Moana is a heartwarming tale rooted in Polynesian culture.
But while your kids giggle at the silly antics of a mentally unstable chicken, you may notice
a few things that can only be caught through the jaded eyes of adulthood.
But here's your warning: spoilers abound.
No need to thank us.
"You're welcome!"
Unsafe conditions
Moana's dad sings an entire song about not going out past the reef, but early in the
movie we see that there really is zero water safety going on when she's in diapers.
We know it's hard to watch kids at all times, but while Moana's father is chastising his
own mother for scaring the toddlers with legends about "inescapable death," Moana toddles out
to sea.
If that were real life, the story would be splashed on social media, Moana's dad would
be in jail, and the mommy shamers would be out in full force.
Fortunately the ocean has human characteristics and good intentions when it tempts the toddler
out to sea with a bunch of shells.
That's a lucky break.
Superhuman strength
It's easy to take physical strength for granted in animated characters because we've seen
Wile E. Coyote walk away from an anvil injury to survive another day.
But we couldn't help but notice that Moana had some seriously strong muscles.
In seemingly just a few minutes, she scales a mountain to get to the Realm of Monsters.
She also shimmies up to the roof of a hut for a quick repair, and she regularly makes
treks to the top of Motunui without breaking a sweat.
The way that Moana's people harvest their produce is by scaling huge palm trees.
They clearly never miss leg day.
Grandma will have you in tears
As an adult, the crazy grandma may become your favorite character because she's a strong
woman with a great sense of humor.
While swaying in the water, Gramma Tala dips her hand down into the sea to graze the backs
of the circling rays, and she tells Moana,
"When I die, I'm going to come back as one of these.
Or I chose the wrong tattoo."
The grandmother doesn't live much longer after that, and as Moana sets out on her greatest
adventure, a light explodes and a beautiful glowing ray glides swiftly under her boat
and out to sea, jumping majestically into the air.
Just try watching this movie in its entirety — including the scene where Gramma Tala's
spirit helps Moana find her inner strength and identity — without crying.
You can't!
Don't even try.
The cheeky jokes
In true Disney fashion, there are a few corny jokes thrown in for the parents.
At one point, Maui says,
"When you use a bird to write with, it's called tweeting."
Maybe it's a dorky dad joke.
But it gets full points for creativity.
They also threw in a little toilet humor when Maui tells Moana that warmer water means she's
going the right way.
"It's getting warmer…
UGH!
That is disgusting!"
Let's face it.
Potty jokes will always be funny.
A likeable villain
The world is scary enough right now, so we appreciate Disney throwing a fairly benign
villain our way with Tamatoa.
Instead of terrifying kids the whole time, we laugh at the shiny decapod when he offers
up lines like,
"Just pick an eye, babe.
I can't, I can't concentrate on what I'm saying when you keep --- yeah, pick one!
Pick one!"
The entire movie actually calls on us to reexamine the concept of "villainy" as a black and white
concept.
The film's primary antagonist, Te Ka, is actually the goddess Te Fiti who has been wronged.
Our heroes win the day by healing her, rather than fighting her.
Now that's deep.
Tons of Easter eggs
There are quite a few Easter eggs in this movie, starting with the little sea turtle
Moana saves at the beginning of the movie that bears a striking resemblance to Squirt
from Finding Nemo.
Later, when Maui's shapeshifting abilities are on the fritz, he transforms into Sven
from Frozen.
They also had a few Little Mermaid nods alongside Tamatoa.
The lair for his "collection" looks eerily similar to Ariel's Grotto.
Then at the end, Tamatoa offers up the ultimate Little Mermaid easter egg:
"Can we be real?
If my name was Sebastian and I had a cool, Jamaican accent, you'd totally help me.
You would, you know you would."
Finally, the directors of Moana are the same dynamic duo responsible for Aladdin.
Among other things, you'll notice that the magic carpet makes an appearance in the beginning
of the movie when Moana sings "How Far I'll Go."
The music is SO good
Frozen may have busted out of the box office with Golden Globe nominations, and Academy
Award and Grammy wins for its music, but Moana has some serious lyrical talent.
The song "How Far I'll Go" is so powerful that one 4-year-old broke the internet when
the spirit moved her through that song.
Samoan singer and songwriter Opetaia Foa'i collaborated on the soundtrack — writing
"We Know the Way" among other songs.
In a touchy time of cultural appropriation, it was nice to know they consulted and took
direction from the people they wanted to represent.
Disney feminists
While Frozen showed girls that true love could come in the form of sisterly affection, the
plot of that movie still ends with Anna finding a man.
But did you notice that Moana and Maui don't fall in love?
They mutually love and appreciate each other at the end of the movie, and they clearly
have a strong bond — but it isn't in a romantic way at all.
Moana's story doesn't end by partnering up with her future husband.
It ends with Moana and Maui saying, "See you out there" and she goes on to teach her people
to be voyagers.
Disney allows Moana and Maui to empower each other, showing that true feminism doesn't
pit male against female.
Maui doesn't have to be weak in order for Moana to be strong.
Together they're strong.
And isn't that a great lesson for women of all ages?
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