(Of course, being apparently made of steel could also just be because she's a cartoon). The only time we see Moana get physically hurt is when she gets her foot stuck in the reef - which takes place BEFORE the storm, when she was still in her island (and alive). Throughout the film, Moana survives things no human could survive (just look at all her falls in the Realm of Monsters).

Moana doesn't meet or interact with any 'normal' humans from the moment of the storm until after Te Fiti brings her back she only runs across Maui and monsters My theory is that the storm killed Moana so she could go to the place where all the weird magic stuff exists, and at the very end, Te Fiti not only fixes Moana's boat (which had been wrecked to bits), but also brings her back to life, so she can go back to the human world. What if there's a barrier between the normal human world and the magical otherworld, where are all the things from Polynesian mythology are? And the only way to get to the otherworld is to be a part of it? For instance, by being dead? We're meant to understand that the storm drove her to her destination, because she wakes up in Maui's island. In the very beginning of her journey, Moana asks the ocean for help and immediately gets hit by a storm. Then she gets the Call to Action, gets on a boat, goes on an adventure, saves the world, and then goes back home. Moana (2016) begins with the titular character in her home island, doing normal, worldly things.

Moana full movie 2016 reddit