Dwayne Johnson welcomes the 'global embrace of Polynesian culture'
Dwayne Johnson has explained why he feels particularly proud of the 'Moana' movies.
Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson loves showcasing Polynesian culture through the 'Moana' franchise.
The 52-year-old actor voices Maui in the Disney animated film franchise, and Dwayne has admitted to being particularly proud of the movies, which are set in Polynesia.
The Hollywood star - whose dad was Nova Scotian and whose mother was Samoan - told E! News: "The thing about 'Moana' - and I think the success about 'Moana' - and I wanna thank everybody out there, it's just been this global embrace of our Polynesian culture, and it's really cool."
Dwayne also loves that the movies can inspire young girls.
The actor - who has Jasmine, nine, and Tiana, six, with his wife Lauren Hashian, as well as Simone, 23, with Dany Garcia - said: "Of everything that I love about Moana, the thing that I love most is my daughters, all three of my daughters, see themselves in Moana. And I think this idea of emboldening and empowering our young women and how important that is.
"And I get to run around, with my long hair as Maui, and go, 'Cheehoo,' and embolden our young girls - it's awesome."
Dwayne previously observed that 'Moana 2' focuses on the theme of "female empowerment".
He told E! News: "I think that the main thing about 'Moana' is this idea of female empowerment, and this idea that we always say, ‘What's it like being on the reef and looking beyond the reef?'"
Dwayne added that the movie's central message is universal, "even if you're not part of Polynesian culture".
The actor said: "It's this idea that what people like to do - especially to young girls - is kind of constrain them, and pretzel them into, ‘You can only be so much.' But in 'Moana 2', you can actually be anything you want."
