In short, Walt Disney Animation Studios is on an almost-unparalleld run of continued success for it at the moment. And there is no way that Moana will derail that. But whilst you can’t help but draw a few The Little Mermaid (and maybe even Pocahontas) parallels watching Moana, the truth is that they’ve ventured off in a different direction again. Their focus is on a film where only two characters are on screen for a surprising amount of time. Furthermore, it’s an apparent Disney princess story that barely mutters the word, instead introducing the title character as an explorer, one who’s not sidetracked by a shoehorned-in love interest. In fact, there’s no love interest at all. It feels more radical than it really should be. For this is Moana, the daughter of the chief on the small island of Motunui. Motunui is struggling, though. Food supplies are in decline, but she and the rest of the island’s inhabitants are forbidden to go beyond the dangerous reef by Moana’s father, chief Tui. It’s a ruling that’s broken fairly quickly, of course, and this sets Moana on her path to confronting egotistical demi-god, Maui. But when Moana and Maui come together, Moana the movie really soars. The voice pairing of Auli’i Cravalho and Dwayne Johnson proves inspired, and their adventure is by turns funny, a bit scary, and huge fun to watch. Some little bits are overegged: the physical comedy of Heihei the dimwit chicken works at first, but as the film progresses, the gag wears thin, and Heihei feels out of place. Furthermore, as visually striking – and scary – as the ultimate villain of the film proves to be at first, for some time it’s notably the least interesting character in the movie. Not that Moana as a movie needs such a foe to push against, it’s just surprising that – from Professor Rattigan and Ursula through to Doctor Facilier – villains have been a strongpoint in Musker and Clements’ work. What Disney is doing with these films certainly shouldn’t be taken for granted, and I do wonder if the seeming ease at which they come along, around once a year, is blinding us to just what a period in the company’s animation life this is. In days of old, the studio would have placed the moral of the story in the foreground, and still delivered a quality film. Now, though – even though perhaps the narrative is a little straight here – we get a film like Moana, rich in subtext, detail, and things to quietly say to an audience that’ll barely be able to take their eyes off the screen. In an era where many of its rivals churn out 90 minute exercises in keeping the kids quiet, Moana is but the latest example of a different way: a film with plenty to it, exquisite music, rousing moments, and a spell that makes you want to go straight in and watch it again once the post-credits sequence is over. Its only real rival for the best mainstream animated movie in the last 12 months is Disney’s Zootropolis (although Kubo And The Two Strings is visible in its rear view). And that’s, rightfully, quite telling. Bottom line? Yes. Moana is in UK cinemas from December 2nd.