What Moana Did

I wore out the VHS of The Lion King as a kid. Watched it until the tape got grainy. Nothing Disney made after that ever came close—Pocahontas was fine, The Hunchback of Notre Dame had its moments, but there was this gap that just never filled. By the time I was a teenager they’d basically given up on animation anyway. The 3D films, the franchises, everything started looking like it was made by a committee, like the artistry wasn’t the point anymore.

Then around 2016 I heard about Moana. A film about a Polynesian navigator, set in the Pacific islands two thousand years ago, directed by Musker and Clements—the guys who made Aladdin and The Princess and the Frog. I remember reading about it and something sparked back to life. Maybe they’re trying again, I thought.

It came out and it was really good. Not The Lion King—I don’t think anything will be—but it felt like someone had actually decided to care. The animation, the story, the songs, the whole thing had this sense of intention that most Disney stuff had lost. It wasn’t made for the spreadsheet. It was made for the film.

I probably shouldn’t be this affected by an animated movie when I’m supposed to be grown. But there’s something about watching a medium you love get treated like an afterthought for years, and then suddenly one comes along that doesn’t. It makes you remember why The Lion King mattered. Why you still care.