I hadn’t watched a Disney movie on screen for about three years (the last one was Frozen and it left me quite disappointed. I still don’t understand why it’s such a big hit.) I wasn’t that intrigued with Moana in the beginning but the more I watched – the teasers, trailer songs, etc. and THE ROCK, c’mon, I had to watch this. And Oh God! What a joy it was! The animations were so beautiful and gorgeous. The ocean looked so real, the islands–some bucolic, others mysterious. The detailing was so good! You could see strands of Moana’s hair do their individual bouncing to wind and all. That, my friends, is some serious animation work. It’s just freaking gorgeous.
It’s amazing when you can laugh at yourself. Disney does this. “If you wear a dress and you have an animal sidekick, you’re a princess,” says Maui to Moana one time.
Story-telling has improved. The songs are great. They have an emotional connect. Some of them, have the let-it-go hangover, but in a good way.
The story itself is simple. Nothing new except the Polynesian background. But how well they have utilised each of the characters!
[SPOILERS AHEAD]
The titular character Moana, is an ocean-loving adolescent with a mantle of responsibility to become the new “Chief”. The Chief loves his daughter and wants to protect her from the dangers of the ocean. His fear is justified but how can one live in fear all the time? So, it is not this fear, which stops Moana from exploring the ocean but the duty towards her people. The dilemmas she faces are real. She’s torn between her life long love for the ocean and the responsibility of leading her village. She chooses to do her duty. But when the need arises and she discovers “the past”, she sets off on a bold adventure. In brief, she has to find Maui, a demigod who stole the heart of Te fiti, which can create life and make him restore it.
The story is linear. There are no twists. But it’s enjoyable as the characters are lively and each conversation drives the story forward.
While Maui, the demigod stranded on an island comes off as sarcastic, disinterested, unwelcoming, you find him (and his tattoos) interesting. When you find out why he did what he did, you feel for him. Here, the need for “acceptance” (a very real concern in today’s world) is beautifully portrayed. Maui, is thrown into the ocean as a baby, disowned by his parents. The Gods find him and raise him. He becomes a demigod. And goes back to the humans to win their love. Everything he does is towards this end, to be accepted, to be loved. This despite the fact that he is, Maui, Shapeshifter, Demigod of the Wind and the Sea, Hero of men. And women. Hero of All.
Grandma Tala is a joy. She’s a master story-teller, chill and badass with the manta-ray/sting-ray(?) tattoo. She’s the go-to person for Moana when she’s in doubt. Tala is there for Moana in the darkest of times and makes her realise stuff.
At a crucial point, Moana kind of breaks down, why did the ocean choose her? Why is she the one on this quest? This is very relatable. Life can be hard at times. Often, we come across roadblocks and dead-ends, with no real progress. Rationality doesn’t help because it makes you realise the odds are against you. Motivation is hard. So, when Tala magically appears to remind Moana of who she is, I went, “Wohoo!”. Keep calm and sing like Tala. XD
So, it’s important to know who you are, as it determines what you can do. The choices you make essentially come from this. Unless, you dig deep and have a conflict-resolution with the ongoing identity crisis (which everyone has in one form or the other), you cannot be at peace with your decisions.
Also, I think I know why the ocean chose Moana. We get the hint in the beginning scenes. A baby Moana reaches the shores of the island, she sees a conch just about to be engulfed by the waves. She wants it. She also sees a baby turtle struggling to get back into the ocean pecked by crows. She only has time to do one thing – either get the conch or save the baby turtle. She saves the turtle. This is telling. She chooses to act selflessly, putting the baby turtle ahead of her materialistic desire of the conch. The ocean choses her then because baby Moana understood/felt/gave priority to life over non-life. Who else can be a better candidate to help restore the heart of Te fiti?
Moreover, she protects Heihei, the dumb and stupid rooster when everyone else is like, “What the?”. He pecks rocks, eats them up and throws them out because he can’t swallow them and the loop goes on. One wonders how he survives. Maui keeps feeding him to fatten him up and eventually eat him. Except for that nobody sees a purpose for Heihei. But Moana takes his case. This shows that she sees people, animals, things not just as means but an end in themselves. What Kant keeps telling us insistently. The essence of ethics. Also, Heihei being dumb and all, acts fearlessly in some cases, and even saves the heart at one point.
Which brings me to Te ka, the lava monster. By the end, you see that Te ka is only Te fiti without her heart. This rescues the story from being the typical good versus evil. More deeply, it touches on the nature of human greed and how it can wreck havoc and bring unto itself unforetold destruction. This is what Climate Change is about. Te ka, is a manifestation of that while Te fiti is the good and generous Mother Nature. We, greedy humans have stole her heart and she is wrought with its loss, the loss of her precious creations. I don’t think we can resist her impact, if she actually decides to doom us all. There should be more discourse about this. People have to consume ethically and rationally.
Moana is a step forward in terms of vastly important but vaguely understood concepts such as “women empowerment”, “diversity”, “climate change”, etc. But then you realise, it’s not the diversity or the female lead that makes it so universal in its appeal, it’s the acknowledgement of realities in however fictionalized forms–the depth which makes the characters alive, that resonates with all of us.
Suma Mandalapu 