‘Moana’ Actress Grew Up With The Polynesian Myth That Inspired The Movie

The studio experienced tremendous success during the late 1980s and 1990s, with Disney releasing films including “The Little Mermaid”, “Beauty and the Beast”, and “The Lion King”, some of which have been said to be among the best animated films ever made.

“If you’re in a skirt and have an animal sidekick, you’re a princess”.

Disney’s “Moana” is technologically phenomenal, visually breathtaking and a little bit forgettable.

An image from Disney’s “Moana”. But it’s Moana’s differences from those previous princesses that are key. There is zero love interest from end-to-end, so everything Moana does is for herself and her family; there are no ulterior motives. Visually, the movie is an absolute delight, using 3D to immerse the viewer in the expansive, oceanic world Moana and her friends explore. Her reward is a successful quest, not a happily-wedded-after.

It’s a little disconcerting to see Johnson’s trademark raised eyebrow on the Polynesian warrior, but the actor also brings his charming swagger, especially in the very amusing song “You’re Welcome”, when Maui lists all that he’s done for the thankless mortals. Moana is in search of a hero to save her tribe and island, but perhaps she will be the true hero in the end. Her father, Chief Tui Waialiki (Temuera Morrison), is convinced any attempts to venture past the island’s reef will be met with doom. “She was like, ‘Oh, I have a new husband for a couple of years, ‘” Miranda told PEOPLE. He added, “The opportunity that we had, just as Polynesians, to be part of a story and to bring to life a story of our Polynesian culture in this capacity with our great partners at Disney, musically with these masters, was just a really, really special opportunity for us”. Pride is very big too, so that was very resonant in the pride that they will have in the film. The Rock gives Maui just the right amount of bravado -: he’s a jerk, but a lovable one.

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The favorite song may be “How Far I’ll Go”, by the movie’s star, which perfectly sums up the personality of this young woman. When the fish begin to run dry around the island, the ocean chooses Moana to go on an adventure to restore the Heart of Te Fiti.

It’s distracting from both the real virtues of “Moana”, of which there are many, and also fairly dismissive of the mere “princesses” who came before who basically accomplish the same things.

In fact, there’s not a lot that’s girly about Moana.

You could also say it’s about a village where the people have conflicting ideas on how to fix the economy and about im- and emigration and making their island great again and, oh my god, someone please stop me before I try to figure out which character is Trump. And it doesn’t really matter. We didn’t have any kids with us and we all enjoyed the movie.