There is another film structure that is super common but is often overlooked. It is perhaps not coincidental that the protagonist is more often a woman. I found a blog post describing it once, but can't find it now.
In the typical three-act structure, the protagonist must make an internal change to themselves before they are able to resolve the conflict.
In this alternate plot structure, it is the community itself that must change. The protagonist is "right all along" and serves to the be the catalyst for that change. Almost as if society is the protagonist. It looks something like:
1. Inciting incident where problem appears.
2. Protagonist attempts to tackle problem using their "true self".
3. Family/village/community smacks them down and says they can't do that.
4. Protagonist tries to conform and solve the problem the way they are told to but fails.
5. Climax: Running out of options, the protagonist unleashes their true inner self and solves the problem.
6. The community witnesses this and realizes that they should accept the protagonist for who they are.
This is very common in Disney movies (Mulan and Frozen being stellar examples) and in family movies where the protagonist is a young person that "no one understands".
It is sometimes mixed with the typical three-act structure where the protagonist also makes an internal "change", but the change is most often simply accepting who they already were at the beginning of the film before trying to deny that throughout the second act.
Moana might actually be a better example than Mulan or Frozen, because there's not even any inner turmoil outside of the very beginning.
Moana herself is just about the only person who doesn't have a character arc, she just gets better at doing the things she was already set on doing. Both Maui and the entire village of Motunui including her family need to learn that Moana is actually right about everything.
She's effectively an avatar of the ocean's will, and the more she leans into it, the better it goes for her.
Having watched Moana more times than I can remember (we have two young kids), I think Moana is a classic example of the monomyth. It is basically a re-skinned version of Star Wars:
1. She starts in the ordinary world but longs to go to sea. [Just like Luke Skywalker who wants to leave Tatooine.]
2. She initially rejects the call of the sea, and tries to fit in. [Just like Luke Skywalker initially rejects Ben.]
3. But the death of her grandmother convinces her that she must leave. [Luke Skywalker decides to follow Ben after his uncle/aunt are killed.]
4. She meets Maui, a lovable rogue, and convinces him to help, despite his reservations. [Luke convinces Han Solo to rescue the Princess]
5. They defeat a few lesser enemies. [Luke and Han defeat waves of stormtroopers.]
6. Finally, she must face the final test, but the lovable rogue decides to leave. [Luke attacks the Death Star, but Han decides to leave.]
7. In the final test, she realizes that she needs to give the infinity stone (I mean, the Heart of Te Fiti) to Te Ka, but not before the lovable rogue returns to help her. [Luke realizes that he needs to use the Force, but not before the lovable rogue returns.]
8. Moana returns as a Wayfinder. [Luke returns as a hero and a leader of the Rebellion.]
9. [Oh, and I forgot about the comic relief of Heh-Heh, who only speaks in chirps and sometimes gets her out of trouble.]
It might sound like I'm making fun of it, but I really like Moana. And I do actually believe she has a character arc. The unifying theme in Moana is "knowing who you are". There is literally a song about it! Moana doesn't know who she is at the beginning. Is she supposed to stay on the island or explore? Maui doesn't know who he is--he thinks he's powerful because of his magical fishhook ("Without my hook, I am nothing!") but Moana convinces her that he is a hero even without his fishhook. Moana helps Te Ka to discover that she is really Te Fiti. And when she returns to her island, she convinces her father that they are all voyagers.
Like I said, I've really watched Moana too many times!
I haven't seen Moana but this seems like the narrative arc of a lot of mythology, where the protagonist has to learn to submit to the will of God/the gods, or can only succeed with divine intervention.
You’re describing something real; I’m a screenwriter and have worked on studio films where this kind of character arc was encouraged. (I wouldn’t call it a distinct structure because it can be mapped onto a very similar, traditional three-part framework.) It is, however, very much not an artistic decision. The reason for the prevalence of this arc in expensive, family-oriented movies is because studio executives (or worse, the CEs at production companies) are uncomfortable with characters who make bad choices, and think audiences will reject them. Maybe they’re not wrong— but this is a relatively recent development and one of the thousand reasons why movies have become so boring.
More satisfying (in my opinion) arcs tend to follow a psychoanalytic path: a character with some unaddressed pathological issue ends up in a serious crisis. The crisis forces them to acknowledge the issue and change slightly. The difference between a comedy and a tragedy is that in a tragedy, the change happens too late. (An interesting variant in tragedy is that the change happens in time, but unexpectedly turns out for the worse—think of the end of The Godfather.)
You can regard this is a story with a flat character arc. It's still pretty much a 3-act structure, sort of a dual version of it.
I think that is exactly the plot in Ne Zha 2, a chinese animation that is breaking records. The trailer is awesome.
Weirdly, Unicorn Store was the first thing that came to mind. Which is funny when you consider that it was essentially a sort of weird meta-prequel to Brie Larson and Samuel L. Jackson's turns in Captain Marvel.