>>87896841Moana is a person raised in a culture that fears the world beyond, and cares only for the here and now, while those who dare to hit on cultural potentials are excluded.
The world is dying while those who could save it hide away and dance and sing like nothing is wrong and it's always going to be safe where they are.
Moana knows the danger, but unlike other princesses, she doesn't reject her culture to find that out, she feels like she needs to save it by going further.
She discovers her people used to be great explorers and inventors who traveled and galvanized on the bounties of the world, not hid away from them, and it inspires her to quest to save the world.
She meets a legendary figure, now spurned for his actions that he did to help people, and made their culture great, but via a mistake was scorned.
We find out abandonment as a child and a need to fill the world with things to be thanked for are what make him happy, but he is afraid of facing the monsters of the world that could take away what he has left.
The villains are all greedy, self-centered, against the notions of identity and purpose. The Kakamora are genderless featureless creatures searching for prizes and bounty, Tamatoa is vain and prideful of his small world of being fed constantly and glittering pointlessly in a cave, and Te Ka is just uncoordinated rage, missing the heart of creation leaving only to destruction.
When Moana is finished, the world is creating new islands again, and she leads her people to their cultural heritage and the ambition to explore and conquer the seas, like her ancestors did.
In short, the story is about overcoming willful ignorance and living only in the now, swarms of creatures lacking identity, monsters of external gratification in isolated bubbles, and corrupting forces that destroy what little safe places are left, to set out, bring back the spark of creation and joy to the world, revitalize her people's heritage, and restore her legends to greatness.