you could spot Flounder from “The Little Mermaid” swimming with the other sea animals.
Of all Disney’s princesses through the years,Moanais easilymy favorite.
Moana was envisioned as asecondary characteron a mission to rescue her love interest.
Thankfully, that didn’t happen!
The film is much stronger as a journey of self-discovery.
2.Directors Ron Clements and John Musker also co-directed anotherDisney movieset in the ocean:The Little Mermaid.
And they included a small Easter egg during “You’re Welcome” Flounder!
you might spot him swimming with the other sea animals.
Eventually, the team decided to turn Maui into the confident demigod we know and love today.
Lucky for us as that’s Dwayne Johnson’s only song!
They spent time in the villages, went sailing, and spoke to people of all ages and backgrounds.
An elder approached them andsaid, “For years, we have been swallowed by your culture.
For once, can you be swallowed by ours?”
Whew, talk about powerful!
This stuck with the team and became their driving force to dive deep into Pacific cultures.
Pacific Islanders also emphasized the idea of nature being alive.
This comes across throughout the movie, where the ocean is a character in its own right.
6.Maui was originally supposed to be bald like The Rock.
But when Disney took early art to Polynesian cultural advisers, they weren’t fans.
“The advisers said, ‘Maui isnt bald.
“And we all said, ‘Okay, Maui will have hair.'”
7.Auli’i Cravalho was thevery lastgirl seen by casting agents on the last day of auditions.
8.Pua originally went on the entire adventure with Moana.
That would’ve been so fun to see this cutie with a larger role!
He worked on theMoanasoundtrack during hisHamiltonrun and even turned to a few costars like Phillipa Soo when recordingdemos.
10.The movie addressed a real-life historical event called the Long Pause.
John toldBuzzFeed, “That was a deliberate attempt, partly inspired by wanting her to be different.
And then we wanted her to be an action hero, capable of action.
13.Maui’s character was inspired by a combination of Polynesian myths.
While many islands have their own variations of Maui, there are a few common stories.
Some of the myths even made their way into the movie.
14.Maui also drew inspiration from another source.
15.Hawaiian Airlines celebrated Disney’s first Polynesian princess by painting three of their planes.
They also decorated the over-head compartments withMoana-themed decals.
“Heihei the animal went through a bit of a character evolution,” writer Jared Bush said.
“He started out as kind of a jerk.
Heihei had a lot of attitude.
Over the course of many different screenings, [we learned] the character wasn’t resonating.
We started to change just one little thing about Heihei.”
17.And finally, Moana’s name is symbolic.
The word moana actually means ocean in many Polynesian languages.
So when the ocean chooses her, it’s very fitting!
