Moana

It was suggested that I’d really like Moana.  So I sat down long enough to watch it.  It was ridiculously adorable.  Filled with those Disney clichés we all love: you can do anything you put your mind to, women’s power, we have a destiny, nothing can stop us when it is our destiny, it is us that make us who we are and not what others tell us we are like.  It was a cute and funny movie.  It had beautiful imagery and storytelling.  The story of Moana is based off of a Polynesian mythology.

Moana is the chieftain's daughter, set to take over.  Her grandmother has been going on and on about an old legend of the heart of Te Whiti being stolen by Maui and it being lost. When she is young, she is chosen by the ocean.  It parts at her feet and reveals to her the lost heart of Te Whiti.  She tries to tame her inner desire to be out on the seas because she wants to make her father and island proud. As she is about to take over leadership of her island home, the crops begin to fail and the fishing begins to turn up empty… handed (dare I say, empty netted). Her grandmother presents her with the heart and shows her that her destiny is linked to her ancestors’ voyaging spirit.  She takes on the adventure of first finding Maui, the demi-god, and making him return the heart to Te Whiti.  This proves to not be as easy as she had been hoping.  Against the odds, she perseveres.  At times she even wants to give up her destiny for a different one; but realizes that this is her mission and she can’t just give up. Close with Disney happy ending.  The end!