Aladdin (1992)

Director: Ron Clements, John Musker

Cast: Robin Williams, Scott Weinger, Linda Larkin, Gilbert Gottfried

Have I Seen it Before: As a child of the 90s, even if I hadn’t specifically sat down with the intention of watching it at any point, I would have absorbed all of its 90 minutes through sheer osmosis over the years.

Did I Like It: Coming off the heels of The Little Mermaid (1989), the animated Disney renaissance was in full swing by the time Robin Williams entered the recording studio. I wonder if this would have ultimately been a competent if unremarkable music if the film didn’t completely shift tones about halfway through and becomes another stand-up special for Williams. The plot zips through its obligatory Disney tropes to let Williams just bubble forth with words that may not fit in the film but are singular to its success.

How Disney could have soured its relationship with Williams and not made the Genie the new crown jewel of its empire in the 90s is an early example of the mismanagement that became the legacy of Michael Eisner’s tenure with the company. I’d say that the decision to produce a live-action remake with Will Smith in the role of the genie was a sign that the company has lost its mind now, but it made a boatload of money, so what do I know?

The filmmakers made an attempt to use the at that point still embryonic CGI technology to assist in some of the fluid motion in certain shots. At the time, they must have seemed new and exciting, but with nearly thirty years and approaching infinite number of exclusively CGI films since, the seams show, and it ages poorly. It’s a nitpicky thing to fixate on, sure, but when a film captures that old Disney magic, it’s hard to notice anything that doesn’t particularly work.

Now if they did go ahead and remake the film, one wonders if the magic would hold up. One wonders.

Moana (2016)

Director: Ron Clements, John Musker

Cast: Auli’I Cravalho, Dwayne Johnson, Rachel House, Temuera Morrison

Have I Seen It Before?: No.

Did I like it?: Yes.

After the acquisition of Pixar by Disney, and the pollination of creative executives into Disney Animation, the Mouse House has lifted itself out of its slump and produced insanely watchable movies, whereas before they were content to churn out direct-to-video sequels and make just enough money to make sure the shareholders stay happy.

Moana happily fits in this Disney renaissance. The script is perfectly crafted, to the point where it could legitimately be used in examples for books about writing screenplays. The setting is new and interesting. I cannot think of any film that immerses itself in Polynesian culture and mythology like we see here. The cast is both filled and headlined with performers representative of the cultures depicted.

And yet, something about the movie bothers me. It feels like such a story should not only include representation in front of the camera, but also behind. This story should have come out of the cultural marrow of someone from that culture. Pixar isn’t necessarily blind to this, as their recent short Bao (2018) brilliantly showed. Am I to truly believe the three people best qualified to both write and direct the tale of Maui (Johnson) and Moana (Cravalho) are three white guys from Burbank who had sufficient seniority in the Walt Disney Corporation.

By all indications, the writing of the film went through several hands before it reached its final version, credited to Disney in-house writer Jared Bush. At one point, even Taika Waititi took a pass at it that was apparently largely abandoned. It’s heartening that the film credited a large team of cultural advisors, but one of them didn’t have a burning story to tell on their own? It’s a fine film. The music keeps occasionally running its way through my head, even as I type this a few days after first watching the film.

I just can’t help think that there was an even better film somewhere in there, and the corporate realities of modern film-making robbed us of something that could have been not just special, but transcendent.

Why in the hell wouldn’t they go with a script originally written by Taika Waititi? Why?