Talk to Me Thursday: My Honest Take on Toy Story 5 & Live-Action Moana

This summer's Disney movie lineup has been on a winning streak, and I have thoughts on both Toy Story 5 and the live-action Moana. Let's get into it.

Toy Story 5

This one was amazing. What really got me was the messaging around technology and how much of a negative impact it can have on kids. I think society has gone overboard when it comes to screens, and we've forgotten how important it is for kids to simply be bored, truly play, and be creative. We are forcing our kids to grow up faster and faster, and it's absolutely insane. Their little brains are still developing, and the way technology has taken over childhood is madness to me.

This is exactly why Lennon has to earn any screen time in our house. We're strict on the time limit and what she gets to watch or play, all of it. And honestly, the same goes for us as adults. We are all way too attached to our phones. It truly distracts from humanity and real connection — which is why I love the Brick device. I use it to brick my phone and remove the distraction when Lennon deserves my full attention. Check it out here!

The storyline in this movie showed there can be good things about technology when it's actually needed, but it's definitely not something we should rely on as heavily as we do.

If you're a parent and you didn't feel a little convicted about your own screen time watching this, I think you missed the whole mark. I could preach on this for days, and that's coming from someone whose job requires devices and social media every single day. It's about moderation, boundaries, and limits.

Our kids deserve our undivided attention. They are only little once, and we're the ones responsible for their childhood. Wouldn't you hate to look back and realize you missed things because you were distracted by a phone or tablet?

If you haven't seen it and need a wake-up call about the importance of real, unstructured play — go see Toy Story 5.

Live-Action Moana

I talked about my excitement for this one already, so you know it was a big deal for me. Moana is hands-down my favorite of the newer Disney princesses. The ocean speaks to me — it's my happy, calming place. So having a princess who is called by the ocean to save her people and become a heroine is something special to me.

I'll be honest, I was a little nervous going into the live-action version. There have been plenty of live-action remakes that completely missed the mark — either the movie itself just wasn't good, they reworked the storyline too much, or they lost the key pieces that made the original animated version so special. When Disney did Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin, those were big wins — unique in the right ways while still staying true to the originals. Moana belongs right at the top with them.

Casting The Rock as Maui was a no-brainer, and honestly, if they hadn't, this would have been a complete flop. Catherine Laga'aia, who played Moana, was perfect — beautiful and she nailed the part completely. We laughed, we cried, we laughed some more (Lennon was cackling through parts of it, and it was the cutest thing). Even the CGI on Hei Hei and Pua was genuinely good — unlike a certain other Disney live-action remake I won't name (yes, I'm talking about Lion King). The music stayed beautifully close to the original motion picture, with a few new pieces woven in that made the whole thing a complete success.

Have you seen either one yet? I'd love to hear your take — reply and let me know what you thought!

xoxo,
Katie