(and the wild theories they’re all talking about)

Have you ever seen Disney’s Moana? Well you should. There are Disney Easter eggs
related to other Disney movies that we all love. Of course there are also outrageous twists and
theories that will rock your brain. Our lead, Auli’i Cravalho won the Teen Choice Award for
Choice Movie Breakout Star. She was so perfect for this role and she killed it! Not to mention,
the entire movie is just fun and loving and great all around. The Rock, you know, Dwayne
Johnson, plays a demi-God as well, so that’s hilarious. Even Jemaine Clement from Flight of the
Conchords plays a crazy talking crab in the movie! Yeah, so if you haven’t already, please watch
it. Then join us for some crazy theories about different characters and plot points we’ve got
here to share with you!

So we’re gonna start you off with the most adorable one and then get into the more
intense crazy theories like who the major villain is and is Moana actually DEAD? OH EM GEE.
[Hehe] we’ll get there, don’t worry. BUT FIRST: all the cuteness.

The turtle that she helps in the beginning of the movie is actually Squirt from Finding
Nemo. Remember in our Finding Nemo theories how we talked about how the East Australian
Current is close to Montunui in the South Pacific? That’s right! Also, it’s the very best island for
Crush to, “leave em on the beach to hatch and then coo coo kachoo, they find their way back to
the big ol blue,” because duh of course it’s a great island for one and for two, Moana is there to
help! Of course, remember how adorable Squirt and the turtle Moana helps out both are? SO
CUTE! And don’t forget this little clip where Crush appears and Squirt waves off to Moana in the
same way Squirt waves off to Marlin in Finding Nemo! [Mov. 06:16-06:25]. Yeah, so that’s
totally Squirt. Don’t you love Disney Easter Egg crossovers? We sure do!

Alright so this one will make more sense if you’ve already seen Coco, but Hei Hei is
Moana’s alibrije. Basically, that means that the chicken is Moana’s spirit guide throughout the
movie. For starters, he never dies no matter what the happenstances are that occur. Like
serious tidal waves, nope the chicken’s still alive. Also, Moana sticks up for him when a tribe
member asks if she should just cook and eat him. Hei Hei is totally right in wrong crazy ways.
Like for example he always seems to do silly things like jumping into the water even though he’s
afraid of it while simultaneously intuitively assisting Moana on her journey across the sea. He
picks up and eats the Heart of Te Fiti for no apparent reason, but him doing that actually helps
Moana to keep the rock with her and not lose it to the Kakamora.

Next – and slightly more crazy — theory. So, Moana’s dad, the village chief, is actually
the true villain of the movie. He has so much anger for the water killing his friend and being
rough when he tried to sail in it, that he is even willing to allow for his people and himself to
suffer. Think about this for a moment. So we have Grandma who keeps trying to share with the
village the stories of what happened with their ancestry, and Chief Tui tries to get her to stop.
He’s made it to where all of the canoes and everything related to their past regarding water and
wayfinding is hidden in blocked off caves. They’re starting to lose food and there’s a blackness
that’s starting to seriously corrupt the island of Montunui, and the best way to solve this is by
wayfinding again.

However, Chief Tui avoids this at all costs – including the cost of the entire
island’s demise. So he really is the biggest hinderance to Moana and the villagers’ happiness.
Therefore, he’s the true villain. Then again, if it wasn’t for him rejecting Moana’s attempts to
travel the sea, the movie wouldn’t have happened the same way – or have a good plot. Hence,
even more so that he is the villain of the movie. Because Moana would not have had a “call to
action” if it wasn’t for her misguided dad.

Grandma is actually also Maui’s mother who abandoned him, as well as the Goddess of
the Ocean. She has vast knowledge of the things that occur with Maui and has a lot of faith in
him. She knows how Moana can tell Maui to, “deliver the heart to Te Fiti” to save their island.
Not to mention, she has the heart of Te Fiti to give to Moana, so she must be the Goddess of
the water. The water shows it to Moana when she is a child, and then the Grandmother keeps it
until she is old enough to venture to complete the necessary tasks. Also, think about it, she
chooses her own granddaughter — the one whom was not actually scared of her stories of Maui
and what happened with Te Fiti — and uses the ocean to show her and assist her. When she
dies, her spirit follows Moana in the ocean and then continues to help her. When Moana tells
the ocean that she can’t complete the task at hand, who happens to appear but her
Grandmother, the Goddess of the Ocean?

Also, if you’re worried about the age gap of Grandma and Maui, think about this.
Grandma has the Heart of Te Fiti. Once she gives the heart to Moana, that’s when she just so
happens to leave her cane and be laying down ready to die? What lead up to this health issue?
If it was just age, she would have been decaying more during the movie, not dancing around
with sting rays. So clearly the Heart of Te Fiti has something to do with keeping her alive and
fresh longer. She had a mission to wait for Moana to be ready to venture out to restore the
Heart, and then, since the Heart was no longer with her, it was time for her death. So the Heart
has a magical property that allowed her to stay alive as long as she did.

Also Maui’s “You’re Welcome” song shows how Gods and Goddesses from mythology
genuinely try to do things to help humans, but it is actually human error that causes the bad
stuff we end up having to deal with in regard to nature gifts from the deities.

Last, but certainly not least, Moana died at the waves and the movie is about her
journey to the afterlife. So her boat pretty much capsizes during the storm on her way to
Maui’s island. She begs the water for help and then all of a sudden wakes up on his island –
with the boat back and in working order. It is highly plausible that she actually died during that
storm and that the water got her through the barrier into the magical otherworld. She never
actually gets hurt after this point either. When the reef hurts her foot that’s before she dies –
so well before this point in the movie. Not to mention, the “Realm of the Monsters” is basically
the Underworld. How exactly can a human breathe underwater for that long? She never
interacts with any living creatures other than her – as previously mentioned – alibrije Hei Hei.
And alibrijes can travel back and forth between the otherworld and the living world. Her
Grandmother is already dead and Maui is a demi-God. Everything else is some kind of monster
that they have to get past. At the end, out of love, the Goddess Te Fiti brings her back to life
and restores her boat entirely. Yay for sweet and loving Goddesses! Welcome home, Moana,
enjoy wayfinding and being the new chief!