquainted with
Speaker 1: from ten years ago just came out. So yeah, I mean,
Speaker 1: it's it's a Disney movie. It's fine, take your kids.
Speaker 1: If you liked the first Mowana, you will probably like
Speaker 1: this one too. And with all of that being said,
Speaker 1: I think it's probably around a three point two five
Speaker 1: three point twenty five. It's somewhere between a three point
Speaker 1: twenty five and a three point seventy five. When I
Speaker 1: walked out of the theater, I thought three point seventy
Speaker 1: five because I thought, I think I liked that better
Speaker 1: than I liked Toy Story, but not by much. Because
Speaker 1: I gave Toy Story a three point five. I think, uh,
Speaker 1: but I don't think I liked it more than Toy Story.
Speaker 1: But then again, I think these two things are bleeding
Speaker 1: together because there are two films that I just I
Speaker 1: don't know how I feel about their existence, and they
Speaker 1: did not blow me out of the water enough to
Speaker 1: justify their existence. So I think I'm comfortable giving Mowana
Speaker 1: a three point twenty five and with that leaving the
Speaker 1: theater is a production of Oh It's Big Ron Studios.
Speaker 1: I mixed this episode, and per usual, I'm working very hard.
Speaker 1: I've been spending much of the last week and a
Speaker 1: half put it together. A recording trip for the new
Speaker 1: podcast that I'm recording right now and we'll release pretty soon.
Speaker 1: There'll be announcements about that. They will come out clearly
Speaker 1: in Patreon. That's the only place that you will get
Speaker 1: the full story. Right now, you're getting breadcrumbed, but if
Speaker 1: you go to Patreon, you will get the full story
Speaker 1: the minute that I'm ready to reveal all of it.
Speaker 1: I'm very excited. This week I put out Mowana. This
Speaker 1: episode will come out while I'm on a plane headed
Speaker 1: to Los Angeles, and on the day that this episode
Speaker 1: comes out, in the evening, I will be watching The
Speaker 1: Odyssey and that episode will come out a week from
Speaker 1: this episode coming out, which is all a Monday, if
Speaker 1: you listen to on a Monday. I'm saying that to
Speaker 1: say that I'm gonna have to do that editing while
Speaker 1: I'm on the road. That's a lot of work, and
Speaker 1: that's a lot of planning ahead. This is a labor
Speaker 1: of love, but it's still labor. If that means something
Speaker 1: to you, go to patreon dot com slash oh It's
Speaker 1: Big Ron, or go to the link in our show notes.
Speaker 1: Show art from Heather Wilder. Theme music by the mysterious
Speaker 1: Breakmasters Cylinder. For more information about Moana, go to the
Speaker 1: link in our show notes. You can follow me on Instagram,
Speaker 1: blue Sky, TikTok, threads, or letterboxed at ohiz Big Ron.
Speaker 1: That's at O H I T S B I g
Speaker 1: R O N. You can find out more about this
Speaker 1: show and other oh It's Big Ron Studio shows by
Speaker 1: following us on Instagram at O its Big Ron Studios.
Speaker 1: Leaving the theater will be back soon. Thanks for listening.
Speaker 1: I'm ronel Young JUNR and I'm Moushoe man. I see
Speaker 1: I was close. Yeah,