Moana | Teen Ink

Moana

March 30, 2017
By KCS2016 BRONZE, Gainesville, Florida
KCS2016 BRONZE, Gainesville, Florida
2 articles 0 photos 0 comments

Moana is a fun filled fantastic Disney movie to watch as a family. This movie is about a Hawaiian Princess who wants to learn how to sail and explore but her father enforced one major rule - no one can go beyond the reef of their island of Motunui. However, she leaves despite her father's rules after she discover to save her island. On her voyage, she meets Maui the demi-god who once was mighty. They encounter many terrible monsters and impossible obstacles at sea on their thrilling, yet scary adventure. In the end she restored life back into her island and she found her own identity, which was to be a voyager.

Moana is the main character in this film. She is an outgoing teenager who wants to explore and adventure out beyond the reef of her island. The writers of this story portray Moana as a normal teenager who doesn't like listen and wants to be their own person; to find her own adventure out there, somewhere. She is very opinionated, like her grandmother, Tala. Moana’s teenage self does not want to carry out her responsibilities as a princess in her community. Eventually, her father persuades her to be a good leader but she is always called back to the water.

The amazing, Lin-Manuel Miranda wrote the music for this film. He did an incredible job with making the songs resemble the character that sings them. Grandmother Tala showed Moana why she had felt the ocean calling her. Moana’s Character, in "How Far I'll Go”, sings: "I've been staring at the edge of the water as long as I can remember never really knowing why". Another song is Maui’s prideful rendition of saying your welcome to Moana for all of the tasks and obstacles he's gone through to make the people happy.

Maui, the once-mighty demi-god, is also another main character. This charismatic personality is played by Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. The animation even shows Maui flexing his pecs just like Dwayne Johnson does. The animators made Johnson look like Maui even with the tattoos, however, Maui has more than The Rock. Maui is this selfish Demi God who cares about praise and rewards from people. He does everything to benefit himself. This resembles The Rock in some of his movies he has done. In the end, he his heart softens and becomes selfless.

In this movie, there are many hidden Easter eggs all throughout the story. Here are just a few. Toddler Moana was listening to her Grandmother talk about their ancestry and then her father knocks down all of the tapestries; one of them had the Marshmallow monster from frozen. Toddler Moana also helps Squirt pass the crows on the sand to the ocean and then he swims away with Crush. Moana's father sings the song about their island, during the song some people in the back shake out a rug which happens to be The Magic Carpet from Aladdin. When Moana is packing for her voyage, Olaf's nose was in the fruits and vegetables basket. During the animation of Maui's song "You're Welcome" Flounder swims up the side of the screen with other fish. Maui and Moana's first fight with monsters are with the Kakamora, one of the coconut faces has bamax's face on it. Another Easter egg is Aladdin's lamp on Tamatoa's shiny shell. When Maui gains back his hook, he can’t control it so he shape shifts into many different animals including Sven the Reindeer. Finally, Rapunzel's golden flower is the first flower to be restored on the island of Motunui near the end of the movie.


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