Moana = Pocahontas? Is Disney repeating itself?

it feels like hercules more than Pocahontas

Meh, I think it's mostly general sweeping comparisons rather than anything specific. Someone else pointed out similarities between different movies than the ones you compared. I think it just shows that you can pull parallels and show similarities between practically any two movies if you're general enough, but there isn't anything similar enough to say that they're following any formulas from Renaissance era movies.

To see comparisons that WOULD seem like someone is following a preset formula, look at comparisons between Avatar and Pocahontas, or SW: TFA and SW: ANH.

Ignoring all the other movies that you mentioned, I will concede that part of the reason for the release of Moana might be to draw in the brown audience and "give us" another title princess. That, along with simple cultural affinity, would account for the fact that both girls are the daughters of chiefs. However, let's clarify that these chiefdoms originated in quite different realms of the earth, and amidst spiritual similarities are absolutely distinct in their own rituals.

Further, while Pocahontas is based on a woman whose birth can be traced by agreed historians to a specific and recent century, Moana is a story whose characters will be found in what modern people classify as "pre-history." For instance, Grandmother Willow is a Disney creation based on Native spirituality. Sina is an actual Samoan matriarch of Polynesian (pre-)history -- as a matter of fact Sina is the name of many queens of various island nations within Polynesia. So while Moana's "grandma-figure character," as you've named her, may be an amalgamation of numerous Polynesian princesses, her origin is vastly different from that of the other.

Finally, I would only blame our reality for the fact that both princesses are tied to the elements. Many Native people believe that they were birthed out of the ground of the earth by God Himself and Polynesians have been saying the same thing about themselves, except our version says we were pulled up from the bottom of the sea. Again this is merely the result of being a people in tune with God and reverent of His Creation.

I think I can play this game.

Tangled = Star Wars OT
1. A princess with distinct-looking hair is held by villains.
2. A dashing rogue rescues her.
3. There is a song in a tavern.
4. The villain falls to his/her death.
5. A side character(s) who solves everything speaks in jibberish.
6. Involves a high-speed chase through a forest.
7. The most interesting tool/weapon glows when being used.

Let's try another one, just to demonstrate the complete worthlessness of this analysis technique.

Little Mermaid = The Godfather
1. A character sleeps with fishes.
2. The protagonist changes over the course of the movie.
3. The hero is at first hesitant to go on the adventure.
4. The hero has a mentor character.
5. In the end, the hero kills the bad guy(s) through his/her minion(s).

Okay, the point is that in the end, stories vary very little when presented in high-level details. The presentation varies, and that is how we connect with art. But thanks, I had fun.

Even their other upcoming film Zootopia seems like the new Lion King as it involves talking animals in an African savannah setting.

You can easily apply this to Atlantis: The Lost Empire as well.

1. Both princesses belong to ancient tribes and are daughters of chiefs.
2. Both princesses have a grandma-figure character.
3. Nature has consciousness and the tribe has a deep relationship with it.

These are universal themes, and Disney films are more or less the same.