Moana

 Released Year: 2016

Directed by Ron Clements & John Musker

Voiced by:

Auli'i Cravalho as Moana

Dwayne Johnson as Maui

Rachel House as Tala

Temuera Morrison as Tui

Jemaine Clement as Tamatoa

Nicole Scherzinger as Sina

Alan Tudyk as Heihei

 Story:

A small pounamu stone that is the mystical heart of the island goddess, Te Fiti, is stolen by the wind and sea demigod, Maui, who plans to give it to humanity as a gift. As Maui makes his escape, he is attacked by Te Kā, a lava demon of Earth and fire, causing his power-granting magical fishhook and the heart of Te Fiti to be lost in the ocean.

A millennium later, Moana, daughter and heir of the chief on the small Polynesian island of Motunui, is chosen by the ocean to receive the heart, but drops it when her father, Tui comes to get her. He insists the island provides everything the villagers need. Years later, a blight strikes the island as fish become scarce and the island's vegetation begins dying. Moana proposes going beyond the reef to find more fish. Tui rejects her request, claiming that sailing past the reef is forbidden.

Moana's grandmother, Tala, shows Moana a secret cave behind a waterfall where she finds boats inside and discovers her ancestors were voyagers, sailing and discovering new islands across the world. Tala explains that they stopped voyaging because Maui stole the heart of Te Fiti, causing monsters to appear in the ocean. Tala then says Te Kā's darkness has been spreading from island to island, slowly killing them. Tala returns the heart of Te Fiti to Moana, which she had recovered after Moana dropped it.

Tala falls ill, and with her dying breaths, tells Moana to set sail. Moana and her pet rooster, Heihei, depart in a drua to find Maui. A manta ray, Tala's reincarnation, follows. After a typhoon wave flips her sailboat and knocks her unconscious, she awakens the next morning on an island inhabited by Maui, who traps her in a cave and takes her sailboat to search for his fishhook. After escaping and catching up to Maui, Moana tries to convince him to return the heart, but Maui refuses, fearing its power will attract dark creatures.

Sentient coconut pirates called Kakamora surround the boat and steal the heart, but Moana and Maui retrieve it. Maui agrees to help return the heart, but only after he reclaims his hook, which is hidden in Lalotai, the Realm of Monsters. At Lalotai, they retrieve it by tricking Tamatoa, a giant coconut crab who collects rare sea treasures. Maui teaches Moana how to properly sail and navigate. They arrive at Te Fiti, where Te Kā attacks. Maui is overpowered and Te Kā badly cracks his hook and repels their boat far out to sea. Finally having enough of Moana's meddling and fearful that returning to fight Te Kā will destroy his hook, an angry Maui abandons her.

Distraught, Moana begs the ocean to take the heart and choose another person to return it to Te Fiti. The spirit of Tala comes to her and encourages Moana to find her true calling within herself. Inspired, Moana retrieves the heart and returns to Te Fiti alone. Maui, having had a change of heart, returns and distracts the lava demon, but his hook is destroyed in the battle. Realizing that Te Kā is a corrupted Te Fiti without her heart, Moana asks the ocean to clear a path for Te Kā to approach her. Moana then sings a song to help Te Kā remember who she truly is, and she allows Moana to restore her heart. Te Fiti returns and gives a new boat to Moana and a new magical fishhook to Maui before returning to her island form.

Moana bids farewell to Maui and returns to her recovering island with Heihei. Later, the villagers and Moana (who becomes their new chief) begin voyaging and set sail in search of new islands, as Maui and Tala accompany them in their giant hawk and manta ray forms, respectively.

In a post-credits scene, Tamatoa, who has been stranded on his back during Moana and Maui's escape, tells the audience they would help him if he was a Jamaican crab named Sebastian.

 L² Scored: 10/10

L² Comment: 

A great production from Disney again :) This time a Polynesian's myth was brought into the cartoon. The myth is actually the demigod Maui, but disney as usual, they will focus more on a female character, that's why Moana's character occur...Love the storyline as its not like the usual Disney "princess & prince", but a bravery of a girl attracted me... And it has gross a lot, nice job :)