Disney’s animation machine was looking flimsy there for a minute, but the House of Mouse effectively turned the ship around with a string of delightful animated films like Tangled and Wreck-It Ralph that will be as worth watching ten years from today as they are right now. And, of course, Frozen catapulted the whole thing back into the stratosphere. Now we’re getting our first look at Moana, a teen Polynesian princess who will anchor Disney’s next big princess movie. The movie was set to come out in 2018, but the studio must be feeling mighty confident, because they’re bumping it to 2016. Moana will be Disney’s fifth princess of color, and their second heroine of Pacific Islander descent. The movie will be directed by Ron Clements and John Musker, who also directed The Little Mermaid and Aladdin, so here’s hoping they can re-bottle that magic …
