See the line where the sky meets the sea.. it calls me...

This past Wednesday I finally got to see Moana! The new Disney 'princess' film that I've been waiting for, for a long time. Ever sine it was announce with the concept art, I was really excited for Moana to come out, another different type of princess for us to see! Especially when I found out Lin Manuel-Miranda was a part of the music I was completely excited for it. I'm a bit of a Lin fangirl ever since my friend introduced me to Hamilton over a year ago now (which I love a bit too much). Also if you have not seen Moana and do not want any sort of spoilers please don't read on as I will be discussing plot points in this review. 

So, now for the review, firstly I'll talk about the music! Disney songs are what I listen to often because I just love them, I'm a massive fan of Musicals in general (which I think Disney made me after a childhood full of West End worthy songs in animated films) so I just love any songs that take part in the narrative of a story. One of the best songs I feel in recent years to come out of a Disney film has got to be 'How Far I'll go' it is a classic 'want' song just like 'Part of that world', 'Reflection', 'Go the Distance' which are all also amazing songs. I love 'How Far I'll go' and I'm slightly obsessed with it, Auli'i Cravaiho has an absolutely wonderful voice, shes an amazing talent at only 15 (14 when the film was made) I'm so glad Disney chose her to play Moana as I think she is perfect. Another of my favourite songs from the soundtrack is 'You're Welcome' I mean, whats better than the rock singing and rapping? I also love 'I Am Moana (song of the ancestors) because it is highly emotive and is one of my favourite parts of the whole movie, where Moana realises her worth with the help of her grandmother. 

Overall I really enjoyed the narrative of the film, It was easy enough to follow and quite a classic one in terms of Disney Princess', they long for more than they have and have to face adversity from others (in this case Moana's father the chief of the tribe) before they can achieve their dreams. I loved learning more about Polynesian culture, from what I understand Disney did a lot of work to ensure they really captured Polynesian culture in a respective way for this film. I love that we go an insight into Moana's Island and the people that live there as well as the animals that dwell there. One of my only downsides about the film was the fact Pua, the adorable little pig, wasn't in the film a lot however I understand it would've been more difficult to have him in it a lot especially as he seemingly became scared of going out to sea when he and Moana crashed in their canoe. Hei Hei however pleasantly surprised me as I ended up loving him a lot more than I thought I would, he was very loveable and a great comedy character who bought comedy to places you didn't think he could, but also ended up helping in the end. Alan Tudyk really brings Hei Hei to life and is basically a Disney legend at this point! Lending his voice acting talents to Hei Hei, King Candy (Wreck It Ralph), Duke of Wessleton (Frozen), Alistair Krei (Big Hero Six),  Duke Weasleton (Zootopia/Zootropolis) and he's also starring in the newest addition to the Star Wars universe 'Rogue One - A Star Wars Story) as droid K-2SO.

Auli'i Cravaiho really steals the show for me as Moana as I think she is just a perfect fit to play the princess..sorry...daughter of the chief. She has great comedic timing in her acting and I just love how much emotion you can hear her lend to the character she is voicing. I think she is a real talent and will go on to be very successful. Obviously, Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson was a great addition to the film as Maui the demi God, I really loved that this film was more of a comedy than anything else because I feel like we all needed a film that was funny (although tear jerking all the while) after all thats happened this year. Maui was really bought to life by Johnson and was just as main a part of the film as the title character. I like that we get to see Maui move from being closed off in the beginning and disbelieving of Moana to putting his faith in her right in the end.

The animation within this film is absolutely stunning, It is crazy how amazing animation has become with almost photo realistic water and Moana's hair is AMAZING, properly. It is so seemless and beautiful sometimes you forgot you're watching an animated film.

One last thing I'll mention about this film is the fact that Moana is a strong female character, which is obvious for me to mention, but she for me is a fantastic role model. She follows her heart, what she believes in and the fact she can be a female and doesn't have to marry 'to become chief' is so refreshing to see.

So, there we have it, my review of Moana. I know, I'm really not the best at writing and I should really have structured this a lot more but I just wrote my feelings as I remembered certain things about the film. Thank you for reading my review of Moana and if you haven't seen it yet I highly suggest seeing it as soon as possible, It definitely continues the fantastic run of amazing Disney films that have arrived in recent years and is sure to go down as a classic. I can't wait for it to be released on Blu-ray so I can watch it over and over again.

TTFN

Lauren

Disney x Cath Kidston - Mickey and Minnie Collection!

Disney recently has been churning out the collaborations (much to the annoyance of my bank balance) and they've all been pretty much perfect. To be honest, anything Disney sells is popular, so when it's with a high profile brand such as Cath Kidston you know it's going to be popular. This is the second collection that the two brands have collaborated on, the first being Winnie the Pooh. With these collections Cath Kidston generally release the items online the evening before they're released in the shops in a 'private' sale for anyone that has signed up previously. The Winnie the Pooh collection crashed their website and famously half of those signed up didn't even receive they're codes and links to allow them to shop. This release was a Minnie and Mickey release and before the pre sale I think most people got their codes which may have been the cause of the website problems. This release was also pretty hectic, with so many people accessing the website at once it completely crashed for some people and a lot of the collection sold out after little time. I managed to get the majority of the pieces I wanted from the collection and everything is amazing! I think Cath Kidston weren't prepared for the release at all as it took them a long time to take sold out items off the website and most deliveries took a lot longer to dispatch than you would usually expect! One of my items however, came slightly damaged and I've been told I can have a refund as the item is sold out online which is upsetting. However I'll show you what I bought and some pictures as it was a beautiful collection, Cath Kidston have said they're doing another collection with Disney so I can't wait to see what it will be!

One of the items I knew I wanted before the collection was released was a purse, I have had Cath Kidston purses in the past and find that they're a very good size. This purse has enough card slots for 6 cards then some bigger slots behind those card slots. There's a slot for cash and a zipped coin purse section. I love the design on this purse and I'm particularly happy with the design I got on mine which is a cute little Minnie head! This purse cost £22 and had a matching bag but that sold out almost straight away.

This is the mug I got from the collection and I absolutely love this 'Mickey in London' design, I'd have gotten more things if the website didn't completely break, also I had a limit to how much I wanted to spend so I couldn't really go over that! This mug, as you can see, is chipped and came that way when I opened the parcel. I was so upset upon finding it chipped but I think myself lucky considering some people had their's completely smashed! Thankfully I spoke to a lovely woman from the customer services team and she was very apologetic and offered me a refund. It's a little smaller than the usual Cath Kidston mugs but I like smaller mugs, it's also made by Royal Stafford so is from quite a well known brand also. This mug cost £8.50 but is sold out online, however it may be available from stores!

This is the skirt I got from the collection with this lovely Minnie Mouse print on it! One of my favourite characters is the vintage style Minnie Mouse which is why I love the print on this skirt so much! The skirt is made from a jersey material and I love the way that the floral pattern hides Minnie and she matches the colours perfectly. This is a great design for a Disney fan who prefers to wear more discreet pieces of Disney in their outfits than just an all out picture of Minnie Mouse! This skirt was £40 and is sold out online however again If you check in store they may have it in stock.

My favourite item from the collection that I managed to get from the collection is this amazing Minnie mouse dress! I fell in love with it as soon as I saw it online and I was so thrilled that I managed to get it from the pre sale! It's such a beautiful design with the signature Minnie polka dots and an adorable Minnie peaking over the bottom edge of the skirt. I love the structure of the dress and It'd definitely make me consider getting more Cath Kidston clothing as I've never gotten any before! The dress cost £70 and It's now sold out like a lot of the collection online, however again the best thing to do is check in store!

Overall I think that this collection was completely beautiful, If I had endless supplies of money and storage I'd have bought it all, but alas I don't and I probably wouldn't have been able to anyway because the website kept crashing! As much as I love these collaborations I really hope that Cath Kidston manage to sort out their website and get some sort of queue system implimented for the release of the next collection! I understand It's hard for companies not usually coping with the amounts they did on the release but it would have been much better if they'd been more prepared.

I can't wait to see the next collection! I'll definitely be braving the online release no matter how much it crashes! What was your favourite piece from the collection?? Did you manage to get any of it?

TTFN

Lauren

Vans x Disney • Pixar - Toy Story!

Those of us who live in the UK have had a lonnggggg wait in comparison to our friends across the pond for the new Vans x Disney collaboration. They were able to buy these a while back where as we could only get them from the 29th of November! They were worth the wait though and I got one pair from the collection and I absolutely love them! As predicted by many people, including obviously Vans and Disney themselves as this is the third collection in the past two years that have been released as a collaboration between the companies, the collection was incredibly popular and a lot of designs sold out immediately including the pair I bought myself. 

This pair is a woody themed pair and I chose these mainly because they're different to all the other Vans I've gotten from past Disney collections. Every other pair I have are made using patterns that repeat all over the shoe and generally include characters on them, this pair I felt were a lot different to other pairs released in different collections. I chose this pair as I love woody and I just really enjoy the print on them, these shoes would be perfect for some sort of cosplay or Disney bound and they're a subtle way of including Disney into everyday wear. However, lets face it, who needs to be subtle?

I love the details included on this pair of shoes and think they scream woody, the design has taken parts of Woody's outfit and incorporated them together to make this design, I particularly like the print on he inside of the shoes that matches Woody's shirt!

Now being a collector I'm pretty much a box hoarder at this point and I appreciate a really good design on a box as if you've got loads of them like me it makes them a bit more interesting to look nice rather than just have tonnes of boxes that are all just plain. As we all know the print on the box matches Andy's room and includes the iconic cloud print that covers his walls. I also like that the 'tissue paper' inside that protects the shoes has the same iconic print.

Now my favourite thing about these shoes definitely has to be one of the features on the sole. The fact it has 'Andy' written on the sole of the right shoe brings me so much joy! Whoever came up with that idea in the design process of these shoes needs some sort of pay rise because it's such a good idea and I'm sure any Disney lover appreciates that about these shoes. I really love the detail that has gone into this collection and I just love Vans as a shoe in general so it's one of the best collaborations for me and I now have five pairs in total. 

I got these shoes from 'Schuh' mainly because I use Schuh often for a lot of my shoe related purchases, they have fantastic customer service and this time especially they excelled! I ordered these shoes on Tuesday morning and they arrived Wednesday morning (Although I wasn't in I collected them later that afternoon but had I been in it would have been jut over 24 hours from purchase to delivery!), I paid no extra for delivery and just got the free 'standard' delivery so to say I was impressed is an understatement. I highly recommend schuh in general, both in shops and online they have wonderful customer service, plus if you're a student they have student discount!

Both the Vans and Schuh website have some styles from the collection left if you still want to get your hands on some of these beauties! Also, it doesn't hurt to check in store as often I've found sold out styles online in stores.

Did you get any shoes from this collection? If so what did you get? I can't wait to see if Vans and Disney continue their collaborations and what designs will come out next! What would you like to see?

TTFN

Lauren