Disney’s latest fairy tale is beautiful, funny, and entertaining. But nothing in the plot is very surprising. Moana is the forward-thinking daughter of King Tui. She is next in line for the throne. As a young man, King Tui nearly drowned trying to cross the dangerous waters of his island’s barrier reef into open ocean. As a result, he forbids Moana (and the rest of the islanders) from sailing past the reef. When blight strikes the island, her people face starvation. Moana finds that the only way to save them is by disobeying her father.

Moana goes out in search of the demigod Maui. He is a trickster who can shape shift with the help of his giant magic fishhook. Maui is the source of all the islanders’ problems. He stole the magical stone heart of the goddess Te Fiti, the giver of life. He planned to offer it to humans and give them the power of creation. Maui steals the stone heart, but fails to make a clean getaway. A volcanic demon named Te Ka attacks him. The demon tosses his fishhook and the stone into the ocean. He then exiles Maui to a remote island.

Unfortunately for humans, Te Fiti needs her heart. Without it, she cannot sustain her creations. Plant and animal life on the islands begin to die. Luckily, the ocean has chosen Moana to save the day. The ocean presents her with the lost stone heart.

Stone in hand, Moana resolves to find Maui. She plans to make him return the goddess’s heart so that Te Ka can restore life to the islands. In secret, she sets out for open ocean. Soon after, she finds out that she has a stowaway. It is Hei Hei, the world’s dumbest rooster. Hei Hei becomes Moana’s moronic sidekick. He is the source of a lot of amusing gags throughout the movie.

Eventually, Moana finds Maui. Together they set out across the ocean. First, they go to recover Maui’s lost fishhook. Then they go to return the stone heart to Te Fiti. Along the way, they battle an army of surprisingly organized (and adorable) coconut pirates. They also narrowly escape an encounter with a giant, goldhungry, and musically talented crab. But it’s their final confrontation against Te Ka, the volcano demon, who really tests their limits.

Moana, in many ways, is a typical Disney princess. She is the daughter of royalty. She wants to do her own thing. She also has a funny animal sidekick. But unlike past Disney princesses, Moana doesn’t need to be saved by anyone. Instead, Moana does the saving. Along the way, Disney delights the audience with catchy songs like “You’re Welcome.” The song is performed by Dwayne Johnson (“The Rock”) who is the voice of Maui. Newcomer Auli’I Cravalho is the voice of Moana. She doesn’t disappoint with Moana’s signature song “How Far I’ll Go.”

Many have criticized Disney for focusing mainly on white characters in recent years. In that way, Moana is a breath of fresh air. It is refreshing to see a movie set in the Polynesian Islands about native Polynesians. Unfortunately, Disney included some negative Polynesian stereotypes. Many people found these to be culturally offensive. In particular, people were upset about how both King Tui and Maui were extremely overweight. They were also upset because Maui has a very pig-like appearance.

Interestingly, Disney asked for advice from experts on Polynesian culture. Disney made changes to the movie on their feedback. For instance, Disney artists originally drew Maui as bald—likely to make him look more like the bald and beefy Dwayne Johnson who plays the voice of Maui. The experts told Disney that a person’s hair was the source of his power in Polynesian culture. So Disney artists added more and more hair to Maui’s head until the experts were satisfied. In the movie, Maui sports an impressive mane of dark curly hair.

Overall, Moana is a fun and amusing movie for boys and girls of all ages as well as for adults. The music is catchy, not nearly as catchy as the music from more successful movies such as Frozen. The story is well played and unique, nonetheless the plot is fairly predictable. Everyone loves a happy ending, but without any significant twists in the plot, Moana is a four-star rather than a five-star movie.