Moana

“There must be more than this provincial life!” So goes the melancholy cry of the Disney princess. But it becomes so much more, something so much bigger in Moana, yet another triumph for the Mouse’s animation arm. Sweet, funny, exciting and moving, this is a transcendent experience that brings to the screen a pan-Polynesian cultural tradition that has been entirely absent from mainstream entertainment.

Here is a wonderful mythology of demons and demigods, and a creation story unlike any we’ve seen before: This is ancient fantasy that feels fresh because so few of us have been exposed to it before (unlike European-flavored fantasies and Judeo-Christian creation myths, which get so much play). But Moana’s story, set thousands of years ago, also has plenty of pointed messages that are relevant to us today.

The first thing electrifying about Moana is that its heroine isn’t just a girl longing to see new horizons. Yes, Moana is driven to find out what lies the beyond the reefs off her beautiful South Pacific island paradise, reefs beyond which her people are forbidden to venture. What makes her special is how she will achieve this: She is chosen by the ocean itself, as a reward for a kind act toward a sea creature, to take on a quest involving a long and dangerous journey that will, hopefully, save her island and her people. (Turns out paradise is threatened, as it usually is.)

From Ulysses and Jesus to Luke Skywalker and Neo and that doofus in The Lego Movie, our literature is replete with “Chosen Ones” who are male. The hero with a thousand faces finally has a female face – a brown female face. A thousand hoorays would not be enough.

There is, in the grand Disney tradition, much soul-searching and lots of “be yourself” encouragement, but we’ve never seen anything like how that takes shape here via Moana (the voice of newcomer Auli’i Cravalho). She wonders why she dreams of doing something that her father, Chief Tui (the voice of Temuera Morrison), insists cannot be attempted. But then, in an astonishing sequence, Moana experiences a soaring vision of the past of her people as daring explorers who crossed vast oceans, who were brave and intrepid, not confined by comfort and timidity. Moana isn’t a misfit: She embodies a bold and restless spirit of her people that has been denied for too long.

This is wonderful. A girl – a “mere” girl – is the very incarnation of her culture. It is impossible to overstate how much girls and women need to see this kind of message portrayed on screen.

The adventure that Moana embarks upon requires her to find the trickster demigod Maui, who long ago stole the heart of the mother of the Earth, which caused some bad things to happen and darkness to spread, etc. The heart needs to be put back, and only Maui can do that with his magic. When she finds him, she discovers an arrogant jerk (the voice of Dwayne Johnson) with no desire to help humanity, certainly not after how ungrateful we all are for everything he did for us (roped in the sun, set the tides rolling, etc). She will convince him that it is in the best interest of his reputation, which he’s wrapped up in, to help her.

The incomparable Disney way of combining goofiness with profundity reaches hugely entertaining new levels here: Maui’s animated tattoos, which act as his conscience, are characters in their own right. In a cave of treasures in a realm of monsters, Moana and Maui meet a spectacularly vain villain who is both a comic distraction and a cautionary tale.

That the animation is splendid goes without saying. And the songs are extraordinary. This may be the best Disney soundtrack since the heydey of Alan Menken and Howard Ashman in the early 1990s, or at least since The Lion King, thanks to Samoan-New Zealander singer-songwriter Opetaia Foa’i, Mark Mancina (among his many other credits, Disney’s The Lion King) and Lin-Manuel Miranda of Hamilton fame. (Dwayne Johnson gets a hilarious song for Maui; it turns out The Rock has a very pleasant singing voice.)

Ultimately, Moana’s quest, the wrong she must put right, is one with a very applicable message for us today: Do not piss off Mother Earth, because she will turn on you. (In the movie version of this conundrum, it’s never too late to fix the mess.) If Moana becomes an inspiration for youngsters today to become the green warriors of tomorrow, she may end up embodying the spirit not just of her Polynesian peoples, but of all of us.

MOANA (4) Directed by Ron Clements, John Musker • Starring Auli’i Cravalho, Dwayne Johnson, Rachel House • Rated PG • 113 min. • At Century Cinemas Del Monte, Century Marina, Maya Cinemas, Northridge Cinemas, Lighthouse Cinemas.