"Whenever you want to go home, I'll take you there."
In the middle of the vast ocean, this tender line that Grandmother Tala offers to Moana, who was about to give up everything, lifts her back up as she stands before a fear fiercer than the waves. The gentle assurance that it's okay to give up and okay to return anytime paradoxically becomes the courage to move forward. And that courage is precisely the greatest gift the live-action film "Moana" offers its audience: the "power of the heart."
"Moana," a live-action adaptation of the animated film that won global love in 2016, begins when the heart of "Te Fiti," which holds the power to create life, disappears. To save her tribe, trapped on their island and losing its future, Moana sets out for distant seas in search of the legendary demigod hero Maui. While keeping the main thread of the original intact, the film unfolds a vast ocean across the screen with the vivid imagery and overwhelming scale unique to live-action.
Most welcome of all is that it is free from the "ruining the original" criticism that recent Disney live-action films have often received. Dwayne Johnson, who voiced Maui in the animation, carries over his signature cheerfulness and charisma in the live-action version, while Catherine Laga'aia, cast as Moana after beating 3,200-to-1 odds, delivers a synchronization rate that seems to bring the original Moana to life along with steady acting. The film succeeds in delivering familiar emotion to fans of the original and a new "Moana" with the scale and texture unique to live-action for audiences meeting it for the first time.
But the true strength of this film lies not in its dazzling spectacle but in the way it portrays the "power of the heart." Having set out to distant seas to save her tribe, Moana faces countless obstacles such as pirates and monsters, and in the moment she wants to give up everything, she rises again through the warm comfort of Grandmother Tala. The words offered by the grandmother appearing in her vision—"Whenever you want to go home, I'll take you there"—are not encouragement pushing her forward with a "Cheer up." It is comfort that embraces even the feeling that it was hard enough to want to give up, that it's okay to rest for a while. Paradoxically, it is that gentle encouragement that becomes the greatest "power of the heart" leading Moana to take up the oar again.
Having gained courage from Grandmother Tala, Moana now passes that "power of the heart" on to Maui. Maui, who possesses a huge frame and charisma, is a character living with the deep wound of having been abandoned by his parents. Behind his dazzling appearance as a demigod hero lie a desire to be recognized and the trauma of abandonment. To such a Maui, Moana says, "It wasn't the gods who made you, it was you yourself," awakening his self-esteem. This one line—that a person's worth is determined not by the background into which they were born but by the life that has shaped who they are now—becomes the strength for Maui to regain the confidence he had lost and move forward again.
In the end, the two become each other's "power of the heart." Comforted by Grandmother Tala, Moana gains the courage to head back to the sea, and through Moana's sincerity, Maui at last comes to accept himself as he is. The "power of the heart" the film speaks of is not a special ability. Through the growth of the two, the film persuasively shows that a single warm word believing in someone and acknowledging their very existence is the greatest force that lifts a person back up.
Spectacle as rich as the original animation is also part of this work's charm. The endlessly stretching blue waters of the Pacific, the mysterious Motunui, and the majestic nature deity "Te Fiti" come alive more grandly and mysteriously when they meet live-action technology. The troublemaking rooster Heihei and the adorable pig Pua carry the laughs with a presence no less than in the original, and the familiar, lively original soundtrack (OST) adds the joy of listening to the joy of watching. On top of this, the careful realization of cultural elements of the Pacific region—language, dress, traditional dance, and navigation culture—heightening the sense of realism, is also credited with deepening immersion.
Thanks to this, "Moana" is completed as a flagship Disney live-action film that all generations can enjoy together. It has it all, from the delightful charm of Heihei and Pua to the refreshing adventure across the vast ocean, the familiar original soundtrack (OST), and warm messages that comfort life. Above all, it is a family film carrying the emotion unique to Disney, one that lets every member of the audience leave the theater having gained the "power of the heart."
In the end, "Moana" is not simply a work that transfers an animation into live-action. It is a rare live-action film that faithfully carries on the emotion of the original while sidestepping the concern of "ruining the original." What "Moana" leaves this summer is not only the spectacle of the blue sea. It is the "power of the heart" that offers the courage to row again to those of us who have paused for a moment before rough waves.
