I saw Moana today, and there was so very much to love about it. But I think I’m just going to talk about one thing for now. And that’s the “princess upgrade.” (Well, that’s what I’m calling it.)
Moana has the usual Disney heroine trope of “I want more than being a princess/royalty/whatever!” (It’s a good trope for a fairy tale.) But with a lot of Disney princesses, there’s really nothing for them to DO as princesses. They exist, and that’s good and right for the kingdom, your prince will come and evil will be defeated, the end. There’s no actual ruling or governance or anything you have to be trained for, don’t be silly!
Moana is the daughter of a chief, and the main point her father uses to keep her at home and out of trouble is saying, “hey, you’re gonna be chief someday, here are your people, you’ve got to take care of them!” And the next montage shows her…doing exactly that. We see her making decisions in day-to-day life, talking to her people, doing her job to keep the island and her people happy and prosperous. We see her, in short, being trained to be a leader. Her birth position is both a job and a serious responsibility that has to be performed right to keep things good. Destiny, of course, has some extra things in mind for her, but those things are also in the best interest of her people. They’re tasks that need to be done, and she was the person picked for the job.
That was EXTREMELY refreshing to see. And that alone would have made the movie worth it to me, but again, there was SO MUCH MORE TO LOVE.
moana
I think my favorite thing about Moana is just the overarching theme of “Who You Are Is Enough”. It’s a little bit of an update to the same as “Be Yourself” that we’ve been getting for all these years, because it has… more of a sense of your place in a community, I guess. Mulan kind of touched upon this, but not with the same force or emotional impact that Moana does. “Being yourself” is hard when you feel like you don’t know who you are or don’t like yourself, and its very self-centered (not necessarily in a bad way!). But Moana says that connections to others are important. That sometimes, focusing on the people who care about us is what helps us find things to like about ourselves. Sometimes we need other’s help finding ourselves again when we get lost, to remember who we are. And even when you feel lost or alone or worthless, when you don’t quite know who you are anymore, who you are is still good enough.
I just went to see Moana from Disney and as I really liked the visual of the movie, I did a little fan art :)
Art by Alexandre Belbari ( www.chucco.tumblr.com )
Moana’s out in theaters today!
After animation wrapped on Big Hero, I had the opportunity to help out with design on Moana. One of my assignments was to design the village kids from her island of Motunui. I hoped to bring a sense of authenticity to how they looked, and to make them real for me I thought a lot about watching my little cousins grow up back in the Philippines=)Thankful for them!
NEW ‘MOANA’ PICS SHED LIGHT ON OUR ENSEMBLE
Moana’s theatrical debut is only a handful of months away, and new info is fresh in for Disney’s first Polynesian princess. Previously, audiences only really knew of the chief’s daughter-turned-sea-navigator, chosen by the ocean, and her demigod friend, Maui. A new international trailer recently showed her playing with the shore as a baby. The recent pictures show us the other characters in Moana’s world.
Chief Tui and Sina are Moana’s parents. They watch over Motunui Island, where they live. Tui is being portrayed by Temuera Morrison, a New Zealand actor of Maori descent—but you may know him as the face of Star Wars’ Jango Fett. Sina is being played by Nicole Scherzinger, the singer known for being in the girl group The Pussycat Dolls,who was also born in Honululu to a Native Hawaiian mother. Their inclusion makes Moana one of the few Disney princesses to have both of her parents alive–an exclusive club of only Mulan, Merida, and Rapunzel. She will also be one of the few princesses to have an active mother role.
Moana’s grandmother, who was previously seen in concept art at D23, is Gramma Tala. Tala is said to have a tight bond with her granddaughter, perhaps even tighter than the one she has with her parents. She encourages Moana to follow her heart. She is being portrayed by Rachel House, another New Zealand actor with Maori heritage.
There are also a number of animal sidekicks abound, as par for the course with most Disney movies. Moana’s pig Pua, as seen in the first trailer, will not have a speaking role–but he will be very cute. Along the way, Moana and Maui run into Tamatoa, a fifty foot tall crab from the land of monsters, known as the Lalotai. The crab will be played by another NZ actor, Jemaine Clement. Jemaine is famous for being one-half of the NZ comedy music duo Flight of the Conchords. Jemaine’s partner, Brett, worked with Disney before composing award-winning music for the Muppet movies. Jemaine has also previously worked with Moana writer Taika Waititi on the film What We Do in the Shadows. Jemaine is also of Maori descent. He was encouraged to improvise by the film’s crew for the role.
HeiHei is another of Moana’s animal friends. He’s played by voice actor Alan Tudyk, who’s become something of a Disney staple (he portrayed King Candy in Wreck-it Ralph, as well as the Duke of Weselton in Frozen, and of course Duke Weasleton in Zootopia). Tudyk is one of the few cast members who is not of Polynesian descent. HeiHei technically doesn’t have a speaking role, but Tudyk composed his own rooster talk for the character.
Some light was also shed on the film’s story. Auli’i Cravalho, the teenage actress behind Moana, said the princess will have some of her mannerisms.
“I tend to talk a lot — and talk quickly — so there’ll be a little bit of rambling in some scenes. And she touchers her hair a lot, and I do that when I’m nervous.” (source) At least one aspect of the film revolves around Maui getting his legendary hook back, which Tamatoa has.
Moana debuts in North American theaters on November 23rd, 2016.
Watch the trailer
Yay, an appropriately cast (right?) Disney film!
And yay, Jango Fett Temuera Morrison!
