Jenny's Crayon Collection: Movie Review

Disney Animated Movies
If you are like me, your kids love Disney animated movies. When my kids started getting old enough to watch them I was disappointed by how few of them I could find in stores and on streaming services especially the princess movies. It seems like the only way to make sure my kids can watch these movies is to purchase them myself. And with Disney keeping their movies in a "vault" it is hard to know what movies I already have when I am staring at them in the store or searching Amazon. I put together this list to keep track of all the movies that we have, and what type we have. I added Blue-ray and Digital HD, because it is nice to know if you can put it on your phone or tablet. Also if friends want to borrow a movie and they only have a certain player it is easy to know. One day I would love to turn this into an app. But I tried making apps once and realized I need an apple computer to do so, so until then here is the next best thing. You can print it out and keep it in your purse. Here is the printable version.

Disney Anywhere
Disney has a really cool feature for their Digital HD versions of movies. It is called Disney Anywhere. At first I was annoyed because I had to enter the Digital HD code to Disney Anywhere and not iTunes, but then once I played around with it, I realized it was really powerful. It connects all your accounts and will download the movies automatically to these accounts. It shares the movies to iTunes, Amazon Video, VUDU, Google Play, Microsoft, Fios by Verizon. I can download them to my phone, which is an iPhone and to my Kindle that is Amazon Video. If I just buy a regular movie on iTunes or Amazon Video it is not available on all platforms. This is super helpful with kids because you never know how they are going to watch the movie.

Warning and Tip
Also I want to issue a warning and tip when buying Disney movies. If you want a Digital HD version, read the box carefully, not all copies of movies come with and HD version. I do not know why, it seems like it would be a give in now. I went to buy Cars or my boy and the Digital HD version was sooo much money.

Next is the tip. If you want to buy movies that have more than one video in the series, such as Cinderella, Cars, Planes, Toy Story and you have a Blue-ray player, look on Amazon or other sites. They can be a lot cheaper coming from other countries and usually come in a pack. I do not know why they do not sell these packs in the US. Many of the foreign versions of the film are compatible with Blue-ray players in the US. On the back of the box there will be hexagons with one or all of ABC's in there. If the video has all of these on the back you are good to go.

Disney Animated Movie List

Blu-Ray	DVD	HD	Title	Release Date
			A Bug's Life	11/25/1998
			A Christmas Carol	11/6/2009
			A Goofy Movie	4/7/1995
			Aladdin	11/25/1992
			Alice in Wonderland	7/28/1951
			Arjun: The Warrior Prince	5/25/2012
			Atlantis: The Lost Empire	6/15/2001
			Bambi	8/13/1942
			Beauty and the Beast	11/22/1991
			Bedknobs and Broomsticks	12/13/1971
			Big Hero 6	11/7/2014
			Bolt	11/21/2008
			Brave	6/22/2012
			Brother Bear	11/1/2003
			Cars	6/9/2006
			Cars 2	6/24/2011
			Cars 3	6/16/2017
			Chicken Little	11/4/2005
			Cinderella	2/15/1950
			Coco	11/22/2017
			Dinosaur	5/19/2000
			Doug's 1st Movie	3/26/1999
			DuckTales the Movie: Treasure of the Lost Lamp	8/3/1990
			Dumbo	10/23/1941
			Fantasia	11/13/1940
			Fantasia 2000	12/17/1999
			Finding Dory	6/17/2016
			Finding Nemo	5/30/2003
			Frankenweenie	10/5/2012
			Frozen	11/27/2013
			Frozen 2	11/27/2019
			Fun and Fancy Free	9/27/1947
			Gigantic	11/25/2020
			Hercules	6/27/1997
			Home on the Range	4/2/2004
			Inside Out	6/19/2015
			James and the Giant Peach	4/12/1996
			King of the Elves
			Lady and the Tramp	6/22/1955
			Lilo & Stitch	6/21/2002
			Make Mine Music	4/20/1946
			Mars Needs Moms	3/11/2011
			Mary Poppins	8/29/1964
			Mary Poppins Returns	12/25/2018
			Meet the Robinsons	3/30/2007
			Moana	11/23/2016
			Monsters University	6/21/2013
			Monsters, Inc.	11/2/2001
			Mulan	6/19/1998
			Oliver & Company	11/18/1988
			One Hundred and One Dalmatians	1/25/1961
			Peter Pan	2/5/1953
			Pete's Dragon	11/3/1977
			Piglet's Big Movie	3/21/2003
			Pinocchio	2/7/1940
			Planes	8/9/2013
			Planes: Fire & Rescue	7/18/2014
			Pocahontas	6/23/1995
			Pooh's Heffalump Movie	2/11/2005
			Ralph Breaks the Internet: Wreck-It Ralph 2	11/21/2018
			Ratatouille	6/29/2007
			Recess: School's Out	2/16/2001
			Return to Never Land	2/15/2002
			Roadside Romeo	10/24/2008
			Robin Hood	11/8/1973
			Sleeping Beauty	1/29/1959
			Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs	12/21/1937
			Song of the South	11/12/1946
			Tangled	11/24/2010
			Tarzan	6/18/1999
			Teacher's Pet	1/16/2004
			The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad	10/5/1949
			The Aristocats	12/24/1970
			The Black Cauldron	7/24/1985
			The Emperor's New Groove	12/15/2000
			The Fox and the Hound	7/10/1981
			The Good Dinosaur	11/25/2015
			The Great Mouse Detective	7/2/1986
			The Hunchback of Notre Dame	6/21/1996
			The Incredibles	11/5/2004
			The Incredibles 2	6/15/2018
			The Jungle Book	10/18/1967
			The Jungle Book 2	2/14/2003
			The Lion King	6/24/1994
			The Little Mermaid	11/17/1989
			The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh	3/11/1977
			The Nightmare Before Christmas 3D TNBC	10/27/2006
			The Princess and the Frog	12/11/2009
			The Rescuers	6/22/1977
			The Rescuers Down Under	11/16/1990
			The Sword in the Stone	12/25/1963
			The Three Caballeros	2/3/1945
			The Tigger Movie	2/11/2000
			The Wild	4/14/2006
			Toy Story	11/22/1995
			Toy Story 2	11/24/1999
			Toy Story 3	6/18/2010
			Toy Story 4	6/21/2019
			Treasure Planet	11/27/2002
			Up	5/29/2009
			Valiant	8/19/2005
			WALL-E	6/27/2008
			Winnie the Pooh	7/15/2011
			Wreck-It Ralph	11/2/2012
			Zootopia	3/4/2016

Move over Frozen, Moana is here!

Moana Movie

We took our family to see Disney's Moana over Christmas break. What we discovered was an amazing tale of Moana of Motunui, a young girl who is destined to be chief of her island, but longs to for the sea. Her struggle is fueled on both sides of her family. Her father wants her to be content on the island and is afraid of the sea. Her grandmother loves the sea and encourages her to follow her heart showing Moana their tribe used to be voyagers. The struggle hits a turning point when her grandmother passes away and tells Moana to go return the heart of the ocean. The heart of the ocean was stolen by Maui a demigod. When the heart was stolen from Te Fiti, the goddess who life in the ocean a darkness spread across the ocean. The only to stop it is to return the heart.

In the days that follow Moana shows strength by finding Maui, helping him restore his confidence, learning to sail, and eventually finding Te Fiti's heart herself. She struggles along the way, but eventually overcomes these struggles and confronts the great Te Kā to return the heart.

Why did we love this movie? One we loved the story. It is one of the first Disney movies targeted at girls that does not feature a love story. It is genius. Kids do not need to worry about love, but need to learn about finding their purpose in life. It is very similar to Big Hero 6 which also does not feature a love story. I hope more movies come along that feature the main character finding their purpose in life. Brave attempted to do this, but the story was about how she did not need love to be happy which is an abstract concept for a young child. I love that Moana was not about not finding or wanting love, but about finding herself. This is a great movie for kids and adults.

I would however not getting the Target Exclusive movie. I thought it featured a removable book, but the book is part of the Blue-Ray case and the case is not able to close. I would suggest getting the standard Blue-Ray or DVD and a separate book.

Moana Soundtrack
Another reason we loved this movie was because of the music. The soundtrack features 40 tracks, 14 with words and 24 with the original score. My daughter was wanting to sing this Moana all the day so for Easter we bought her the soundtrack. Needless to say it replaced Taylor Swift's 1989 album in our car and we listen to it all the time at home. I think she likes it better than Frozen.

Here is the track listing for the songs with words.

Tulou Tagaloa – Olivia Foa’i
An Innocent Warrior – Vai Mahina, Sulata Foai-Amiatu & Matthew Ineleo
Where You Are – Christopher Jackson, Rachel House, Nicole Scherzinger, Auli’i Cravalho & Louise Bush
How Far I’ll Go – Auli’i Cravalho
We Know the Way – Opetaia Foa’i & Lin-Manuel Miranda
How Far I’ll Go (Reprise) – Auli’i Cravalho
You’re Welcome – Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson
Shiny – Jemaine Clement
Logo Te Pate – Olivia Foa’i, Opetaia Foa’i & Talaga Steve Sale
I Am Moana (Song of the Ancestors) – Rachel House & Auli’i Cravalho
Know Who You Are – Auli’i Cravalho, Vai Mahina, Olivia Foa’i, Opetaia Foa’i & Matthew Ineleo
We Know the Way (Finale) – Lin-Manuel Miranda & Opetaia Foa’i
How Far I’ll Go (Alessia Cara Version) – Alessia Cara
You’re Welcome (feat. Lin-Manuel Miranda) [Jordan Fisher/Lin-Manuel Miranda Version] – Jordan Fisher

My daughter's favorite songs are "How Far I'll Go" and "I Am Moana". My son's favorite songs are "We Know the Way" and "You're Welcome". They both love "Shiny". "Shiny" is the one song that did not fit with the movie in my opinion. It was a tribute to David Bowie, which I get that he passed away in 2016, but he was not Polynesian. It is a fun song to listen to on it's own, but does not fit with the movie. My kids are like the original versions of the "How Far I'll Go" and "You're Welcome". Auli’i Cravalho has an amazing voice and sings great live, see the video below for a live version from Dancing with the Stars. And Dwayne Johnson's personality really fits the "You're Welcome" song and makes it lots of fun. Also I do not know if they like the rapping that is done in the end credits "You're Welcome". I think it is fun and different, my 4 year old however also asks, "Is this the end, can we start again?" at the end credit songs.

If you have young kids and want something new (cough, cough Frozen) to listen to definitely pick up the Moana soundtrack. It is super fun to learn how to sing all the words in the songs and your kids will love it.

Complete Moana track listing

List of Disney Animated Movies

Moana Movie and Soundtrack Review