2016 is  drawing to a close, taking with it a big year for movies. It seemed to be dominated by superhero movies such as Marvel’s Captain America: Civil War, Deadpool, and DC’s Suicide Squad, but Disney had a great year as well. Finding Dory is the most notable, but they also released some great real-action remakes, such as The Legend of Tarzan, that did solidly in the box office. The year is not over yet, however. Dreamworks’ Trolls, which is in theatres now, and upcoming Disney princess movie Moana are the ones who will close out the year.

 Trolls, which was released November 4th, centers around the troll princess Poppy and the grumpy troll Branch, who is sick of the happy-go-lucky attitude of his town. It is modeled after the popular troll toys that were invented back in 1954, but with some significant changes. While they stay true to the bright colors, the trolls featured in the movie are definitely more adorable than the originals. Anna Kendrick, who voices Poppy, and Justin Timberlake, who voices Branch, work really well together, both strongly carrying the vocals. When you combine the star-studded cast with the psychedelic colors and fun theme, Dreamworks has a solid hit on their hands. To top it off, it had a successful opening weekend, and earned a solid $45.6 million. It did decently with critics, gaining a  73% on Rotten Tomatoes and a 6.7/10 on IMDB, and had a general consensus that while it will not be the next Frozen, kids will still love it.

 Still yet to come is Moana, the story of a young teenage girl, voiced by Auli’i Cravalho, living in the Pacific Islands who sets sail in order to save her people. Along the way, Moana meets the demigod Maui, voiced by Dwayne Johnson, and convinces him to join her mission. Faced with deadly monsters and impossible odds, Moana perseveres and learns the power of love and friendship. Moana has the potential to open Disney up in a way that it is currently lacking: racial diversity. While recent Disney hits such as Frozen helped to promote feminism and confidence in young girls, they did not exactly help Disney expand their ethnic horizons. Freshman Margaux Hunter said, “I think it is really great that Disney is expanding its horizons.” Even with Moana, there are only 5 princesses that do not come from a white background: Pocahontas, who is Native American, Tiana, who is African American, Jasmine, who is Arabic, and Mulan, who is Asian. Moana, however, is not the first character to hail from the Pacific Islands. Lilo from Lilo and Stitch was Hawaiian, and while Moana is not, she is rumored to be Samoan (Disney has not confirmed nor denied this).  If done correctly, Moana has the ability to bring Disney one step closer to giving children of all different backgrounds someone to look up to.