#moana likes

[lesbinewren]

truly do not understand people looking at something with dynamic, colorful, beautifully stylized animation and going “okay that’s cool but what if it just looked like real life instead”

[birdsong-18]

percy: *hanging from a hole in the st. louis arch, about to fall to his death, half poisoned*

me: HERE WE GO, ABOUT TO FIND OUT HOW HE FALLS INTO THE FUCKING RIVER

[bubbl3solution]

something about maui originally becoming a demigod after being tossed into the sea to die and being thrown into the ocean again as he turns back into a human, becoming mortal again but not for a second regretting his sacrifice. i need to sit down

[erinwantstowrite]

wait guys i forgot to make this joke earlier but i saw Moana 2 (spoilers???? if anyone cares??) and the fact that Moana got struck by lightning TWICE and also there were multiple mentions to fanfic... felt targeted...

[mind-lost-in-the-stars]

not to overanalyze like I always do but the beginning of Moana (sing the beginning of Moana!) could also refer to Hatchetfield. I’m very specifically referring to “the island gives us what we need…and no one leaves” like it’s totally not intentional, but I think it’s neat

[cartoonjessie]

Competitive sailors are among the fittest athletes, and I thought of Moana as no exception. We dialed up her musculature and sculpted her face to appear more faceted. To her hair we added sun-bleached tips, keeping its length and texture but combing it up and over to the side. She's also a bit taller. All these changes were subtle to ensure she remained recognizable as the Moana we know and love. - Ian Gooding, Production designer of Moana 2 (2024) - from "The art of Moana 2"

[jmr-observingfromafar]

ngl Matangi in Moana 2 was kinda gay. like just a little gay. i mean my girl is a "crazy cat bat lady", calls Moana "babe" twice in her song (the way i audibly gasped in the theater when i heard it lol), and is like sooooo queer coded i love it sm. she just gives off the vibes of sapphic-coded older woman who's played as suave and confident and makes the mc just go "haguphuk" and we all know if this was old disney they would've leaned so hard into that. but i could not have been the only one to keep catching Matangi poking her buttons, the hand on her chin in one scene, just being a total fucking vibe like please i know what you are. that whole scene felt real gay and don't think im leaving Moana out of this one. she is gay, i don't make the rules. i'm stickin with this hc no one can stop me from making Matangi the cool lesbian aunt and NO ONE will stop me from turning Moana gay (Auli'i Cravalho knows what she's doing)

ok im gonna be so real for a second i was simping HARD over Moana's character design in this movie.... like even more than baby me was dying during the first one... like this girl is just- oh my gosh. baby-gay me from 8 years ago would have actually DIED if she'd seen this Moana. it's almost embarrassing how down bad i was during that movie like she's so fucking pretty i wasn't ready for her design. like girls are just too much sometimes, i cant cope .

also side tangent but the lazy ass rewrite of Moana 2 from its planned version as a Disney+ series into a freaking MOVIE was just- so painfully obvious. like they didn't even try reworking it. the structure of the whole movie is painfully episodic and it was just so blatantly shoved into movie format without any care for the integrity of basic movie versus tv structure, so the char dev and pacing was just so rough. like what were the writers even thinkingggg. pretty disappointing but that's ok i have the fandom to make me feel better (moana fan art save me....)

[maspers]

MOANA 2 SPOILERS

something something maui drowned because of a human and ascended because of the gods, something something moana drowned because of a god and ascended because of humanity

[sliceoflove]

I don’t see a lot of people talk about how Eugene, Nick and Maui are almost the same characters.

*this post is only within their first movies for a fair comparison i’m not including anything from sequels/spinoffs/series etc, but you’re welcome to reblog and add your own 2 cents of course

Well not basically the same but there’s more similarities than differences,

*i’m bad at explaining will probably edit later cause the wording is so awkward

��� Older guy, trickster/thieves, deadpan snarkers, with superiority inferiority/inferiority superiority complexes and troubled past forms an unlikely bond/friendship with young, cute, all loving, badass princess heroine.

• Heroine drags/threatens/blackmails them to take them on their mission

• They gave in, on their way they take them to a possibly dangerous place in hopes to intimidate them

• They gave them special nicknames:

- Rapunzel “Blondie”

- Judy “Carrots”

- Moana “Curly”

• Their relationship grow, they become more vulnerable around the heroine, enough to tell them about their unfortunate backstories

• They grow closer. They become the better versions of themselves

*With Tangled (Eugene/Rapunzel) being the only one to end up together romantically

In a nutshell:

Eugene/Nick/Maui, in the beginning of their movies: I need to get this brat off my back. Maybe i can smooth talk my way out of this, or just trick her.

Eugene/Nick/Maui: * takes advantage of their naivety, belittles them, ditches them *

Rapunzel/Judy/Moana: * persisted *

Eugene/Nick/Maui: UGH she’s so annoying, but she’s so brave/she saved my ass/inspired me, now I’m vulnerable enough to tell her my whole sad backstory

Rapunzel/Judy/Moana: * are understanding and gentle *

Eugene/Nick/Maui, at the end their movies: I would die for her 🥺❤️

[youkaiyume]

I do find it kind of strange as like a shipper of a ship that is not likely to happen nor popular in fanon, to know that Moana 2 underwhelmed me in every way except for the Moana/Maui shipping content itself-- which kept handing it to me in spades, kinda messes me up. This was one aspect of the movie that I truly did not expect at all I'm still kind of reeling from it. I literally can't hate the film just for the ship content it gave me alone.

[just-a-lil-otter]

This one specific line is one of my favorite in all of fiction

[whump-galaxy]

Say it with me, “I exist to make my characters suffer.”

[almostzander]

Just found out the Lotus Eaters in Epic are called Winions? And they have an actual design? I can't be the only one who, any time I heard them talk, I was just picturing the coconut pirates from Moana. Like Odysseus pulls up and Polites is singing about trusting these things??

[bubbl3solution]

moana being immortal now really fucks me up like you're telling me she's going to watch simea grow up and older than her? I'm supposed to be normal about the fact that moana will never return to the sea, to her ancestors, the way everyone she knows and loves will? you mean to say that someday maui will be her only companion, the only one in her life who won't grow old and die? am i understanding correctly that death, originally her biggest obstacle, is now just pretty much off the table for her?

[inkedinserendipity]

oh my god, y'all. oh my god. moana 2 spoilers under the cut.

i am just?? i am speechless. i am literally still collecting my thoughts. right now i am just a mess of glee and relief and joy at watching that movie. the first movie meant so much to me!! and the most important part of it to me was the friendship between maui and moana, and i am so proud of the sequel for how they did that relationship right. i was stunned honestly by how faithful they were to what drove the first movie - maui coming to respect and care about this mortal, and moana caring about him and turn.

the first thing he does when he hears the gods are threatening moana is go no, this is between me and him! this isn't about her! don't even talk to me about the way he dove into the ocean after her!! without hesitation, even after he just lost his hook and his powers! (especially after the way he reacted to that exact same thing in the first movie, but in this one, instead of lashing out, instead of even pausing to think about it, he just goes in after her.) the panic in his voice when he finds heihei and demands, oh hell, where's moana. the way he mourned - god, that broke my heart. that was palpable. that was tangible. the song, aue, aue....

fuck me. FUCK me. if me from six years ago could've seen this, i would've been overjoyed. i'm tearing up now, even thinking about it. this story that i cared about so deeply has been continued with so much respect to what spoke the most to me.

the callbacks made me so freaking happy too! the mini-maui being just as much of a little shit, keeping score, the oar and the hook, oh and MOANA'S OAR becoming the symbol of her divinity? i lost my freaking mind! that was so good! and her ancestors - her grandmother, tala - being the one who ushered her into divinity - was so fucking good. we tell the stories of our elders in a never-ending chain. you could see it happen! in the symbol of te fiti, the swirl of people who gathered around her to bring her back to life!

the tie between community killed me too. how in the beginning of the movie, the meeting in motunui featured just moana and her father - and then toward the end, the structure was full of people.

i have so many more thoughts, about the musical callbacks, the refrains from the first movie (and, candidly, a number of critiques about the new characters and the strange pacing and lackluster and plot and weird music choices - basically everything but the friendship between our leading duo, tbh), but this was just...my heart is so full. i am so glad i got to see this movie. younger seren, you would've fucking loved this.

[fallen-gravity]

Moana: [more devastated and afraid than she’s ever been in her entire life]

Maui, for some fucking reason (he’s genuinely trying to help):