I went to Moana with my father the day after Thanksgiving. We both love watching animated movies, and after years of going to so many together, I’ll admit that we’ve gotten pretty picky about it. Usually the ride home from the theatre is spent criticizing the use of tired cliches, boring character designs, disappointing visuals and incomprehensible plot structures. And that’s for movies we say we love.

Neither of us had any complaints about Moana.

The titular character journeys across the ocean to force a trickster deity, Maui, into returning “the heart” of the world’s creator, the goddess Te Fiti, which he had stolen thousands of years before the movie’s start. Moana’s travels are accompanied by some of the best animation I’ve seen from Disney in years, a soundtrack (which is still stuck in my head four days later) written by the brilliant Lin-Manuel Miranda of Hamilton fame, and many examples of Pacific Islander cultures that are clearly the result of an arduous amount of research. If I had to choose a favorite part of the movie, however – which would be ridiculously difficult – I would have to choose the characters themselves.

Disney animated canon is full of movies that can be described as works of art, but Moana excels where many fail – a believable, evolving friendship between the main characters. I went in knowing that the title character wasn’t going to have a love interest, and was completely blindsided by her still having a more developed relationship with her male co-star than her princess predecessors. Sorry Snow White, but I guess being stuck on a boat with someone just leads to more compelling interactions than macking on their entombed corpse.

Even if you aren’t the type of person who would typically enjoy watching cartoon characters burst into song, you might want to give Moana a try anyway. The movie’s constant stream of self-deprecating humor could amuse any older viewer, even one who isn’t a fan of the genre. And if Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s singing voice doesn’t make you enjoy watching a cartoon character burst into song, then I don’t know what would.

So; if you want to hear a great soundtrack, go see Moana. If you want to see gorgeous art, go see Moana. If you want to see a two hour long snark-off between an immortal shapeshifting demigod and a particularly stubborn teenage girl, go see Moana. You’ll get a good laugh, a good cry, and then another good laugh, because this movie has the potential to give you some serious emotional whiplash.

But seriously, throw your money at this movie. I want a sequel.