Disney’s Moana is an adventurous movie that shares the trials of a young teenager trying to explore beyond her confined Montunui Island reef and live in what she believes is her purpose. Moana’s father Chief Tui is being overly protective of his daughter and doesn’t really want her near the water and has been trying to keep her away from it since she was a young girl. What he doesn’t know is that when Moana was a baby the ocean chose her to be the one to save her people by finding the heart of Te Fiti. The hope is that once the heart is returned things will go back to being the way they once were.
Moana is in line to be the next Chief in her village and she isn’t one bit enthused about it as her father is. Moana’s grandmother Tala keeps it real with her and in many ways supports how she is feeling encouraging her to follow her heart. Moana doesn’t consider herself a princess and would rather be adventurous and sail the ocean to search for Maui, the demi-god and return the heart of Te Fiti. Moana’s primary focus at this point is saving her people. Tala also shared her ancestors’ history with Moana that has been buried for decades which prompted her to start her ocean adventure adventure.
The people of Moana’s village use to be way finders navigating the ocean but, that all stopped due to unfortunate events and it was hidden from her. Once Moana sets out on her ocean adventure, the ocean which is the cutest character in the animation helps her find Maui and assists them on their journey. Together after some resistance from Maui they do set sail across the ocean encountering some challenges and villains in the process. Through their trials Maui and Moana build a great relationship and become friends that are helping each other. Maui needs his magical fish hook to shape shift among other things and Moana just wants to return the heart and save her people.
There are so many lessons in this film that were tugging at my heart strings. Pua (The pig) and Hei Hei (The Rooster) are two funny characters that you won’t miss. They serve up so much comedy throughout the film. I even had a soft spot for the villains because they made me laugh. The Kakamora were mini coconuts that were ready to go to war over the heart of Te Fiti. Tamatoa is a 50 ft. crab from Lalotai, the realm of monsters who happens to have Maui’s fish hook. Maui’s tattoos were fun to watch, especially mini Maui. It’s also nice to learn that he earned them from life’s experiences. The voice of Moana is played by Auli’i Cravalho and the voice of Maui is played by Dwayne Johnson a.k.a “The Rockâ€.
I will tell you right now that my favorite part of the movie was the ending when Moana and Maui had to get through the Lava Witch in order to return the heart of Te Fiti only to realize that it needed to be returned to the Lava Witch. She was so angry that her wrath reigned upon anything or anyone she came into contact with. When Moana was able to get her attention and return her heart and Maui apologized for taking it, she transformed into a BEAUTIFUL representation of Mother Nature. Once she was calm all the destruction on islands and dead plants started to come back to life. It was so beautiful!
Disney’s Moana opens in theaters on November 23rd just in time for Thanksgiving! It’s a GREAT Family Movie!
Disclosure: I was able to attend a pre-screening of Disney’s Moana in 3D. All opinions are 100% honest and my own. #Moana **Photo Credits go to Disney**