The difference comes from the fact that Frozen didn't directly make fun of the princesses in a quote not even the whole "You can't marry a man you just met" because that line is used as a warning for Hans's betrayal so it's not really a spoof against the previous Disney princesses... Besides, Frozen is a franchise on its own.farerb wrote:I don't think any of the people involved in Moana cares if she's in the franchise or not, it's all insignificant to them. But okay, I don't think this joke in Moana was any different than most of the things they did in Frozen or Brave with their whole anti "Disney princess antics" attitude (just more literal), or Tiana's no-nonsense attitude. As for "marketing" (because that's the whole Disney Princess thing is about), Moana's or the Revival princesses "not like any other princess" marketing is not really different than the 90's "active princess" (even though Ariel and even Belle lack any arc in their respective films).
God knows, I'm not a fan of Merida, but she never made fun of the princesses either, she just wanted to be free like Jasmine or Pocahontas. Merida wasn't even against love nor getting married eventually. She was only against an arranged marriage.
Now, the thing with Moana is that I'm sure they thought it would be as big as Frozen and would have a life of its own but that didn't happen so they quietly made her part of the line.