Moana marks the end of the Disney Animated Film Profiles for a while. It has been quite the journey to watch the entire animation canon in order and blog about it without missing a single week! Stay tuned for Ralph Breaks the Internet in the upcoming months once the film has been released on home video.
Premiered on: November 14, 2016 at the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood
Directed by:
Ron Clements
John Musker
Produced by: Osnat Shurer
Based on: Polynesian Mythology
Sequels: None
Cast:
Auli’i Cravalho – Moana
Louise Bush – Young Moana
Dwayne Johnson – Maui
Rachel House – Tala
Temuera Morrison – Tui (speaking)
Christopher Jackson – Tui (singing)
Jemaine Clement – Tamatoa
Nicole Scherzinger – Sina
Alan Tudyk – Hei Hei
Supervising Animators:
Eric Goldberg
Jennifer Hager
Adam Green
Brent Homman
Mack Kablan
Daniel Klug
Malcon Pierce
Music by:
Mark Mancina
Opetaia Foa’i
Lin-Manuel Miranda
Songs:
“Tulou Tagaloa”
“An Innocent Warrior”
“Where You Are”
“How Far I’ll Go”
“We Know the Way”
“You’re Welcome”
“Shiny”
“Logo Te Pate”
“I am Moana (Song of the Ancestors)”
“Know Who You Are”
Academy Awards:
Best Animated Feature Film (nomination)
Best Song – “How Far I’ll Go” (nomination)
The Story:
Moana opens with the song “Tulou Tagaloa.” A narrator explains that in the beginning there was only the ocean. Te Fiti, the mother island, emerges and her heart holds the power to create life. She shares this power with the world, but soon some want her heart for their own. Maui voyages across the ocean to take it. He can shapeshift with the power of his magical fishhook. He grabs the heart, causing Te Fiti to crumble. Maui runs away and tries to escape but is confronted by Te Kã, a demon of earth and fire who also wants the heart. Maui and Te Kã fight and Maui is struck from the sky, never to be seen again. The fishhook and the heart are also lost to the ocean.
Moana’s Grandmother Tala is telling this legend to the village children. All of the children are terrified of the story except for Moana. Tala shows darkness devouring island after island as Te Kã looked for the heart. She continues to say that one day the heart will be found by someone who will journey beyond the reef and will find Maui to deliver him to restore the heart and save them all. Moana’s father, Tui, comes running over and interrupts his mother. He says that no one goes beyond the reef because they are safe on the island. He tries to assure the children that there are no monsters either, but he accidentally lets down some banners that have pictures of monsters on them and the children start to freak out. Tala and Tui keep on arguing if the legends are true or not.
Moana is distracted by the ocean and wanders down to it. A seashell washes ashore and Moana goes to pick it up, but then she sees a baby turtle hiding from some birds. She grabs a leaf and protects the baby turtle with it as it heads to the water. She shoos the birds away. The ocean lures Moana into it with a trail of seashells. The song “An Innocent Warrior” plays as Moana collects the shells. A wave greets Moana and touches her. Moana sees a glowing green stone and grabs the heart of Te Fiti. Tui is calling for her and the ocean sends her back to shore. Moana leaves the stone in the water. Tui scolds her for going into the ocean because it is too dangerous and they head back to the village. They find Moana’s mother, Sina, on the way.
They tell Moana that she will be the next great chief and the song “Where You Are” plays as Moana grows up and learns village life. Moana keeps wanting to go into the ocean, but her parents always stop her. She sees Tala dancing with the water and joins in. Tala tells Moana to follow her voice inside. She shows Moana the fishing boats, but Tui stops them. He says that there is something he needs to show Moana.
He brings her up to the top of a mountain. He says that it is a sacred place, the place of the chiefs. One day she will place her stone on top of the pile of other flat stones. Tui tells Moana that she will raise the whole islander higher and that their future is there.
Moana is now grown and she is going about village life. She is learning from her father how to lead. Moana teaches dancing and fixes leaky roofs. But one harvest, the villagers find that the coconuts are all rotten. The fishing traps are also pulling up less and less fish. Moana suggests fishing beyond the reef, but Tui again says that there is no going beyond the reef. It is their one rule. Moana and Tui argue before Tui stomps off.
Moana is upset and Sina comes to talk to her. She tells Moana that Tui is hard on her because he was once like her. He was drawn to the ocean and once took off in a boat and crossed the reef, only to be caught in a storm. His best friend drowned. After the story, Sina leaves and Moana sings “How Far I’ll Go.” She takes off in a fishing boat with Pua the pig. They struggle to make it beyond the reef and Pua is soon knocked off by a wave. Moana tries to rescue the pig, but she is also knocked off the boat. Her foot gets caught in some coral. Moana is able to free herself, but she is again knocked over by a wave. Eventually she and Pua are washed to shore. The boat is completely destroyed and poor Pua goes running off, frightened.
Tala appears and tells Moana that whatever happened, blame it on the pig. Moana thinks her father is right about going out there and that it is time to place her stone on the mountain. Tala goes into the water and plays with the stingrays. She does not try to talk Moana out of it and Moana is confused as to why. Tala just says that when she dies, she is going to come back as a stingray. Moana asks if there is something that Tala wants to tell her and Tala responds by asking if there is something Moana would like to hear.
It is dusk and Tala and Moana are hiking up one of the hills of the island. Tala says that Moana has been told all of their people’s stories except for one. Their ancestors did not stay in the reef. As Tala and Moana reach a deep, dark cave, Tala says that the answers as to who Moana is meant to be are inside. She is to go inside and bang the drum to find out.
Inside are many large boats. Moana is drawn to one of the smaller ones and climbs aboard. After exploring that one, she climbs aboard a much larger one. She bangs the drum and hears an echo back. Suddenly, a fire light up inside the cave. She sees drawings on the sails and the song “We Know the Way” plays and Moana’s ancestors are shown finding brand new islands wherever they roam. She realizes that they were once voyagers. She runs back outside the cave, screaming in excitement before asking Tala why they stopped. Tala explains that when Maui stole the heart and darkness fell, monsters appeared and sunk the boats. The ancient chiefs then forbid voyaging and they have now forgotten who they are. The darkness continued to spread and drained the life from the islands. Tala says that Moana was chosen by the ocean to restore the heart of Te Fiti and she gives her granddaughter the heart. Moana looks out at the ocean and it rises up to greet Moana. Tala shows Moana the star constellation of Maui’s hook and says that is where Maui is. Moana excitedly runs off because she knows who can teach her how to make it past the reef.
The villagers are in council and are panicking because there is no fish and no crop. Moana bursts in and explains about the cave of boats and about restoring the heart. She insists that they are meant to be voyagers. Her father is very angry with her and they argue about helping their people. Tui grabs a torch and says that he is going to burn the boats. He grabs the heart and throws it into the bushes. Moana goes to find it and finds Tala’s walking stick. Just then a villager calls out to them about Tala. Tui and Moana run back. Tala is sick and lying down in a hut. She whispers to Moana to go and to find Maui and to tell him that she is Moana of Motunui and he will board her boat and restore the heart to Te Fiti. Moana doesn’t want to leave her grandmother, but Tala says that she will always be with her. She gives Moana her necklace to hold the heart in.
Moana runs away and packs some supplies. She sings a reprise “How Far I’ll Go” and her mother finds her and helps pack the supplies. She picks the boat in the cave that she was first drawn to and pushes it into the water. Moana sails away from the island and a ripple of light shoots through the water. Tala appears as a stingray spirit and helps Moana over the reef.
The next morning Moana is still struggling with figuring out how to properly sail. She is practicing her line of commanding Maui to board her boat to restore the heart. She then hears a banging sound in the hull of her boat and finds Hei Hei stuck under a coconut. He starts to panic because they are in the middle of the ocean. Moana tries to calm the chicken down, but he ends up walking off the boat and Moana has to swim out to rescue him.
After coming back to the boat, Moana keeps struggling to sail into the night. The boat ends up flipping and she finally asks the ocean for help. A storm begins in response.
In the morning, her boat has landed on an island. Moana and Hei Hei are there as well and are alright. Moana yells at the ocean for not helping her, but then she notices tallies made in the shapes of fishhooks. She realizes that the ocean did bring her to Maui. Moana hears Maui coming and hides behind her boat and practices her line again. Maui is very excited about the boat and lifts it up, thinking that the gods had given it to him. But then Maui sees Moana and screams, dropping the boat. She tries her practiced line, but Maui interrupts to make sure that Moana is calling him by all his correct titles. Then he thinks Moana is there for an autograph and he signs her oar with Hei Hei’s break. Moana gets upset and yells at Maui to board her boat and return the heart of Te Fiti. Maui is surprised that Moana seems upset with him. He says that he tried to get the heart as a gift for mortals and he sings “You’re Welcome” about all the great things he has done.
Maui ends up trapping Moana in a cave so he can take off in her boat. One of Maui’s tattoos stopped him and Maui says that he wants to get the hook instead of restoring the heart to Te Fiti. He grabs Hei Hei for a boat snack. Moana pushes a large statue of Maui to the ground and uses it as leverage to climb up and out a hole at the top of the cave.
Maui is starting to sail away and Moana runs and tries to dive onto the boat. She misses so Maui keeps going. Moana swims after him and the ocean propels her onto the boat. She surprises Maui and stands up to him. He throws her off the boat and the ocean pushes her back on. Maui then throws the heart into the ocean and the ocean throws it back. So Maui jumps off the boat himself to swim away and again the ocean puts him back on the boat. Moana realizes that Maui is scared of the heart and that he thinks it is a curse. While arguing about the heart, an arrow is shot at them.
Kakamora appear and Moana thinks that they are cute before the coconut pirates draw angry faces on themselves and grab weapons. A large ship appears out of the mist and Moana pleads with the ocean to help them. Maui says that they need to help themselves and gives her instructions that she does not understand and Maui realizes that she does not actually know how to sail. The Kakamora chase them and ropes with arrows attached pull them back to their ship. The large ship then splits into three boats and attacks Moana’s small boat. In the commotion, Hei Hei eats the heart of Te Fiti. The Kakamora are after Hei Hei now and they grab the chicken. Maui just wants to escape, but Moana grabs the oar and climbs onto the Kakamora’s boat and attacks the pirates. She grabs Hei Hei and she swings back to her boat. Hei Hei spits out the heart and they narrowly escape. The Kakamora’s ships crash together.
Maui says that he is still not taking the heart back. He would have to go through a whole ocean of bad, including a lava monster. Moana tells Maui that he would be a hero and that is what he is all about, despite now being known as the guy who stole the heart and cursed the world, no longer a hero. Maui still isn’t convinced so Moana says that they will get his hook first and then restore the heart so he can be a hero again. Maui agrees. He says that they are going east to the lair of Tamatoa to get his hook. Moana is impressed with his sailing skills and wants him to teach her. He tells her that it is called wayfinding, but he doesn’t want to teach her. The ocean hits him with a Kakamora blowdart so that Maui has no choice but to let Moana do all the work while he teaches.
They sail through the night and make it to Motunui. It is black and turning to ash. Moana’s parents are screaming for help. Moana then wakes up and realizes that it is a dream. They have reached the island where Tamatoa is. Maui ties up the boat and starts to climb up the mountain to the entrance of the realm of monsters. Maui tells Moana to stay there, but she does not listen and he climbs as well. On the way, she explains that the ocean chose her for this task, but Maui thinks she is crazy. They reach the top.
Maui blows away the dust to reveal the entrance and he jumps in. Moana follows and once they reach the bottom, she is attacked by all sorts of monsters. She stumbles upon the fishhook and Maui makes Moana be the bait while he tries to get the hook. Maui tells Moana to keep Tamatoa distracted by getting him to talk about himself. Moana comments that he and Tamatoa must get along well and Maui says not since he ripped off Tamatoa’s leg. Tamatoa then wakes up and he grabs Moana, not very impressed at realizing that she is only human. He asks her why she is there and Moana says it is because she hears that he is amazing. Tamatoa will gladly talk about himself in song form and he sings “Shiny.” Maui grabs the hook from the back of his shell and Tamatoa drops Moana. Maui tries to turn into a giant hawk but has trouble and changes into all sorts of random animals. Tamatoa tosses Maui around and puts Moana in a cage. Moana is able to escape and distracts him with the heart of Te Fiti. It falls into a crack and while Tamatoa is digging for it, she grabs the hook. They try to escape before Tamatoa realizes that the heart he is after is just a barnacle covered in bioluminescent algae. They go shooting up and are thrown into the ocean, able to escape.
Maui is still having trouble shapeshifting and he ends up half man and half shark. Maui feels like if he can’t even beat Tamatoa then he will not be able to beat Te Kã. He thinks he is cursed because he can’t shift.
It is night and they are still sailing around. Maui thinks that there is no hope. Moana asks how he gets his tattoos and Maui says that they show up when he earns them. Moana asks about a particular one of a child being thrown into the ocean by a mother, but Maui won’t talk about it. Moana tells him about how her island is dying. She wants to help them and she wants to help Maui, but she can’t if he won’t let her. Maui then explains that he wasn’t born a demigod; he was born to human parents who did not want him and they threw him into the sea. He was found by the gods who gave him his hook and Maui was sent back to the humans to give fire and coconuts. He just wanted to gain their love. Moana tells him that the gods aren’t the ones who make him Maui, he is. Maui grabs his hook again and the song “Logo Te Pate” plays as he practices shapeshifting. Finally he gets the hang of it and Maui lets Moana take over wayfinding as he continues to teach her.
They reach Te Fiti and Moana gives Maui the heart. They see the lava monster in the distance and Maui takes off in his hawk form, dodging fireballs. But Maui keeps getting hit and so goes back to the boat. Moana tries to sail the boat closer to Te Fiti to look for a better way in, but Maui tells her not to. Te Kã hits Maui’s hook and sends them flying back. The book is broken. Maui is upset with Moana for not listening to him to turn back and Moana says that they will be more careful next time. Maui insists that there won’t be a next time because without his hook, he is nothing. Maui has just enough power from the fishhook to turn back into a hawk and he flies off, leaving Moana with the heart.
Moana tells the ocean to choose someone else and the ocean takes the heart back. Tala’s stingray spirit swims around her and Tala appears. She teases Moana for being a long way past the reef. Moana gives her grandmother a big hug. Moana cries because she tried to complete her task but failed. Tala says that she will be with Moana if she chooses to go back home. Moana hesitates. Tala and Moana sing “I am Moana (Song of the Ancestors)” and Tala asks Moana if she knows who she is. Moana knows that she is a girl who loves her island and who loves the sea. She sees the spirits of her voyager ancestors and then dives into the ocean to get the heart. Her grandmother and the other spirits are all gone when she resurfaces.
Moana repairs her boat and is determined to restore the heart by herself. She sails back to Te Fiti. She is going to make it around the barrier islands because Te Kã can’t go into the water. With some tricky sailing, Moana makes it by Te Kã despite the rocks that the lava monster caused to crumble around her. She is thrown into the ocean. Maui then reappears and fights Te Kã. The ocean helps Moana get to Te Fiti and Maui tells her to look for the spiral to place the heart in. Maui is still fighting Te Kã, even as the hook is destroyed.
Moana reaches Te Fiti, but the goddess is gone. She then notices the spiral on Te Kã. Maui is still fighting Te Kã without his hook. Te Kã is then distracted by Moana holding up the heart. She tells the ocean to let Te Kã come to her. The ocean clears a path and Te Kã crawls along the sandy bottom of the parted ocean as Moana walks towards her while singing “Know Who You Are.” Moana puts the heart in the spiral and Te Kã turns into Te Fiti.
Moana and Maui are on Te Fiti. Moana says that she is sorry about his hook and Maui realizes that even without his hook, he is still Maui. Te Fiti picks them up in the palm of her hand and they bow to her. Maui apologizes for taking her heart all those years ago. Te Fiti gives him a new hook and gives Moana a new boat.
Moana loads up her boat to sail home. She invites Maui to come home with her because her people will need a master wayfinder. Maui says that they already have one. A tattoo of Moana appears on Maui and they hug. Maui then takes off as a hawk.
Moana sails home and Motunui is blooming again. Sina and Tui run down to the shore to meet Moana. The villagers and Pua follow and everyone rejoices that Moana is home.
The villagers pull out their ancestors’ boats. The ocean gives Moana another shell and she places it on top of the rocks of the ancient chiefs. Moana then teaches her people how to wayfind.
The title card appears.
The end credits play to “How Far I’ll Go” and “You’re Welcome.”
Tamatoa is complaining that he is stuck upside down. He insists that if his name was Sebastian and had a cool Jamaican accent, someone would help him.
Trivia:
- Auli’i Cravalho’s mother voices one of the villagers.
- Alan Tudyk is the voice of the villager who suggests to eat Hei Hei.
- Moana’s last name was announced as Waialiki, but was never used in the film.
- Moana was released theatrically with the short Inner Workings.
- Maui’s tattoos were all hand drawn and supervised by Eric Goldberg. The rest of the film is CGI.
- Moana is the first CGI film to be directed by team Ron and John.
- Similar to Frozen, a sing-a-long version was released in theatres about two months after the initial release.
- A short film featuring Moana and Maui was included in the Blu-ray release called Gone Fishing.
- There are many Easter eggs in Moana, including a Kakamora who looks like Baymax and the Genie’s lamp hidden on Tamatoa’s shell. Maui turns into a Sven during his shapeshifting mishaps and Wreck-It Ralph appears in the end credits.
- 2016 was the first year Disney Feature Animation released two films in the same year since 2002 with both Zootopia and Moana. In 2002, Treasure Planet and Lilo & Stitch were released.
- The end credit songs are sung by Alessia Cara and Jordan Fisher, featuring Lin-Manuel Miranda.
Representation in the Disney Parks:
Despite Moana being a very popular meet and greet character, she rarely makes an appearance in the Parks. In Hong Kong Disneyland there is the Moana: Homecoming Celebration show in Adventureland.
Check out the other films of Disney’s Revival Era:
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