When I first heard about this film, I was interested in seeing the picture but not excited about it. After its release, I started to hear more about the film and became keen to see it. I was pleasantly surprised because it turned out to be different than expected and not bad.
At the beginning of this picture, Moana and the rest of the village children are told a story by Moana's Gramma Tala (voiced by Rachel House) that took place a thousand years ago. The goddess Te Fiti blessed the world with creation and life. Over time, other powerful beings and creatures including monsters and coconut pirates seek the heart of Te Fiti to have the power of creation. One day, powerful shape-shifting demigod named Maui (voiced by Dwayne Johnson) succeeds at stealing the heart of Te Fiti. But as a result of stealing the heart Maui unintentionally releases a powerful darkness that seeks to consume life. Maui is defeated in battle by the lava goddes Te Kal and loses both his magical fish hook and the heart of Te Fiti. It is believed that the darkness will be defeated only when the heart of Te Fiti is restored and that Maui is the only one who can do that. If the darkness isn't stopped, the world will be consumed.
Moana is intrigued by the story but is quickly reassured by her father Chief Tui (voiced by Temuera Morrison) that the story is just a story and that the island has everything anyone could want in life. As Moana grows up she is taught that her place is with her people even though she is intrigued by the ocean and wanting to sail on it. At first she feels conflicted but eventually comes to terms with the expectations and the duties that she has to her people as the next chief in a long line of chiefs. Her Gramma encourages her to obey her father's wishes but also gently reminds Moana that the pull that she feels to the sea isn't necessarily a bad thing.
Shortly after accepting her role as the next chief, Moana learns that there aren't any fish for the fishermen to catch. When she suggests that the fishermen fish beyond the reef, her father forbids going beyond the reef. Moana's mother tells Moana of a tragic boating accident that Chief Tui was involved in when he was a younger man and dared to sail beyond the reef. Soon after the fish disappear, the coconuts on the island appear to be blighted and dried up. Moana suggests getting coconuts from a different part of the island but she is troubled.
Moana becomes more conflicted after learning from her Gramma that their ancestors were voyagers who had traveled far and wide among various islands. After sharing her discovery with her father, Chief Tui becomes enraged and attempts to burn the boats that the ancestors had left behind. Before he can act, he learns that his mother Moana's Gramma is ill and so he and Moana go to her.
Moana is encouraged by her Gramma to find Maui and make him restore the heart of Te Fiti. When Moana hesitates, Gramma gives Moana the heart of Te Fiti and pushes Moana to go. With mixture of sadness and excitement, Moana leaves to find Maui as her Gramma wishes.
Along the way both Moana and Maui grow in ways that neither could have anticipated. Their adventure has a nice mix of humor, action, heart, with a dash of seriousness. The culmination of the adventure was beautifully unexpected but, given the culture, not entirely surprising.
The imagery is gorgeous. The story is well done. I particularly like that Moana is the most selfless of the "Disney princesses" so far. She doesn't directly or indirectly contribute to any of the problems/troubles in this story and yet she tries to fix the problems. She has help from The Ocean, her grandmother and ancestors, and of course Maui but she almost never gives up and her resourcefulness is admirable. The characters are all likable and their actions make sense. All of the music is great. I was initially unaware of Lin-Manuel Miranda's involvement with this picture but was pleased with his involvement in this picture.
All in all a very good movie and not just for children and families. I did hear a local radio dj complain about there being "too much peril". He claimed that he couldn't enjoy the film as much due to his being anxious for the characters. I personally feel that the peril featured in this movie was more than tolerable and added to the story. The family that I watched the movie with wasn't bothered by the peril so I feel that the dj was exaggerating.
I have a coworker who complained about Maui's tattoos. She was offended by them and worried that the little ones in her family being influenced by the film to get tattoos. If you are someone who is offended by tattoos you can avoid this film but you'll be missing out on a great family movie. The tattoos featured in this film are a treasured aspect of Polynesian culture that has a different, more important significance (in my opinion) than you might find outside of Polynesian culture.
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