Moana Film Details
Moana (also known as Vaiana or Oceania in some markets) is a 2016 American animated musical fantasy adventure film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. The film was directed by John Musker and Ron Clements, co-directed by Chris Williams and Don Hall, and produced by Osnat Shurer, from a screenplay written by Jared Bush and a story by Clements, Musker, Williams, Hall, Pamela Ribon, and the writing team of Aaron and Jordan Kandell.
The film stars Auliʻi Cravalho as the voice of Moana and also features the ensemble voices of Dwayne Johnson, Rachel House, Temuera Morrison, Jemaine Clement, Nicole Scherzinger, and Alan Tudyk. It features original songs written by Lin-Manuel Miranda, Opetaia Foa’i, and Mark Mancina, and an orchestral score also composed by Mancina. The film is set in ancient Polynesia and tells the story of Moana, the strong-willed daughter of a chief of a coastal village, who is chosen by the ocean itself to reunite a mystical relic with the goddess Te Fiti. When a blight strikes her island, Moana sets sail in search of Maui, a legendary demigod, in hopes of returning the relic to Te Fiti and saving her people. The plot is original, but takes inspiration from Polynesian myths.
Moana premiered during the AFI Fest at the El Capitan Theatre in Los Angeles on November 14, 2016, and was released theatrically in the United States on November 23. The film received positive reviews from critics, who praised its animation, music, and vocal performances. The film went on to gross over $687 million worldwide. Along with Zootopia, it marked the first time since 2002 that Walt Disney Animation Studios released two feature films in the same year, after Lilo & Stitch and Treasure Planet. At the 89th Academy Awards, the film received two nominations for Best Animated Feature and Best Original Song (“How Far I’ll Go”). A sequel, Moana 2, is set to be released in November 2024, while a live-action remake is scheduled for release in June 2025, with Johnson reprising his role in both.
STORY
PRODUCTION
Development
After directing The Princess and the Frog (2009), Clements and Musker started working on an adaptation of Terry Pratchett’s Mort, but problems with acquiring the necessary film rights prevented them from continuing with that project. To avoid a recurrence of that issue, they pitched three original ideas. The genesis of one of those ideas (the one that was ultimately green-lit) occurred in 2011, when Musker began reading up on Polynesian mythology, and learned of the heroic exploits of the demigod Māui. Intrigued with the rich culture of Polynesia, he felt it would be a suitable subject for an animated film. Shortly thereafter, Musker and Clements wrote a treatment and pitched it to John Lasseter, who recommended that both of them should go on research trips. Accordingly, in 2012, Clements and Musker went on research trips to Fiji, Samoa, and Tahiti to meet the people of the South Pacific Ocean and learn about their culture. At first, they had planned to make the film entirely about Maui, but their initial research trips inspired Clements to pitch a new idea focused on the young daughter of a chief.
Clements and Musker were fascinated to learn during their research that the people of Polynesia abruptly stopped making long-distance voyages about three thousand years ago. Polynesian navigational traditions had long predated those of European explorers, beginning around 300 CE. Native people of the Pacific possessed knowledge of the world and their place in it prior to the incursion of foreigners. For example, Kānaka Maoli (Native Hawaiians) were well aware of the existence of far away islands, had names for these places, and were interested in exploring them to benefit their societies. This voyaging heritage was made possible by a geographical knowledge system based on individual perspective rather than the European cardinal direction system. The reasons for the halt of this voyaging tradition remain unknown, but scholars have offered climate change and resulting shifts in ocean currents and wind patterns as one possible explanation. Native peoples of the Pacific resumed voyaging again a thousand years later. Clements and Musker set the film at that point in time, about two thousand years ago, on a fictional island in the central Pacific Ocean, which drew inspiration from elements of the real-life island nations of Fiji, Samoa, and Tonga. Although, Motunui is actually a real islet located south of Easter Island in Chilean Polynesia.
Over the five years it took to develop and produce the film, Clements and Musker recruited experts from across the South Pacific to form an Oceanic Story Trust, who consulted on the film’s cultural accuracy and sensitivity as the story evolved through nine versions. The Trust responded negatively, for example, to a depiction of Maui as bald, and to a proposed scene in which Moana threw a tantrum by throwing coconuts. In response, Maui was reworked with long hair and the coconut scene was scrapped.
During the 2015 D23 Expo’s panel for Disney’s slate of upcoming animated films, Moana’s last name was given as “Waialiki”, but that name was not retained in the final film.
CAST
- Auliʻi Cravalho as Moana, who is the curious daughter of village chief Tui and his wife Sina, and is chosen by the ocean to restore the heart of Te Fiti
- Cravalho reprised her role in the film’s Hawaiian-language version.
- Louise Bush as young Moana
- Dwayne Johnson as Maui, a legendary strong-willed yet easily annoyed shapeshifting demigod who sets off with Moana on her journey
- Rachel House as Tala, Tui’s mother and Moana’s paternal grandmother. Like Moana, Tala shares a passion for the ocean and the two have a very deep bond.
- House reprised her role in the film’s Māori-language dub.
- Temuera Morrison as Tui, Moana’s overprotective father, Sina’s husband, and Tala’s son. He is chief of Motunui Island.
- Morrison reprised his role in the film’s Māori-language dub.
- Christopher Jackson as Tui’s singing voice
- Jemaine Clement as Tamatoa, a giant, villainous, treasure-hoarding coconut crab from Lalotai, the Realm of Monsters.
- Clement reprised his role in the film’s Māori-language dub.
- Nicole Scherzinger as Sina, Moana’s mother, Tui’s wife, and Chieftess of Motunui.
- Scherzinger also reprised her role in the film’s Hawaiian-language dub.
- Alan Tudyk as Heihei, Moana’s pet rooster
- Tudyk also voices Villager No. 3, an old man who suggests cooking Heihei
- Oscar Kightley as a fisherman
- Troy Polamalu as Villager No. 1
- Puanani Cravalho (Auli’i Cravalho’s mother) as Villager No. 2
RELEASE
November 23, 2016
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