to carry out her mission and bring their family closer together. She is always there for her
granddaughter through good and bad even after her death and is always telling her to be
who she is. Tala may also have a dark sense of humor and she may come across as scary
in certain moments, but she does care very much for her family and for her home. That
is why she does whatever she can to help Moana clear away her doubts and to follow her heart.
Following after Gramma is Pua. Although, this little pig is not on screen for long, it is
clear that he is supportive of Moana’s dreams of sailing. He gives her encouragement as
he holds a paddle in his mouth out for her and at the end when he is seen on the deck
enjoying the breeze. He also shows his fondness for Moana by following her around the island
and even jumps into her arms at the end, licking her face repeatedly. His only drawback is
that he tends to scare easily and runs away from their crashed boat. To be fair, he almost
drowned just prior. So, we’ll let him off easy.
Even though they are only ever mentioned throughout the movie, we are going include the Ancient
Chiefs of Moana’s people. Their choice to stop voyaging and keep their people on the
island did cause the strict beliefs her father has maintained through his role of chief.
However, we can cut these individuals some lack since they only created this rule to
protect their people from the monsters hiding in the ocean. Talk about a paradox.
Now, we have Mini Maui. As his name suggests, the small tattooed version of Maui that runs
all over his body giving his feelings and reactions to everything Maui does. Unlike
Maui though, this little guy shows his concern for others more openly than his other side.
This is shown when he protested against Maui leaving Moana in the cave or when Moana gets
constantly thrown off the boat. His relationship with Maui is definitely more of a love-hate
one considering one moment he is messing with Maui and in another, he is hugging him as
a sign of comfort. Plus, his morality for doing what’s right is shown no better than
when he talks Maui into returning to the battle to help Moana against Te Ka. Mischievous,
sure, but that’s not surprising if you look who he spends all of his time with.
Lucky Number seven on our list is the Ocean. It’s pretty unique for essentially a huge
part of nature to be made into an actual character in a Disney movie. Despite the fact that this
body of water never speaks and only interacts with the other characters when the situation
calls for it, the Ocean seems to be primarily interested in helping Moana on her journey.
Whenever she gets lost, the ocean helps her out in its own twisted way.
Whenever Maui throws her off the boat, the ocean immediately guides her back on and even
while facing Te Ka, it gives the hero a helping hand. The other characters the Ocean interacts
with are Tala, Maui and HeiHei. With Tala, the ocean acts calm and friendly. With Maui,
the water seems childish as it spits in his face... and with Heihei, their relationship
can be seen as a love-hate one considering how many times the ocean has to help keep
this chicken from drowning itself. Overall, the ocean is where it needs be; this character
isn’t kind to everyone but does do its fair share of solving the trouble at hand.
Right after the Ocean, we have Moana’s mother, Sina. Although she is kind, loving and patient
towards Moana, she doesn’t immediately support her daughter’s dreams of wayfinding. At
one point, she seems to even discourage her from achieving any other goal that her child
has. From a parental perspective, this might have been seen as encouragement. However,
during the events of the movie, if Moana had listened, the island would have been left
in disaster. Thankfully, Sina realizes what had to be done to restore their home to greatness.
She does worry about her; that is why she is relieved to see her baby come home safely.
Next up is our favorite annoying chicken, HeiHei. Through the movie, this chicken’s
intelligence is made quite clear. He doesn’t seem to have much going on upstairs which
often gets him in trouble. He is constantly following into the ocean, he swallows the
Heart of Te Fiti, and he even manages to get himself stuck on Moana’s ship. He even tries
to eat Maui after he turns himself into a beetle during practice which does make Maui
annoyed with him. Heihei’s most helpful moment however is near the end when he catches
the heart before it falls and gives the object back to Moana without eating it. Good job,
Heihei. You managed to do something good in the end.
And with that said, we’ve wrapped up the good characters… We now move onto the Grey
Area. After our brain-dead, feathered friend, we
have Chief Tui. From the very start of the film, this man shows a deep love for his family
and his people. He forbids anyone from going outside the reef and gets mad at Moana every
time she mentions traveling beyond the points that he set. This seems unreasonable until
his wife explains that when he was young, Tui’s best friend had drowned after the
two decided to go out to sea themselves. His motives become clear during that moment. He
isn’t power hungry or controlling; he just wants everyone on the island to be kept safe.
Although, this goal is a pure hearted one, Tui does become oblivious to the real dangers
the island is facing because he lets his fears control his behavior. So much so that he is
not willing to accept that his people may be in far greater struggle sooner than anyone
expects. This fear even leads to the man nearly destroying the boats of their ancestors just
to try and get Moana to give up on the idea of being on the ocean. This would have caused
him to not only hurt his daughter but also destroy the only chance the people of the
island had to leave if the darkness spread any further. If it wasn’t for Tala being
at Death’s door; things would have gone from worse to hopeless very quickly. Wow,
that got dark. But thankfully, after he sees his daughter return home safely from her trip,
he finally lets go of his fears and happily becomes a voyager with the rest of his people.
Next up is This Villager. True, this character was only on screen for one scene. However,
the scene in question does raise some flags. After seeing Heihei pecking at a rock, he
asks Moana if he should just cook the chicken. Considering, Heihei is one of Moana’s friends
and does help her on her journey later in the movie, this suggestion would have very
likely have changed the outcome of the film. Then again, chicken is delicious.
Just barely missing our top 3 most evil slot is the hero of all himself: Maui. Despite
being labeled a hero, Maui is also called a trickster which means he has no problem
being manipulative in order to get his way. He distracts Moana by bragging about his past
achievements clearly showing his arrogant side. He steals her boat and traps her in
a cave showing no regard for her wellbeing. He even says the only reason he stole the
heart of Te Fiti in the first place was to give it to humanity as a gift. Quite the irony
since his gift nearly destroyed everything in creation by bringing 1000 years of darkness
upon the world. His anger and frustration also causes this demigod to act abusive towards
Moana; Not to mention threatening the little guy tattooed on his own body to constantly
throwing Moana off the boat the two of them share. He has little respect for anyone he
comes across and seems only interested in his own goals. Heck, he even ripped off one
of Tamatoa’s legs in their previous encounter. Ouch! But even his origin, Maui’s behavior
is better to understand. Since he was abandoned and then saved by the Gods, all he wanted
was for humans to love him which let’s be honest: who doesn’t want to be loved and
appreciated? While it is also true that he snapped at her for his own insecurities and
left her to fight on her own. He does come back and even gives up his hook (and almost
his life) to protect her while he carries out her mission. His apology to Te Fiti also
shows a side of sincere guilt and regret for his actions. In
the end, he is humbled from his experience with Moana; he learns how to truly believe
in himself, and those around him as he acknowledges Moana as a Master Wayfinder. If this change
in personality and overall character had happened sooner in the movie, Maui would have probably
in ranked higher than he is. Now, finally… we move onto the Bad and the
Evil… Coming right after our favorite trickster,
are the infamous Kakamora. These guys may look cute
when they’re first seen. However, their attitude quickly changes into what Maui transfers
to as “Murdering Little Pirates”. These living coconuts are not against stealing and
even using blow darts on their enemies. But this also means that despite being called
murderous, we don’t actually see them kill anyone. In fact, when the heart is on board
their ship, they don’t show much interest in continuing the fight until Moana intervenes.
Taking silver medal for most evil on our list is the fire demon, Te Ka. I know this is going
to cause some debate but give us a chance to explain. Yes, Te Ka did bring 1000 years
of darkness. However, this action doesn’t seem to be controlled by reason or a conscious
effort on her part. The darkness just seems to move on its own. Now, when voyagers come
near her home, she does act violently and lashes out at them. This is definitely wrongful
behavior especially since Moana and Maui are trying to help her get her heart back. In
the end, she does realize this and lets Moana put her heart back. It makes you wonder what
is going on in her head during that moment. Still, talk about an overreaction to heartbreak.
Finally, taking the gold medal for the most list in Moana is Tamatoa. At first, this crispation
doesn’t seem so bad. But he quickly comes out of his shell when he mocks Moana for feeling
strongly towards her grandmother and exclaims that he ate his grandmother. Ah, cannibalism
in a family movie. That definitely raises some flags. His behavior only gets worse from
there. When he brags about himself, he shows no sense of self-respect and is very vain
from all of the treasure he has on his body. This leads him to care nothing for others
as he tries to eat Moana and breaks down Maui’s self-esteem while beating the stuffing out
of him. Way to kick a guy while he’s down. And unlike Te Ka, Tamatoa is fully aware of
his actions and how absolutely cruel he is being. Therefore, we deemed him the most evil
character in the movie. His only redeeming quality, if we can count it, is the fact that
he doesn’t care that Moana and Maui got away; all he asks is, “Did you like the
song?” Who do you think are most good and evil characters
in Moana? Remember to hit that notification bell and binge our Good to Evil playlist -- where
we break down the morality spectrum of your favorite cartoons and movies. But most importantly;
stay wicked!