Fridge / Moana

As a Fridge subpage, all spoilers are unmarked as per policy. You Have Been Warned.

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Fridge Brilliance

• Te Fiti was born from the Ocean. Which means that the dislike the Ocean shows towards Maui is a form of parental protectiveness (even though Maui himself is related indirectly to it).
• Many Disney movies are defying old conventions, and Heihei does it perfectly. Usually the Disney Non-Human Sidekick has human-level intelligence. This time, Heihei is stupid even by regular chicken standards.
  • It's definitely much easier to rescue a chicken from the Kakamora.
• Tamatoa's Villain Song is stylistically anomalous from the rest of the movie's songs, but this underscores the fact the scene takes place in an Eldritch Location.
  • It also makes sense on a meta level as well, since it more closely resembles a Flight of the Conchords song than a traditional musical number, and Jemaine Clement (the voice of Tamatoa) makes up one half of said band.
• Tamatoa means something along the lines of "heroic man/boy" in reo Tahiti. Guess how Tamatoa thinks of himself. Additionally, in gagana Sāmoa (Samoan), Tamatoa is plural and means "trophies" — which Tamatoa is covered in.
• Why is it so important that Moana is the one to restore Te Fiti's heart, instead of Maui? Because she's human. As this tumblr points out, Maui stole the heart because the humans of that time asked him to. This would also tie in nicely with Maui in Polynesian Mythology because most of his deeds were done because humans asked or complained about certain issues to him and he'd fix it. The line "It's nice to see that humans never change" could even be a Stealth Insult because this song is sung immediately after Moana demands that he help her return the heart. In fact the entire point of "You're Welcome" is secretly to show that humans are fickle and quick to demonise people; humans kept asking him to give them gifts, because it was never enough for them. No matter how amazing he was, it was never enough for people. Finally, he made a mistake while trying to give the gift of life itself to humanity. From then on, how was he remembered? As a trickster god who screwed everyone, "Maybe you were but now ... Now you're just the guy who stole the heart of Te Fiti. The guy who cursed the world..." That's why Moana was so surprised by the fact that he wasn’t a monster! She had no idea of all the good things he did. Maui was a guy whose only purpose was to make people happy but he made one mistake and was forever demonised by humanity.
  Maui: I gave them islands, fire, coconuts. Anything they could ever want.
  Moana: You took the heart for them. You did everything for them. So they'd love you.
  Maui: It was never enough.
  • Te Fiti herself is demonised as Te Ka; no one knew that she was actually Te Fiti trying to get her heart back, she was demonised as well. People who told the story referred to her as being one of the demons who were hunting for the heart. When Moana sings "Know Who You Are" she sings "THEY have stolen the heart from inside you, but this does not define you" Take note that she said they, she was never talking about Maui, she was talking about the humans themselves, the ones who kept asking Maui to give them more and more. That's why it's so important that Moana was the one to restore Te Fiti's heart and also be the one who helps Maui understand that he is so much more than what people define him as being. Because she is making up for the crimes that humans themselves have done.
• Te Ka and Te Fiti: of course they are the same character.
  • Volcanic soil is the most fertile on the Earth.
  • When Te Ka's fire / lavaballs hit the water the resulting color is green. Also she seemed a bit too distracted when seeing the heart.
  • Te Ka is never shown from the shoulders down — where the symbol of Te Fiti is.
  • What kind of being would it take to defeat Demigod Maui when he was in top form as he was when he stole the Heart? A full-on God.
  • More scientifically and thematically, the story is set in the Pacific, a highly volcanic region, where many islands were formed by volcanoes. The Mother Island rising out of the sea implies it is a volcano. When you remove the green heart of life and creation from such an island, all you get left is a volcano, a terrifying force of nature born of fire and lava.
  • Red and green are opposite colors. Te Ka's red body efficiently establishes her as Te Fiti's Evil Counterpart, but it also makes perfect sense that being forcibly turned into her antithesis would turn Te Fiti from a gentle green to a raging red.
  • The Demons from the Deep presumably refer to the monsters from Lalotai, which we see earlier have to pass through water to reach the upper world. Te Ka wouldn't be able to do that because she can't touch water, so she had to have come from somewhere else.
  • The Ocean couldn't have returned the Heart itself, because Te Ka can't touch water without being hurt by it. Any attempt by the Ocean's waves to replace the Heart would've seemed like an attack.
• Maui being easily forgiven by Te Fiti for essentially ripping her heart out isn't too far fetched when you consider that even though he went about his deeds with less than purely altruistic motives, every single thing Maui did for humanity was for its benefit. Not once did he abuse his power in a truly harmful way towards humans, at least until he tried to give them a power reserved for the Gods. Te Fiti's forgiveness is likely a direct acknowledgment that she understood why he did what he had done.
  • Further, Te Fiti wasn't mad at Maui, but still seemed miffed and didn't forgive him until he genuinely apologised to her because he knew now that what he did was wrong, admitting that he had no excuse. It's likely she saw the Character Development Moana inspired in him and acknowledged it.
• This story has parallels to Journey to the West, in that a semi-divine being tries to defy the gods and gets trapped for hundreds of years until a human comes along and frees him and he redeems himself by helping that human. Also because A: he's Easily Forgiven at the end because he had already served his punishment by being trapped for so long, and B: it turns out his quest was to escort the Chosen One and protect them until they could accomplish the main quest themselves. And after a thousand years trapped as a destructive monster, Te Fiti probably didn't want her first act upon regaining her freedom to be one of vengeance.
• Of course Moana's father ran into trouble when he tried to leave. He used a fishing boat meant for the calm shoals. To sail the ocean, you need a completely different boat. The problem, as explained by his mother, is that their wayfaring had not been tried for generations so they forgot most of the "blue-water" skills needed.
• Why does Gramma Tala wait until Moana is 16 until she explains to her granddaughter she's The Chosen One? First, as she herself points out, she's "the village crazy lady" and no one (not even her son) would take her seriously. Second, even if the first reason didn't happen, the thought of his only child going into the place he's always feared would only make Tui even more overprotective of her. And third, how would a young Moana react to being effectively told she's destined for greatness? Would it have made her arrogant and insecure like Maui? Gramma Tala wanted to wait until she finally knew that Moana became the mature, humble but confident hero needed to complete the task.
• Grandma Tala's scene near the end when she and the ancestor spirits encourage Moana to not give up has been compared to Mufasa's iconic "Remember who you are" scene...but Moana herself actually also invokes this on Te Ka at the climax when she tells her to remember who she really is.
• When explaining why he doesn't trust the ocean's judgment, Maui asks why the ocean doesn't just restore the Heart itself instead of giving it to some random ill-equipped human. The ocean can't get near Te Ka because she's made of lava; it would just hurt and enrage her more if it tried.
• Moana vehemently denies that she's a "princess," in a context that clearly applies in-universe and on a meta-level. But not only is she clearly her island's equivalent of royalty, she has much in common personality-wise with other Disney princesses (Ariel, Rapunzel, Anna, and even not-royal-by-any-definition Mulan). Is there anything about Moana completely different from the heroines marketed as Disney's princesses? Like Mulan, she took her responsibilities to her family and people seriously. Unlike Mulan, who had trouble fitting into society at the time, Moana actually did succeed in the role she was expected to fill for a time. It was only after it became apparent that regardless of what she did, if she didn't set sail to restore Te Fiti's heart then her people would die. She's not a "princess" because she's clearly being groomed to replace her father in a different kind of system.
  • Maui wears a dress (well, a leaf skirt), has a wacky non-human sidekick and tragically absent parents. He does what he wants, but he does it to help people. Maui is more of a Disney princess than Moana.
  • On a more meta note, Disney has not included Moana on the Disney princess line, meaning this could have been foreshadowing.
• Once it becomes clear who Te Ka really is, it makes sense why the theft of the heart would cause darkness to spread; it's not a figurative evil, but literal black soot. Without Te Fiti, the island lost the life force keeping the flora alive, causing them to wither back into the ashen soot that comprises Te Ka. Without the flora for food, the fauna left, leaving the islands barren. Furthermore, it seems strange that Te Ka has remained in the same place after all this time, never searching for the heart on its own. Because, as Te Fiti, she's an island.
  • Te Ka remaining in one place doesn't seem as strange when you consider it's a lava being, shown to be cooled to the point of solidification upon contact with the ocean. That would likely hinder any travel plans to go find the Heart. Moana had to tell the ocean to "let her come to me" in order for Te Ka to be able to get off the barrier islands and reclaim her Heart.
• Maui's first tattoo:
  • The placement of Maui's first tattoo. First of all, it's on his back in a spot normally hidden by his hair; not only does he only want people to see the heroic parts of him, but he doesn't want to face it himself, either. It also represents how being abandoned by his parents, and the resulting Inferiority Superiority Complex, is a huge weight on his shoulders.
  • His first tattoo's picture. Why would he have a tattoo of being abandoned if his tattoos are to be earned and all of his other tattoos are something heroic he did? One, because every hero needs an origin story, two, so he won't forget from whence he came.^note And the world's gonna know your name! (also, a rule of wayfinding is knowing where you are by knowing where you've been.) Three, because he survived despite the odds, even if with the help of gods who took him in.
  • You notice where it is placed? It is his *BACK* story!
    • Building on this, what important lesson has Maui learned by the end of the film? That sometimes, you've just gotta put your behind in your past!
  • His first tattoo is the only tattoo of his that doesn't show any distinguishing features like Mini-Maui does, instead using a simple stick figure to represent him. Signifying that the circumstances of his past don't define the person he is now.
• Maui can only transform into animals whose teeth/bones he has on his necklace. (Discounting Sven, of course.) For added brilliance, those are all animals that thrive in the Polynesian environment, which helps in various situations: beetles, lizards and small fish are able to evade in land, water and air. Meanwhile the eagle, shark and whales are more likely for bigger threats and can take on the threats easier. So it's likely he's a prepared shapeshifter.
• The Kakamora's choice of wearing coconut armour kind of makes sense when you remember that coconuts are basically designed to float. Their armour also serve as life vests.
• Tui uses the coconut as an example of how the island provides and there's no reason to leave Motunui. But how do coconuts propagate? They float from island to island. Much like a certain group of voyagers!
• Why can't Tamatoa get up after getting knocked flat on his back? All the gold treasures plating his shell are weighing him down.
• Crabs regenerate lost limbs, but Tamatoa has been missing a leg for centuries. But then, a crab regenerates while molting and that would mean shedding his precious shell. Something someone as insecure and vain as Tamatoa would never do.
  • Also, he lives in a realm of monsters, some even bigger than himself. A recently-molted crab has no armor and little strength, so Tamatoa would become easy prey for some time if he risked that.
• Why did the ocean choose Moana? Because she abandoned the shell to help the turtle. That scene actually serves as a metaphor for Moana's entire arc—having to choose between helping people (the turtle/her village) and doing what she wants (grabbing the shell/voyaging), and ultimately finding that she can do both. Also, in the end kindness was a required trait to resolve the central conflict.
  • Also, since Maui stated the Ocean loved it when Moana's people would wayfind, another possible reason why the Ocean chose Moana is because since she's the future Chief of Motonui, she has the power to re-establish wayfinding among her people.
• Moana's journey can be seen as a metaphor for her own character development. She learns the art of wayfinding in order to restore the Heart of Te Fiti. In other words, she learns to find her way in the world while following her heart.
  • In addition, Moana's "barrier" to being herself—both leader and wayfinder—is symbolized by the Bookends of the Barrier Reefs, one surrounding Motunui and the other surrounding Te Fiti. The first act of the movie is about Moana's first (failed) attempt and second (successful) attempt to breach the reef surrounding her island—the third act of the movie is about Moana's first (failed) attempt and second (successful) attempt to breach the rocky barrier reef surrounding Te Fiti. Both barrier reefs—external conflicts—align with her overcoming a significant inner conflict. Each reflects an emotional barrier Moana put there herself.
• A minor one, but why is Mini Maui more morally upright than the egotistical demigod he's painted on? Two reasons...
  • Because Maui's tattoos are all about the various deeds and acts of heroism Maui did in his life, such as pulling islands from the sea, fighting monsters, and generally remolding the very world into something better for the people. Mini Maui is essentially the personification of Maui's heroism and reminds him of how good he can be. This is reinforced by the tattoos having to be earned.
  • Where do we first see Mini Maui move? On Maui's left pec. He's Maui's heart.
    • This opens up so much fridge brilliance! Like, why don't we see Mini Maui whenever Maui changes into an animal? Because while animals may have a conscience, it's not as close to the surface as a human's conscience.
    • Generally, Mini Maui being Maui's heart brings up the fridge brilliance that he shows how Maui truly feels at times. Like when he's keeping score, he's admitting to himself Moana has a point.
    • Fridge Heartwarming: When Mini Maui gives Maui a hug after the latter confesses his backstory about being abandoned as a baby, it represents Maui learning to love himself.
    • This revelation also means Maui deserves some more credit for returning to protect Moana from Te Ka. The movie implies Mini-Maui had a hand in convincing him to come back, but going by this idea, it was really Maui who convinced himself.
    • And, of course, the obvious moment of heartwarming gets a little more heartwarming: at the end, Maui finally gets over himself, and guess where his tattoo of Moana shows up?
• Why did Tamatoa paint himself with bioluminescent paint? So even in the dark, he can be shiny, just like his song notes.
• Also counts as Fridge Funny. During the scene where Maui sings "You're Welcome", at this point here, Maui throws a blanket on the camera, and the background to the Disney Acid Sequence is the pattern of the blanket. The camera POV is Moana, and he's blindfolding her, which explains why Moana didn't notice him stealing her boat.
• "Maui can do anything but float". First it seems obvious, since he's made of rock. But then there's also the fact that his parents tried to drown him as child.
  • It's also a line that eliminates the idea that Maui is a stereotype of Polynesian obesity. If Maui was that fat, he'd easily float - that's what fat does. He can't float because he's all muscle.
• If Te Ka can't touch water, how did she get from her usual spot while asleep to right in front of Maui? If we take the metaphor of dormant/sleeping volcanos literally, Maui removing Te Fiti's heart may have caused a MASSIVE ERUPTION. With the barrier reef, enough lava would have landed for Te Ka to reform in a different spot without touching water, but unfortunately she was stuck there.
• Why did Grandma Tala die so suddenly after revealing everything to Moana? While she was old she seemed rather healthy and active as far as old folks go. Given that the Heart of Te Fiti is said to have the power of creating life itself, it's not too much of a stretch to believe that since she had been holding onto it since Moana was a baby, it was granting her a touch of life extension by proximity. So when she gave it to Moana she was no longer receiving its power and quickly passed on.
  • Also, Gramma was literally standing on top of where the encroaching blight had come ashore on Motonui when she gave Moana the heart so she went from having the energy of creation preserving her to handing it off in the place where Te Fiti's creation was becoming unmade.
  • With Moana now carrying the Heart of Te Fiti, this explains why she was able to survive falls and the rough handling by Tamatoa that should've injured her if not outright killed her.
  • It also explains why a flock of manta rays circled Grandma Tala while she was dancing on the beach. She summoned them using the Heart.
• The main point of Maui's "I Am" Song being "You're Welcome" makes sense when his Inferiority Superiority Complex is revealed. After his parents abandoned him, Maui felt that he was worthless without his fish hook (with which he performed most of the tasks mentioned in the song). This reveal, coupled with Moana's initial shock at his arrogance, shows that the song isn't Maui displaying his Awesome Ego. It's Maui begging for praise in order to feel better about himself.
• Tamatoa spins around basically the entire time he's on-screen whether dancing or fighting, and for his size it takes him a long time to catch up when Maui and Moana run away from him. He probably developed the habit of staying in one place and luring fish because he can't walk or swim straight with a missing leg. Also, the spinning showcases his shell.
  • Since he's a giant coconut crab, he likely can't swim at all. Since they are a terrestrial species. There's also all that gold on his back weighing him down.
• Moana is unique in the Disney canon for the amount of detail it gives to the culture of the film's setting, while in previous Disney films the culture was taken for granted or given a more generic/americanized outlook. You could say Disney's learned from their mistakes and for once portrayed the culture faithfully to not upset the Polynesian community, but it's also very fitting for the story: the main theme of Moana is identity, and finding who you are. The person you are can be defined and influenced by your loving community surrounding you, aka your culture. Your ancestors founded the basics of your culture, how your people think and behave, and the idea of culture is to unite like-minded folks, and for old history and traditions to not vanish into oblivion; and Moana is also influenced by her voyaging ancestors, who had been long forgotten by her time. It makes perfect sense to focus on culture in this movie!
• It makes sense for Heihei to accompany Moana instead of Pua. Just earlier that day, Pua experiences the trauma of almost drowning with Moana, and runs off at the next sight of an oar. Moana is so wrapped up in learning about her ancestry and everything that came after that to the point she has no time to look for Pua to bring him along. Considering she's not worried about him running off, she most likely knows where he runs off to when he's frightened. Since he is so traumatized by the event, she also probably wouldn't make him go with her because doing so would just be cruel. In order to keep the Non-Human Sidekick tradition going, the only other candidate to join Moana on her quest would be the only other animal that she knows- Heihei. In addition, if Heihei was left behind instead of Pua, the village may have eaten him like the villager Moana spoke with suggested.
  • In a storytelling sense, why Heihei instead of Pua? Because much is made about Moana being alone and becoming independent- her journey is kicked off by the loss of the one person who supported her, and she has trouble with Maui and eventually goes off to face the Big Bad on her own. Pua is shown to be intelligent and emotional, like many Disney sidekicks before, regardless of silliness. Heihei is utterly stupid and can't share a bond with Moana ("...none of which you understand, because you are a chicken"), and so she feels more alone. Giving her the competent animal would have given her a friend, which goes against her development.
• The boats, while in reasonably good condition for vessels abandoned in a cave for hundreds of years, still show various signs of wear and tear on the sails, lines, and other delicate parts. The only one that is still in perfect seaworthy condition is the boat with Te Fiti's symbol on it—the symbol of life.
• It's implied that both Moana and her grandmother cultivate a spiritual aspect that most of the other villagers don't care about. They both have visions, especially while they are around spiritual objects (the boats, which were likely passed down for hundreds of years, and the heart of Te Fiti). This could be why her grandmother is called the crazy lady—she sees things no one else does. The Heart of Te Fiti is clearly a glowing stone carved with mystical symbols, but that's because the viewer shares Moana's POV. When Tui says that the Heart of Te Fiti is "just a rock", maybe to him it is just a rock—because he can't see the light or the symbols. Sadly, this could also explain why Tui started out exactly like Moana and then stopped—since following his spirituality resulted in the death of a friend, he completely retreated from it out of fear.
• Moana has tried dozens of times before to go to sea, but Tui never shows anger. He just casually carries her back like he's saying "Not so fast" in a good-natured way. But when Moana suggested they fish beyond the reef, that time, Tui really loses his cool and snaps at her! Why? Because this time around, Moana is suggesting some of their own people try it. It was one thing when his friend asked to come along. It's another thing when his daughter actively asks others to come along if they didn't want to in the first place. And then, there's the part where Moana claims she found the Heart of Te Fiti and wants the whole tribe to voyage. To him, it looks like his daughter's deliberately lying so she can get her wish to go sailing. No wonder Tui gives her a Death Glare before he storms off to burn the voyaging boats.
• Speaking of: Tui has plenty of time during Moana's journey to burn the rediscovered boats, but he doesn't. Why? In case he needs to find her. He's willing to face his traumas and assumed certain death to protect his daughter.
• Moana gets past Te Ka alone because the boat is lighter and faster without Maui on it.
• Why doesn't Moana's friend the Ocean help her learn to sail? Because sailing is about harnessing the power of the wind, not the water. This is why Maui is such a good sailor, even though the ocean is on pretty bad terms with him. His favorite form is a hawk—he is probably friends with the wind, as opposed to Moana. "Demigod of the wind and sea"! He insists on his full titles for a reason, you know.
• The Chief stone pile
  • Moana's "chief stone" is a shell from the ocean. However, she won't live forever, so there will be chiefs and their stones after she is gone. And yet, Moana's stone will always have to stay at the top of the stack. No chief will ever be more important that she was.
  • Other people could add more shells or smaller rocks around it, or the stone/shell combination could be developed as the years go on into a shrine, or some other holy space designated for chiefs. In other words, it will develop and evolve rather then remaining stagnate like the village was during the Long Pause when "traditions is our mission" and they did everything the same with every generation.
  • Each of the stones on the stack is flat, so that the next chief can add another stone on top. Capping it with the shell shows that there won't be another chief, at least not on that island.
  • The stones represent the chiefs that stayed on the island. They are big and heavy and bound with moss. The shell represents a chief that decided to voyage. It's lightweight and easily moved when needed.
• One for the biology students: birds like chickens tend to have very small brains because most of the room in their skulls is taken up by their eyeballs. Look how much bigger Heihei's eyes are than normal.
• In his own way, Heihei protects the Heart of Te Fiti at one point in the journey. Moana keeps the heart inside a necklace for most of the journey so nobody could get it. What does Heihei keep the heart inside of so nobody could get it? In his stomach.
  • His crop, probably. That's why he could spit it up so easily.
• Among the many heroic deeds detailed in "You're Welcome," stealing fire stands out as sounding awfully like Prometheus. It's also direct from Polynesian legend, but it's an interesting parallel.
  • On that note, Maui has some distinct parallels to the Finnish culture hero Väinämöinen as well, the creator who sang the lands into being after being born of the sea mother Ilmatar. And while Maui lost his hook, Väinämöinen lost his Kantele.
• Tamatoa's song being so completely different makes sense, because it keeps coming up on TV Tropes that 'Shiny' is modeled after David Bowie. Well, what kind of music did Bowie play? Glam/glitter rock!
• At one point, during the transformation sequence for Maui, Heihei tries to eat Maui as a bug. At first glance this appears to be the only time that the chicken tries to eat something that isn't a rock without being extremely guided. But then again... Maui is The Rock.
• Why didn't the ocean protect Moana the first time she tried to sail beyond the island? Because she didn't have the Heart of Te Fiti. The ocean knew that the Heart was still on Motonui, so it wasn't going to offer any assistance to her journey until she had it.
• Why did Granny Tala wait to give Moana the Heart and tell her of the ships? Because for the first time, she wanted to go outside the reef not simply to follow her own whims or gain fame, but to serve her people. Considering that Maui stole the Heart for his own fame, and by doing so brought the plague of darkness, she probably knew that Moana shouldn't be told of the ships until she wanted to leave for the right reasons.
• It's small, but Maui interrupting Moana while she's addressing him, insisting on being called a hero, seems like nothing more than a little gag showcasing how self-centered Maui is. This isn't simple arrogance, though. He's been out of the loop for the past thousand years, and as far as he knows, humanity still loves him. Mankind, though, somehow found out that Maui stole the Heart of Te Fiti (unleashing a blight on the world in the process) and lost a duel with a monster immediately after. The "hero" part of his title was dropped in the intervening years, which is why Gramma Tala never called him one and why Moana didn't address him as such.
• Remember the scene where baby Moana helps the baby turtle get to the ocean? That scene perfectly mimics the relationship Moana herself will later have with the ocean. Like younger Moana the ocean acts as a protector staying near and intervening to keep the journey going but like the turtle Moana is left to actually make the trip herself.
• Moana swimming to the bottom of the ocean to recover the Heart after she casts it away. On the one hand, definitely impossible in a real world sense. On the other hand, the movie styles itself after The Epic, (journeys to otherworlds, mystical helpers, supernatural encounters), and epic heroes often demonstrated their worth through impossible, heavily symbolic tasks. Beowulf in particular spent hours underwater during his story.
• Combines a bit with Fridge Horror, but concerning Maui's joke about the sacrifice Moana might have been genuinely frightened because it is gateway to a realm of monsters, how else would you get in except by becoming a monster?
• Also, in the same scene, Maui's other joke might not have been entirely for laughs. A large drop means they could have reached terminal velocity, but since they also went through the entire ocean, the water could potentially slow your body down enough to avoid dying on impact with the ground.
• Why did Maui think stealing the heart of Te Fiti was a good idea? Shouldn't he know that messing with the natural order never ends well? Except... looking at his past exploits, all of them were in some way about changing the fundamental nature of the universe to suit humans better. From his perspective, this was just the latest adjustment in a long line of the same, and he wasn't to know that the heart was the one thing he should leave alone.

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Fridge Horror

• “[…]Who has two thumbs and pulled up the sky[…]” “[…]When the nights got cold who stole you fire from down below?[…]” How crappy was the world for humans when Maui was born, exactly?
  • Well, the second half of that just says he gave them fire, so, about as crappy as it was before real humans had fire?
    • What about the sky, then?
    • The actual myth says that the sky was so low that trees flattened and made the world dark, and humans had to crawl to get around.
• Imagine Tui's reaction upon finding out Moana has sailed out beyond the reef just after his mother's death. Given that they were fighting the last time they were together, imagine if she had never come back...
• Since Te Ka was sucking the life out of Motonui, it's entirely possible that the same happened to many other islands, and it's easy to consider that they may not have been as lucky as Moana's people.
• For all it was accompanied by a jazzy song and dance number, let's not overlook that Maui tried to lock Moana in a cave to die. Demigods may be able to survive a thousand years on a barren island with no apparent source of food or water, but humans can't — if she hadn't been able to get out quickly enough to catch up to the boat before it left, she would have been left to die of starvation or thirst. Trickster gods can be pretty callous about individual human lives. Not only that, but as soon as Moana catches up to his stolen boat far from the island, Maui casually throws her back into the ocean and tries to leave her to drown several times, before he learns that the Ocean itself is her ally and she has been sent to make him return the heart of Te Fiti. And even after that, when Moana jumps into Lalotai, Maui casually abandons her. "Well, she's dead." It's Played for Laughs, but still...
  • Speaking of Lalotai, remember that four-armed masked monster that advanced menacingly on Moana? Yeah, that's the same geyser that Moana and Maui took to escape Tamatoa. The last we saw, that monster had escaped Lalotai, and Moana never gave it a second thought.
• What would have happened had Moana taken longer to restore the heart of Te Fiti? Obviously, her people would have become even more hungry. Perhaps hungry enough to consider eating her beloved pet pig, Pua... (Although he likely would not be the first to go.) The alternative is eating each other, or trying to set out from Motonui without any wayfinders. The odds of most them making it to a new island would be slim. It is also possible that the islanders would have rebelled against Chief Tui for relying on mundane solutions that would eventually fail.
• What if the people of Motonui are the last of humanity? They could easily be a fantastic interpretation of the Toba Catastrophe.
  • Though that seems unlikely, given Te Fiti was not all that far from Motonui (it didn't seem to take more than a week to get there) and the life draining plague had only just reached them (it seemed to affect the open sea centuries before islands).
  • On the other hand, no other islands are shown and as Motonui's people have given up voyaging many generations ago, they (and consequently the viewers) have nothing to go on to judge how well other islands fared or how quickly they were affected. It is unlikely to be as extreme as Motonui being the last one true, but there is a chance it isn't the first one either.
    • Especially since the Heart of Te Fiti may have been drifting around in Motonui's lagoon for many centuries, and its presence would have helped ward off the effects of the blight. It's quite possible that Motonui was the only living island left anywhere nearby.
• Something of a minor one, thought still no less terrifying: the repeat of "and no one leaves [the island]" in "Where We Are", combined with the emphasis on Motonoui being isolated and unchanging. That is a -very- un-Polynesian worldview. There's something of a weird Stepford vibe in the way Moana goes from disappointed to singing along and dancing happily with her father (with a still ever-so-slightly forced smile) about remaining in the island forever, especially since the song portrays it as such a Sugar Bowl, knowing that every day will be the same as the one before. Viewers who know even a little about the importance of Polynesian civilizations' epic ocean voyages and ancient navigation methods will intuit that something is really, deeply wrong.
  • In fairness, it was common for most people to live and die within fifty miles of where they were born until fairly recently in human history; if you're on an island that's not part of a chain or near some other landmass, your options would be even more limited by default. Similarly, change happens much more quickly in the modern era than it did in previous ages, barring a major shake-up like a war or plague (which is basically what Te Fiti's "curse" is). Life was good on Motonui, Moana loved her people and vice-versa, so the prospect of never leaving the island doesn't have quite the same implications as it would for someone in the modern day.
• Moana orders the diseased coconut trees be cleared out and a new grove planted, but coconut trees take six years to even start growing coconuts, and fifteen to twenty years to reach full production. Even if her plan had worked, and even if there were a few scattered unaffected coconut trees on the island, that's a long time for a sharp reduction in such a major crop!
• Tamatoa is omniscient, a stalker, or both: In "Shiny", he appears to know private details about the argument between Moana and her grandmother. How did he find out? What other powers does he have? Does he find out about everything that happens in the human realm, or did he choose to use his limited energy to stalk Moana and/or her grandmother? Either way is terrifying – the less powerful Tamatoa is, the more cunning and malevolent he must be.

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