History WesternAnimation / Moana

** The Kakamora and their ships and drums are a deliberate hailing to Immortan Joe's armada and the Doof Wagon/Doof Warrior from ''Film/MadMaxFuryRoad''. The score in this scene is also intentionally evocative of Music/JunkieXL's work on ''Fury Road'', even going so far as to incorporate a snippet of the melody fr M “Brothers in Arms”.

* DubNameChange: In most European and Asian countries, Disney changed the protagonist's name and the movie's title to "Vaiana". While there was an Italian porn star named "[[NamesTheSame Moana]] Pozzi" (deceased more than two decades before this movie came out) that Disney probably doesn't want to be associated with, the lesser-known ''real'' / primary reason for the name-change is because a cosmetics brand has trademarked "Moana" throughout the European Union.

* JustSoStory:
** In real life there was a break in the Polynesians' wayfinding practice for one to two thousand years (known as the "long pause") before they suddenly resumed their voyages. This movie posits that they stopped because of the consequences of Maui stealing Te Fiti's heart and started again because Moana returned it and Maui taught her the skills for voyaging, which she then taught her tribe.
** In the story, the explanation for many natural phenomena is "because Maui did it".

* SeldomSeenSpecies:
** Tamatoa resembles a giant coconut crab (the largest crab species that can move on land), although his habit of decorating his shell with jewelry is inspired by the (appropriately named) decorator crab.
** At the start of the film, baby Moana protects a baby sea turtle from a flock of frigate birds.
** One of Maui's animal forms is a tuatara, a lizard-like reptile native to New Zealand.
** In Lalotai, one particularly freaky monster takes the form of a sea anemone.
** While eagles are a common sight in fiction, Maui's eagle form is actually based off of the Haast's Eagle, a massive, extinct species of eagle from New Zealand.
** A few manta rays are seen at the beginning of the film, and Gramma Tala even has a tattoo of one on her back. [[spoiler:Her spirit later takes the form of a manta ray and guides Moana on her quest.]]
** During the song "We Know The Way", a bird can be seen flying by that resembles a white tern.

Moana Waialiki lives on the beautiful island of Motinui, where she is set to become the next chief of her tribe. But when the crops start failing and fish flee the inshore waters, Moana believes that the island's troubles are linked to the legend of [[EvilTaintedThePlace an encroaching "darkness"]] created when the demigod Maui stole the heart of the benevolent creator goddess Te Fiti.

Moana Waialiki lives on a beautiful island where she is set to become the next chief of her tribe. But when the crops start failing and fish flee the inshore waters, Moana believes that the island's troubles are linked to the legend of [[EvilTaintedThePlace an encroaching "darkness"]] created when the demigod Maui stole the heart of the benevolent creator goddess Te Fiti.

** The Kakamora and their ships and drums are a deliberate hailing to Immortan Joe's armada and the Doof Wagon/Doof Warrior from ''Film/MadMaxFuryRoad''. The score in this scene is also intentionally evocative of Music/JunkieXL's work on ''Fury Road.''

Recognising her compassion and wanderlust, [[GeniusLoci the ocean itself]] entrusts Moana with [[MineralMacGuffin the lost heart of Te Fiti]]. Defying the wishes of [[AdultFear her protective father]], Moana embarks on an adventure across the turbulent and monster-filled seas to track down Maui and force him to return the heart of Te Fiti before the darkness swallows all life on the ocean.

* AdultFear:
** At the beginning of the movie toddler Moana wanders away from the hut where Tala and Tui are arguing over the legend of the heart of Te Fiti and goes down to the beach. Once he realizes she is missing, Tui is anxiously searching for her and when he discovers her on the beach at the water's edge you can see fear and concern on his face as he realizes how close she is to the ocean alone and unsupervised.
** The traditions of Motunui teach that there is safety on the island and that a chief's duty is toward his people. When Moana has her supernatural encounter with the ocean spirit as a toddler, it awakened her passion for the ocean and she constantly strives toward it as shown during the "Where You Are" montage. While her desire frustrates Tui because it goes against the expected duties of a chief, he also harbors [[spoiler:an emotionally crippling fear of the ocean because his best friend drowned when they sailed together beyond the reef into an unforgiving sea that destroyed their boat]]. Knowing the dangers of the open seas, he fears for Moana's safety because of her fascination with the ocean and sailing and nothing he does seems to discourage her.

* AgeProgressionSong: "Where You Are" goes from Moana as a toddler (about 2 years old) to a child (about 10 years old) to her present age at 16. So, there's roughly a 14 year time skip.

The cast includes Wrestling/DwayneJohnson as Maui, newcomer Creator/AuliiCravalho as Moana, Creator/TemueraMorrison as Moana's father, Tui Waialiki, Music/NicoleScherzinger as Moana's mother, Sina Waialiki, Rachel House as Gramma Tala, [[Music/FlightOfTheConchords Jemaine Clement]] as Tamatoa, a giant crab monster, and Creator/AlanTudyk as the chicken Heihei. It reunites the directing power duo of Ron Clements and John Musker, the men behind ''[[WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaid1989 The Little Mermaid]]'', ''WesternAnimation/{{Aladdin}}'', ''WesternAnimation/{{Hercules}}'', ''WesternAnimation/TreasurePlanet'' and ''WesternAnimation/ThePrincessAndTheFrog''. The film features seven original songs by Creator/LinManuelMiranda and Opetaia Foa'i, and the score is written by ''WesternAnimation/BrotherBear'' and ''WesternAnimation/{{Tarzan}}'' composer Mark Mancina.

->''"There's a line where the sky meets the sea and it calls me,\\

I'm on my own, to worlds unknown!"''

* CuteClumsyGirl: Moana has a lack of experience in the sea. Maui teases Moana during his song "You're Welcome" and, with her transfixed, he shuts her in a cave so he could steal her boat. Throughout her adventure to return the heart of Te Fiti, Moana was dunked, sent flying, or occasionally stumbling as well as slipping on her feet. Upon entering Lalotai, Moana is attacked by a frog-lizard monster and a sloth monster, where she scream or squirm in panic, having never been so afraid in her life as the monsters attempts to eat her. Fear and shock distracted Moana as Tamatoa flipped her into the air and clutched her in his pincer, hanging her midair as his mouth opening wide to catch her.

* FertilityGod: Te Fiti, the Mother Island, is a larger-than-life goddess who gave life to countless islands in the world. She is covered with moss and plants, and can make plant life grow from anything, even ash and soot. She is a kind and benevolent goddess [[spoiler:until her Heart is stolen and she transforms into the destructive Te Kā.]]

* FertilityGod: Te Fiti, the Mother Island, is a larger-than-life goddess who gave life to countless islands in the world. She is covered with moss and plants, and can make plant life grow from anything, even ash and soot. She is a kind and benevolent goddess, until her Heart is stolen and she transforms into the destructive Te K?.

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: A teenage girl who has, at best, puttered around in a sheltered lagoon, takes a boat and boldly heads out into the open ocean on an epic quest...and promptly has her boat smashed apart by the real power of the ocean and would have likely drowned had the ocean not dumped her back on the shore.
* SurrogateSoliloquy: Moana describing her plan to get past Te Kā when she's on her own after [[spoiler:Maui deserts her]]. It initially seems like Inner Monologue, but then we see Moana has been addressing Hei Hei. Lampshaded:
-->'''Moana''' ''(suddenly embarrassed)'': None of which you understand, because you are a chicken.
* SweetAndSourGrapes: Maui sacrifices his magical fishhook, which is the source of many of his powers, and to which he attaches a great deal of his self-worth, blocking a blow from the mad volcano demon to protect Moana and right a past wrong. In the end, [[spoiler: the goddess presents him with a new one as thanks for his service]].

* RealityEnsues: A teenage girl who has, at best, puttered around in a sheltered lagoon, takes a boat and boldly heads out into the open ocean on an epic quest...and promptly has her boat smashed apart by the real power of the ocean and would have likely drowned had the ocean not dumped her back on the shore.

* APigNamedPorkchop: There is Pua the pig, whose name comes from the word "puaka", which means "pig" and "pork" in various Polynesian languages. Maui nicknames [[ADogNamedDog Heihei the chicken]] "Drumstick", and makes no secret that he wants to eat it.

* {{Fauxshadow}}: On two occasions, Moana is shown stealing a boat with Pua, the film’s AmplifiedAnimalAptitude sidekick, in tow, hinting that he will be joining Moana on her eventual adventure. However, when the time comes, it’s actually Heihei the TooDumbToLive chicken who unwittingly stows away on Moana’s boat, while Pua is left behind on the island. A Downplayed example in that the creators were not intentionally trying to mislead the audience. The original story was for Pua to go with Moana, but the creators felt he added too much emotional support and Heihei was substituted.

 * PartingWordsRegret: Chief Tui gets into a fight with Moana when she says they need to brave the ocean to find Maui and persuade him to restore the heart of the Ocean. He says they're destroying the ships in storage because it's too dangerous for her or anyone else to go on a voyage to find a god. Cue his mother collapsing, and he has to go tend to her. Then he finds out, after his mother dies, that his daughter went out to sea alone, on the off-chance that her quest may succeed. It's no surprise that when Moana returns, she apologizes for going beyond the reef but Tui doesn't care. He's relieved that she is alive, and that's all that matters. There is some AngerBornOfWorry but the first priority is making sure that his daughter is okay.