“Moana” is Disney’s latest “princess” film, and while we won’t have another "Frozen" for a while, we might have another "Tangled" on our hands in terms of popularity and quality. It was full of fantastic visuals, and so many aspects in vivid details you’d need to see the film more than once to catch everything. I can’t remember ever seeing an animated sky with so many stars, and Disney probably hired a team to create every grain of sand individually. Not to mention the animation of the ocean, and the beauty of the islands.

One thing that definitely made “Moana,” “Moana” was the music. I am in love with the talented Auli'i Cravalho’s voice and along with everyone else, highly impressed by how young she is. Lin-Manuel Miranda as the primary songwriter for the film led to some glorious moments of a "Hamilton" style peeking through. These songs were all hits and no misses.

Also, for any fans of the Flight of the Conchords I’d like for you to know that Jemaine Clement plays this fantastic crab monster Tamatoa and… well shines in the song “Shiny.”

Part of me wishes Tamatoa had more screen time, but really the brevity was part of the effectiveness of this character.

However, something felt missing from the beginning of the film and the realization hit me; It took a long time for the audience to know Moana’s personality. I mean she definitely had a unique one once we got there, but I felt like I didn’t even really know her during her “I want song.” (As amazing as that song was.) There are glimpses, but I think Moana isn’t really seen until she’s on her oceanic journey. It sounds symbolic, but really I think it was because too many story elements were fit into the movie’s beginning.

Some of the character development seemed a bit forced, or at least rushed, particularly the back story of Maui. This likely won’t be an issue to younger viewers who haven’t seen as many movies to compare troupes to.

Lastly I’d like to point out that this film had to so much GIRL POWER. Moana could of course be called a “strong female lead," but it wasn’t just that she did amazing things. It’s the fact that things were difficult and she had to struggle and learn for a while but she did them anyway and got better.

Also Moana is one of the most body-realistic Disney heroines we’ve seen so far.

It’s not that she would have had less girl power with a love interest, but the story was full and complete without one. Disney could have very easy tweaked the character of Maui until he was a sort of Disney prince, but instead we get this great mentor-student relationship. Their friendship, was one of my favorite aspects of the film. It developed beautifully and organically. That, along with a few heartstring tugs, made “Moana” a great film emotion-wise.