Not only did Moana help introduce the world to the hidden singing talents of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, but it’s one of the few Disney films to feature a strong female protagonist.
However, it’s not without flaw. It is ripe with its fair share of noticeable goofs . Take a look and check out these 10+ mistakes fans didn’t notice in Moana .
RELATED STORIES
1. Frigatebirds don’t feed on land.
The Frigatebird is easily spotted due to its pronounced red breast. However, these are strictly sea birds and do not feed on land.
Early Polynesians supposedly used the birds to help navigate while at sea.
2. Moana’s footprints disappear as the scene develops.
At the beginning of the film, there’s a scene where young Moana saves a baby turtle and is then lured to the sea.
If you pay close attention to her footprints, they disappear without a trace.
Also, the giant green monstera leaf is now nowhere to be found!
She literally just had it! How could this be?
It’s what she used to save the baby turtle’s life, so where could it have possibly gone?
3. Why doesn’t Pua get any older?
Right from the very beginning of the film, until the end, Pua is always depicted as being a baby pig.
How is it that the lovable swine doesn’t seem to age when we clearly see that Moana has?
4. Roosters just don’t live that long.
We first meet Hei Hei (the slightly less-than-intelligent Rooster) when Moana is still a baby. Yet, somehow, he’s also alive and well when she embarks on her sea voyage at the age of sixteen!
This is impossible as Roosters don’t live more than eight or, at the very most, 15 years .
5. Maui’s hook keeps on changing directions.
During the scene when Moana and Maui are on the raft together, his hook is seen lying beside him on the ground.
It changes directions with the cut scenes if you watch closely.
6. The size of the wooden staff keeps on getting smaller.
Take a look at the wooden staff that’s just by Moana’s left hand. Once she discovers that Hei Hei is on board, don’t take your eyes off of it!
You’ll see that it get drastically smaller as the scene progresses.
7. The trap door on the raft opens and then closes itself.
When Moana and Maui are under attack, Hei Hei accidentally (on purpose) eats the Heart of Te Fiti.
When Moana climbs the mast to retrieve the bird, the trap door is open. When she jumps and lands, it’s somehow closed?
8. Hei Hei’s food magically disappears and then reappears in the next sequence.
This is one of the funnier scenes in the entire film so make sure to keep a sharp eye!
When the scene cuts to Moana jumping to the boat, the food is gone. But then by the time it pans back to Hei Hei, he’s eating yet again!
9. The giant basket that can be seen during the meeting vanishes once Moana enters the hut.
This is clearly a break in continuity because the basket is far too large to just be obscured from view.
As soon as Moana enters, the basket, as well as the coconut shells, are nowhere in sight.
10. What happened to the falling coconuts?
When the chief and the villagers are singing their song to Moana, you can see at least eight coconuts are shaken loose from the trees.
However, the chief only catches four of them and nothing hits the ground.
11. The grandmother’s cane changes directions.
As you can see, before Moana’s grandmother makes her way to the sea, she plants her cane into the sand with the handle facing out to the right.
When the scene cuts, you will clearly see that it has somehow changed directions and is now facing left.
12. Where did the stone at Maui’s feet come from?
When Maui first changes into a shark, there is absolutely nothing between him and Moana except sand.
In the following shot, a rock appears. Maui even kicks it out of his way as he walks toward Moana.
13. Do Maui’s tattoos tell the future?
In the intro to the film, we get a shot of Maui stealing the Heart of Te Feti through his back tattoos.
Watch carefully and you’ll see a tattoo that depicts Maui getting hit by Teka and losing his hook. This shouldn’t be because it hasn’t happened yet.
14. Why wasn’t Maui scared the first time?
When Moana and Maui first cross paths, she tells him that she is going to restore the Heart of Te Fiti and opens her necklace to him. Only Maui doesn’t react at all!
He doesn’t get scared until the second time that he sees it.
15. What happened to the sticks that Moana had thrown into the sand?
Before Moana’s mother sits down to talk with her, the scene begins with Moana hurling sticks into the sand.
When she begins her song, somehow the sticks seem to have completely vanished.
16. Where did those ships come from?
After Moana leaps from the Kakamora’s ship (in magnificent fashion, I might add) she lands on her raft and there are no visible ships in sight.
Yet, in the very next cut scene, she’s wedged between two massive Jolly Rogers.
17. Was that rock always there?
When Moana discovers the secret fleet of boats, a rather large rock appears by the prow out of nowhere.
It clearly wasn’t in the previous frame, so where did it come from?
18. Maui clearly doesn’t know how to navigate.
After defeating the Kakamora, Maui sets a course and explains that they must head east.
In the next scene, the sun is setting to the left of them, which means that they’re facing north.
19. Did Maui’s hook just disappear?
After Maui steals the heart from Te Fiti, he leaps off a cliff and turns into a bird.
He lands with his hook in hand, yet when the scene cuts to a different angle, the hook is gone.
20. The light reflecting off of Tamatoa is spinning the wrong way.
During the song “Shiny,” watch Tamatoa’s collection of treasures.
At times, the light rotates with him as he moves, but at other moments the light moves on its own, even when he remains still.
21. What happened to Moana’s sail?
When we first see Moana arrive on Maui’s island, there’s no sail attached to her canoe. However, as soon as Maui leaves, the sail is suddenly back in its place.
How did that happen?
22. Where have all the flowers gone?
Before Moana begins her sea voyage home, Te Fiti gifts her a new boat adorned with beautiful flowers.
But when she returns to the village, all the flowers are gone. It looks no different than the old one.
23. The hanging mural beside Maui’s totally changes place.
As you can see, the original mural that hangs is of a scary-looking monstrous creature with three eyes.
When the scene cuts, the mural is replaced with one of Te Fiti.
24. The debris from Moana’s crashed canoe keeps on changing.
Initially, there’s quite a bit of wreckage that seems to have washed up on the beach.
But when the camera switches to Pua and then back to Moana, somehow the pile has shrunk drastically.