Disney film - Moana

The Paradise Cinemas will be premiering this Disney movie today at its Waigani Central branch at 11am.

Paradise Cinema at Vision City will show later on in the day at 1 pm.

Moana is an adventurous teenager who sets on a quest to save her island and restore ecological balance to the planet.

Moana is voiced by Auli’i Cravalho while her sidekick demi-god Maui is voiced by Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson who is also known as a Pacific Islander. 

Disney developed the movie with very careful consideration of Pacific culture.

But some people have said the film and its merchandise are appropriating Samoan culture.

Arieta Rika, who founded a website called Talanoa as a home for Pacific stories, told the BBC how she wants her culture to be celebrated.

As a Pacific person, I can't tell you how excited I am to see this movie. Seeing faces that look like mine, telling a story that relates to me. I just don't have the words.

I haven't felt this excited about a Disney film in decades.