A Disney source in California said only “the studio frequently changes titles in foreign territories for a wide variety of reasons.” Secondhand
Makes you wonder if they’re going to skip referencing Ariel being 16 in the live action remake. You know, because she gets married and presumably nailed at the end.
And if we’re talking about Polynesian myths, Sina (the same name as Moana’s mother) is married to a guy named Maui who is the trickster demigod Which means that Maui can be Moana’s father
But then Moana just sails off without her pig, and she accidentally and reluctantly acquires a brainless, completely un-cute chicken for a sidekick instead.
She wants very much to pick up the beautiful shell that is being pulled back out to sea, but makes herself protect the baby turtle, instead. She’s rewarded not for who is she is, but for what she does.
But! While Moana does disobey her father, she has an excellent, self-sacrificial reason for doing so. In fact, she has the same goals as her father has, and she ends up achieving what he has taught her from babyhood that it’s her duty to achieve.
Moana decides at one point that she can’t or won’t go on any further, and returns the magical whatsit to the ocean. She quits and tells the ocean to choose someone else. And the ocean
This theme of free will choices leads up very neatly to the astonishing and tremendously satisfying climax of the movie, when Moana confronts the great lava demon and reminds her that she, too, has a choice.
The mother was incredibly bland. They might as well have done the traditional Disney Dead Mother thing. She does explain her husband’s motivation for cracking down on Moana, and she helps her pack for the voyage, but anyone could have done that. This is a minor complaint, and is probably me projecting.
As a side note, my husband and I were just joking that this is the first Disney movie ever to put a princess and a hero in close proximity and NOT pursue a romance.
