‘I am not a princess’: Can Moana continue the trend for dynamic Disney heroines?

Disney’s films can have a strong cultural impact, so it’s important that Moana continues the trend for smart, dynamic heroines, writes Declan Burke

MOANA, the Polynesian heroine at the heart of Disney’s latest animated feature film, is a charmingly multi-faceted character: She’s a thinker, a revolutionary, an adventurer and a leader.

Most importantly, perhaps, she’s the very antithesis of the stereotypical notion of the ‘Disney princess’, a fact that seems to escape Maui, the demi-god who accompanies Moana on her epic seafaring trek across the Pacific.