Making not one, but two trips to a movie theater to see the same film would probably seem like a waste of time to many people. (I exclude Twilight fans—past and present—from this generalization, of course.) However, thanks to a cousin’s belated birthday celebration, I found myself alone with my family and masses of candy on January 9, 2017, in a showing of Disney’s second animated release of the year.

I wound up being glad for the opportunity to see Moana a second time; it was hard to grasp some of the film’s subtle qualities the first time. Instead, I was blinded by giant disco crabs, stunning animation, and the blur of tears. It didn’t keep me from being struck by certain things: the beautifully written relationship between Moana and her grandmother, how great the music was, or the fact that there was no love interest. But the second viewing was when the anthropologist-in-training inside me started to analyze and take notes.

My viewpoint on this is controversial but in my opinion, culture was the backbone of this film, at more than one level. Moana featured leads of South Pacific descent and events inspired by real, documented events in Polynesia’s past. The enemies she and her demigod partner, Maui, face stem from real figures in Polynesian mythology. Finally, the ocean—which would have been more meaningful to people from South Pacific Islands 3,000 years ago than I could ever explain—is of vital importance to our new Disney non-princess’s story.

Moana is a funny and visually stunning story interlaced with catchy music, but underlying its lighter tones is a story about a girl who figures out how to forge her peoples’ future by understanding their past. It is a story about how people are not any less a part of their culture because they seek to explore and grow.

Thus, as I stepped out of the Moana showing for a second time, the anthropologist-in-training within me had two thumbs up—as did my inner little girl.