“You’re Welcome.”

November 28, 2016 12:43 PM

Full clip of Dwayne Johnson’s big song from the Disney movie Moana, penned by Lin-Manuel Miranda, which chronicles the achievements of Hawaiian demi-god Maui in riduculously cheery manner.
posted by Artw (72 comments total)

Link to Fanfare discussion of the movie.

SHINY!
posted by leotrotsky at 1:00 PM on November 28, 2016 [3 favorites]

I like this, but We Know the Way gave me goose bumps up and down my arms.
posted by 80 Cats in a Dog Suit at 1:11 PM on November 28, 2016 [14 favorites]

Did your granny say listen to your heart
Be who you are on the inside
I need three words to tear her argument apart
Your granny lied!
I'd rather be...

SHINY!
posted by leotrotsky at 1:13 PM on November 28, 2016 [4 favorites]

The behind the scenes has a dancing Lin-Manuel Miranda among other great things.
posted by Foci for Analysis at 1:15 PM on November 28, 2016 [8 favorites]

This is good timing, because I need a new earworm. That OK Go song has been burrowing around my brain for the last few days and I need it to STOP.

Looking forward to seeing this. The animation is gorgeous.
posted by zardoz at 1:16 PM on November 28, 2016

This was a Very Good Disney Song.
posted by tobascodagama at 1:17 PM on November 28, 2016

This was the Standout Song for me (though I really liked all the songs).

I loved this movie as a whole. It hit exactly the right tone (mythic, but grounded in its characters), luscious art, a wonderful setting, and great ending. I went with my 5-yo daughter and asked her what she her favorite part of the movie was.

"EVERYTHING!"

I agree kid.
posted by Tevin at 1:19 PM on November 28, 2016 [4 favorites]

The animation in Moana is an enormous "ok, here's mine, show me yours" from the animators to other studios. The water and hair and foiliage are astounding, yes, but the ***SPOILER*** giant bejewelled singing David Bowie crab ***SPOILER*** is ridiculously renderfarm-explodey.

It's really good, is what I'm saying. Really really good.
posted by DangerIsMyMiddleName at 1:20 PM on November 28, 2016 [12 favorites]

Saw it with my kids over the weekend - if you have to see a kids' movie, it's good as they go. Some of the animation, especially in the 2nd half, is genuinely impressive.

And The Rock, if you were wondering, can carry a tune - he's a legit triple threat.
posted by ryanshepard at 1:20 PM on November 28, 2016 [5 favorites]

This also raises the solid possibility that The Rock will sing at the Oscars. Picture it.





Ah, made things better for while, yes?
posted by DangerIsMyMiddleName at 1:24 PM on November 28, 2016 [70 favorites]

"The uploader has not made this video available in your country"

Get yer illegal youtubers here. (it's a partial at least)
posted by bonehead at 1:28 PM on November 28, 2016 [1 favorite]

This also raises the solid possibility that The Rock will sing at the Oscars.

As well as raising the solid possibility that Lin-Manuel Miranda will attain his MacPEGOT before reaching 40.

Which I reallyreallyreallyreallyreallyreally want to see happen. He is just always so touchingly humble and grateful and excited and giddy and sweet about everything.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 1:28 PM on November 28, 2016 [25 favorites]

We Know the Way and How Far I'll Go are the real stand outs for me although I can hear a ton of Hamilton in each of them. I like the Rock's song and the Crab song is fun as well but it's pretty clear that the best song Oscar will go to one of the two primary songs.

It's a very good movie overall. It won't be stupidly successful like Frozen but it's very solid like a Brave or a Tangled. I'll have no problem watching it a dozen times when it gets out on streaming services.
posted by vuron at 1:29 PM on November 28, 2016 [3 favorites]

This also raises the solid possibility that The Rock will sing at the Oscars. Picture it.

FINALLY...
THE ROCK
HAS COME BACK
...TO THE DOLBY THEATRE!
posted by The Pluto Gangsta at 1:30 PM on November 28, 2016 [6 favorites]

I really disliked Shiny at first because I didn't know it was Clement and the familiarity + not knowing exactly who it was really irritated me. But listening to it again, yeah, it's a pretty good glam-crab monster power ballad.
posted by Tevin at 1:34 PM on November 28, 2016

I love We Know the Way, but it feels like it really ought to be much longer. I keep expecting another verse every time I listen to it.
posted by Sequence at 1:37 PM on November 28, 2016 [3 favorites]

Trust member and Tahitian cultural practitioner Hinano Murphy recalls visiting the studio in L.A., seeing the sketch and saying, “We have to put more hair on Maui’s head, because it’s very important. The mana is in the hair, the power of the demigod. It looked just like he was naked. For us, it was really important.”

Animators quickly got to work, piling on more and more hair. “Not enough!” Murphy recalls saying—until finally Maui had a full head of curls, inspired by Polynesian football players like Troy Polamalu.The whole Trust was “bursting laughing,” as Murphy puts it, they were so pleased with the results. Though there was some pushback (C.G.I. animation of hair is tricky, and some feared it would be “a technological burden to the whole movie”), John Musker says they immediately scrapped the original bald design they had been working with for a year.

posted by ChuraChura at 1:44 PM on November 28, 2016 [25 favorites]

The Rock is an American treasure, as is LMM.

So I guess what I'm saying is this should probably be the national anthem.
posted by Itaxpica at 1:50 PM on November 28, 2016 [6 favorites]

"oh, also I lassoed the Sun"
posted by ethansr at 1:50 PM on November 28, 2016 [2 favorites]

I like the Rock's song and the Crab song is fun as well but it's pretty clear that the best song Oscar will go to one of the two primary songs.

Agreed - I was curious about other Disney songs like that -- "Be My Guest," "Kiss the Girl," "Friend Like Me" -- none of those won the Academy award, but songs from their respective movies went on to win.
posted by gladly at 1:53 PM on November 28, 2016 [1 favorite]

Sooooo I fired up the soundtrack just to listen to this song again and got sucked into the whole thing. I'm not really a soundtrack person (Hamilton excepting) but it's a pretty good standalone if you need something on in the background.

The Jordan Fisher/LMM version of "You're Welcome" is pretty darn good too. Though I think the Rock does a better delivery with the "Sprouted a tree, now you got coconuts" line, which gets me every time for whatever reason.
posted by Tevin at 1:54 PM on November 28, 2016 [1 favorite]

We saw this yesterday. It's a terrific movie, a nice hybrid of classic musical Disney and modern 3D animation and inclusiveness.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 1:56 PM on November 28, 2016

Interesting, did they use the tattoos more than they might because of the difficulties of animating hair? Also, does that make long/big Princess hair equally challenging?
posted by alasdair at 2:12 PM on November 28, 2016

I love the moment in a behind-the-scenes trailer I saw in the theater this week (can't find it online) where the director says (paraphrasing) "When we were looking for someone to do the soundtrack, Miranda was still writing Hamilton and needed the work... [totally deadpan] I guess we just got lucky." I guess so!
posted by bgribble at 2:18 PM on November 28, 2016 [2 favorites]

Pretty sure they use the tattoos because they are fun highly visual element - there's certainly no avoidancevof the hair elsewhere in the movie.
posted by Artw at 2:21 PM on November 28, 2016 [2 favorites]

Also, does that make long/big Princess hair equally challenging?

So it's not so much long - long is easy. Curly hair is a huge amount of work for animators, the more voluminous the harder, since it requires lots of small animations to get right. Brave, for example, is notorious as an insane feat of computer graphic wizardry.
posted by Itaxpica at 2:25 PM on November 28, 2016 [6 favorites]

OK, I didn't realize there were more reasons to see this movie, but Jemaine Clement as glam Bowie crab? Glam. Bowie. Crab. I am PLOTZING.
posted by Orange Dinosaur Slide at 2:36 PM on November 28, 2016 [15 favorites]

Holy cow. I had no clue that his his biography was so... all over the place, or that his family is ridiculously prolific in the wrestling world.

I haven't seen Moana yet, but it also seems like his voice acting skills are surprisingly great.
posted by schmod at 2:38 PM on November 28, 2016 [2 favorites]

I remember footage of animators discussing the difficulty of Sully's hair from Monster's Inc and Violet's hair from The Incredibles. I didn't notice Maui's hair at all, which I guess is a testament to the animation.
posted by spikeleemajortomdickandharryconnickjrmints at 2:40 PM on November 28, 2016 [1 favorite]

Orange Dinosaur Slide: "but Jemaine Clement as glam Bowie crab"

*immediately starts looking up showtimes at the nearest theater...*
posted by schmod at 2:40 PM on November 28, 2016 [5 favorites]

So, no uncomfortably and disappointingly racist or sexist toys stinking up my extended family's Christmas this year?
posted by stanf at 2:46 PM on November 28, 2016

There is definitely a hint of Bowie to Jermaine's crab.
posted by Artw at 2:47 PM on November 28, 2016 [3 favorites]

So, no uncomfortably and disappointingly racist or sexist toys stinking up my extended family's Christmas this year?


You probably don't want to look up the Maui Halloween costume thing.
posted by Artw at 2:48 PM on November 28, 2016 [4 favorites]

Be My Guest

and so it was that I found out "See My Vest" is a parody of a specific song, rather than just general Broadway-ing.
posted by Jon Mitchell at 2:54 PM on November 28, 2016 [8 favorites]

Jermaine Clement's David Bowie impression just never gets old. Or indeed any more like David Bowie.
posted by running order squabble fest at 2:56 PM on November 28, 2016 [5 favorites]

Curly hair is a huge amount of work for animators, the more voluminous the harder, since it requires lots of small animations to get right.

As someone with curly hair, I am both unsurprised by the effort involved and really, really appreciative of how well they managed.
posted by Sequence at 2:59 PM on November 28, 2016

Can they just skip straight to filming a live-action version of this one right now?
posted by notquitemaryann at 3:30 PM on November 28, 2016

Can they just skip straight to filming a live-action version of this one right now?

The advantage there is that there would be no need for recasting.
posted by AlonzoMosleyFBI at 3:39 PM on November 28, 2016 [10 favorites]

I'm not sure that the Rock can still grow hair on his head but in general yeah they could pretty much use the existing cast (minus Clement as the Crab) in a live action version.

Honestly though I kind of like them sticking to the older properties for the live action adaptations.
posted by vuron at 4:01 PM on November 28, 2016

Sexiest Man Alive?

Yes, People, you are absolutely right this time.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 4:05 PM on November 28, 2016 [4 favorites]

Jermaine Clement is 95% of the reason I would see this film.

Of course, Brett MacKenzie is also the best part of *The Muppets* (never a more deserved Oscar).
posted by jb at 4:12 PM on November 28, 2016

I haven't seen Moana yet, so have no personal opinion, but I've been wondering how Disney did with depicting Hawaiian culture and religion. Goddess Hina: The Missing Heroine from Disneyʼs Moana is an interesting critique from an Polynesian culture expert. Partly for filling in the missing bits of religion, but also for her claim that omitting the goddess duality weakens the story.
posted by Nelson at 4:32 PM on November 28, 2016 [5 favorites]

Nelson, there was link upthread to an article on the group of experts that Disney brought in and the research they did. The answer seems to be "they worked their asses off to get it as right as possible", though of course it's not gonna be flawless (and Polynesia covers a wide enough swath that even if they nailed one specific culture or set of cultures there were inevitably gonna be others that they didn't quite get perfect)
posted by Itaxpica at 5:28 PM on November 28, 2016 [4 favorites]

I wanted to see this before (because hey -- it's a Lin-Manuel Miranda musical I can actually get tickets to), but the animation in this clip makes me want to see it RIGHT NOW.
posted by JustKeepSwimming at 5:33 PM on November 28, 2016

It was a very enjoyable movie, quite beautiful. Unfortunately the 3D action was a little too intense for our almost-4 year old, so we had to spend a fair chunk of the movie cuddling & comforting him. Think I might go see it again. I'm a total sucker for 3D.

My only complaint is that I wish they'd either use HFR or slow down some of the action. 3D things that are moving too fast for 24 FPS really take away from the 3D experience.
posted by lastobelus at 5:42 PM on November 28, 2016

I stuck around for the credits and recall seeing six or eight animators credited for hair animation.
posted by hhc5 at 5:54 PM on November 28, 2016 [2 favorites]

The day we can actually animate tattoos like that will be the day I get one. In the meantime, I can't even decide on a bumper sticker...

And yeah, hair. I can't believe most people don't know how hard this is.
posted by kleinsteradikaleminderheit at 6:03 PM on November 28, 2016

OK, I have stifled the pedantry as long as possible, but I can manage it no longer:

THERE IS NO "R" IN JEMAINE, PEOPLE.
posted by FelliniBlank at 6:54 PM on November 28, 2016 [15 favorites]

wow. because of their kiwi accents, I always heard his name as "Jermaine" - I interpolated the r, as I'm used to doing (1/2 my family are English).

Similarly, I have only recently found out that someone I've known for 10+ years has a name ending in -er. I'd only ever heard it said by English people, and they always pronounced it as if it ended in -a. He's German, and even he says it that way.

Lesson of the day: sometimes there is an r, sometime there is not - and if the speaker has a non-rhotic accent, I'll never know.
posted by jb at 8:35 PM on November 28, 2016 [2 favorites]

Yeah, the lava demon is pretty freaking scary for the very young crowd.
posted by Windopaene at 8:38 PM on November 28, 2016

Look, it's been an extremely hard couple of weeks. We all know how awful this year has been in general, and it's just been so much worse this month...

Watching this movie, though? I felt good. I needed it so much. It lifted me up.

I need to go see it again. I may just live in a movie theater for a while.
posted by meese at 8:50 PM on November 28, 2016 [4 favorites]

OK, everyone needs to watch the B-Roll. Here's why -

1) LMM directing both The Rock and one half of the Flight of the Conchords in the two best songs in the flick, which of course he wrote. Dwayne and Jemaine knock it out of the park. These songs weren't meant to be the showcase songs, but the power and presence and energy... wow! Shiny is a Disney Villain Anthem that stacks up against the best. LMM and Tamatoa!

2) A Samoan greeting a Hawaiian with a flower arrangement and a sincere and gracious "Aloha!"

4) There are two old white guys, one tall and thin, the other short and stout. In some instances they are wearing Hawaiian shirts, with authentic patterns, with pride. In others, the shirts are clearly from TJ Maxx, in horrible plaids and plant-prints, as we are who we are, and we want you to act and sing as comfortably as you can. I will call them Walt and Dizzy. They are there to coach excellent actors into brilliance, and they are humble and earnest while doing so.

¢) Moana's Dad and Mom and Grandma are super-star actors. These three are better in person than they were animated, and they were incredible as animations.
posted by Slap*Happy at 9:00 PM on November 28, 2016 [3 favorites]

I've read what Auli'i Cravalho says at the start of this clip before, about how to pronounce her first name. But the whole clip is fun for the sass with which she tells Dwane Johnson that he's also been mispronouncing her last name.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 9:10 PM on November 28, 2016 [4 favorites]

Nobody ever mentions "My Funny Friend And Me".

Sob
posted by fordiebianco at 1:05 AM on November 29, 2016

And it is from this that I learn her name is "Cravalho" and not "Carvalho". In my defence, "Carvalho" is an extremely common name in Hawaii, to the extent that I'm surprised that The Rock was tripping up on the "lho" and not the "crav"
posted by tobascodagama at 1:21 AM on November 29, 2016

Our next president. 💕
posted by Potomac Avenue at 5:20 AM on November 29, 2016

The animation style-mixing in "You're Welcome" is so great.

My spouse said "Where You Are" reminded him of the opening intro-to-the-neighborhood song from In The Heights -- and yeah, as Miranda said, "I'm not Usnavi; I'm Nina."

"How Far I'll Go" is such a canonical "I Want" song. And Miranda grew up loving The Little Mermaid so I think it's fun that, like Ariel's opposite, Moana is a landlubber who longs to explore the sea.

(More links in the FanFare discussion.)
posted by brainwane at 5:58 AM on November 29, 2016 [2 favorites]

THERE IS NO "R" IN JEMAINE, PEOPLE.

Okay, serious (well, not that serious) question for any New Zealanders or suchlike: Would Jemaine Clement, or the median New Zealander, pronounce "Jermaine" any different from "Jemaine"?
posted by Etrigan at 6:22 AM on November 29, 2016

Wow, yeah. The hair and water animation is pretty great.
posted by lucidium at 8:36 AM on November 29, 2016

Etrigan, I would say they are pronounced so similarly that no non-kiwi would hear the difference.

I am more and more excited about this movie with every new thing I see, hear, or read. Maui's consolidated cross-Pasifika mythology made me all tingly. He's a big deal in New Zealand: having fished up the North Island (using his grandmother's jawbone as the fishhook) and made his canoe into the South Island, plus the story of harnessing the sun are all quintessential school stories in Aotearoa. Also Tem Morrison, Jemaine, and Rachel House (who was most recently in Hunt for the Wilderpeople as the obsessive social worker. So good to see so many kiwis in a big international movie.
posted by tracicle at 8:43 AM on November 29, 2016 [2 favorites]

I understand that everyone is going nuts over Lin-Manuel Miranda's role in this, but can we please not erase Opetaia Foa'i? Foa'i is a Polynesian person of Tokelauan and Tuvaluan descent who grew up in Western Samoa. He and LMM and co-credited as songwriters for the entire score and he absolutely had a major hand in "We Know the Way," which is half in Tokelauan.
posted by charmcityblues at 10:09 AM on November 29, 2016 [16 favorites]

I'm impressed that they somehow managed to avoid the uncanny valley.
posted by schmod at 11:05 AM on November 29, 2016

I probably won't see this until it hits video, but I really do appreciate how much effort Disney has put into making it a work *with* Polynesian creators, not just a work ripping off Polynesian creators and culture.
posted by tavella at 11:07 AM on November 29, 2016 [2 favorites]

Can you smell hear what the Rock is cooking singing?
posted by nubs at 11:17 AM on November 29, 2016

Okay, serious (well, not that serious) question for any New Zealanders or suchlike: Would Jemaine Clement, or the median New Zealander, pronounce "Jermaine" any different from "Jemaine"?

No, not really. Jemaine Clement, Jermaine Jackson (even Germaine Greer) are all pretty much dzh'mein. I'd probably make slightly more of an effort to pronounce the first syllable of the word 'germane' as something vaguely recognisable, though, (if it ever came up, which it does surprisingly infrequently) which seems slightly inconsistent now that I think about it.

But tbh I'm slightly atypical as a Nu Zild speaker because I believe that vowels are things that exist. For example, I have occasionally been gently teased for insisting that 'beer' and 'bear' should be pronounced differently.
posted by Soulfather at 1:47 PM on November 29, 2016 [2 favorites]

For example, I have occasionally been gently teased for insisting that 'beer' and 'bear' should be pronounced differently.

a friend of mine was stuck in a Canada->US customs line behind some New Zealanders for much longer than was necessary due to translation difficulties around the "Beer spry" they apparently had in their bag, so I think it's a fight worth fighting.
posted by Jon Mitchell at 2:25 PM on November 29, 2016 [4 favorites]

That song is actually really good
posted by Doron0204 at 3:22 PM on November 30, 2016 [1 favorite]

I have legit not seen a Disney movie in the theater since the early/middle 90s (when my now-36-year-old sister was a little kid I could take), and I might actually have to do this one.
posted by epersonae at 9:26 AM on December 1, 2016

I went and saw it this morning with a friend - it was cathartic and such fun and really, really beautiful. But man, it sucked to leave Polynesia and emerge in grey, chilly Central Ohio.
posted by ChuraChura at 9:43 AM on December 1, 2016 [1 favorite]

I saw it this morning and now I can't stop hearing "We Know the Way" in my head.

It's been really interesting reading all these perspectives on how Polynesian culture/mythology is treated in this film. I originally wanted to watch it merely because I paddle outrigger canoes recreationally, and so have an extremely tangential connection to Polynesian culture. I will be the first to admit, though, that I treat it primarily as a sport and am still kind of ignorant of the cultural significance of the boats.I'm part of a club that gives its canoes Hawaiian names but gives commands in English to the crew. I learned last year that other clubs give the Hawaiian commands in order to avoid language barriers (!) I left the movie really wanting to read more about Polynesian mythology.

The Kakamora are a pretty transparent marketing gimmick (even if they do seem to be based in actual folklore) but I think they are SO CUTE even with their warpaint on.
posted by invokeuse at 10:31 PM on December 2, 2016

Another critique of Disney's cultural appropriation Don’t Swallow (or be Swallowed by) Disney’s 'Culturally Authenticated Moana'. It's a few weeks old and a bit scattered.
posted by Nelson at 7:06 AM on December 7, 2016 [1 favorite]

I'm kind of fascinated by Disney dubs and came across this article on the French (France) dub.

French Pacific Islanders took to social media to express their anger at the lack of inclusion by Disney France, arguing that a French Polynesian should voice Maui and Moana.

Disney responded by casting Mareva Galanter, a Tahitian, as Moana's mother (in French).

The film will also be dubbed into Tahitian, a first for a major motion picture.
posted by invokeuse at 8:57 PM on December 7, 2016 [2 favorites]