‘Moana 2’ sets sail for fan hearts
There’s something truly planet-shifting about an animated film that brings so much of the world together. When the trailer for Disney’s upcoming Moana 2 dropped, it drew 178 million viewers across the world within 24 hours, setting a new record (surpassing even Frozen II and Inside Out 2). That may sound like industry wonk, but it means this animated journey of a young Polynesian girl from her home has stirred something real across cultures.
“She’s a character who means so much to me as a person,” says writer/first-time director Dana Ledoux Miller, sitting in a screening room at Disney Animation Studios in Burbank alongside Moana 2 creators Dave Derrick Jr. (director), Jason Hand (director) and Jared Bush (co-writer). “She changed the way Pacific Islanders were represented in film forever,” says Dana, “and we can never go back to the day where people didn’t really understand who a Pacific Islander was.”
Moana 2, coming out Nov. 23, reunites Moana (voiced by Auli‘i Cravalho) and Maui (Dwayne Johnson) three years after the original film, where Moana receives an unexpected call from her wayfinding ancestors, and decides to journey to the far seas of Oceania and into dangerous, long-lost waters for a brand-new adventure.
The fact that Moana 2 has three directors surprises me, but it shouldn’t. “There are 600 people on our crew,” Dana points out. “This is a massive film, much bigger than the original, so I feel fortunate there are three of us, because there is so much work to be done, and each of us brings a different skill set and a different perspective.”
The goal was to not only honor the character of Moana, but to bring her story forward into adolescence, while preserving the things that made the original film such a hit.
“A few months ago we had Auli’i in here, and she inspired our entire crew,” recalls Dana. “She spoke to the entire studio about the importance of Moana to her Hawaiian culture, but also to the world. I mean, there wasn’t a dry eye in the studio.”
It was important to stay true to the traditions of the Polynesian culture, and the team worked closely with the Oceanic Cultural Trust, which includes anthropologists, linguists, historians, musicians, botanists, dancers and tattoo masters from across the Pacific. “The first Moana really set the gold standard for how we meaningfully work with consultants on all of our films,” says David. “This group is part of our Moana family, advising on the film throughout the entire process of making the movie.” (Both David and Dana have Samoan roots.)
Also added to the consulting was the Polynesian Voyaging Society, whose iconic Hokule‘a double-hulled canoe travels the world, introducing traditional voyaging to the world. “It’s truly an honor to welcome the Polynesian Voyaging Society, sharing their expertise in history,” says Dana. “The group’s leader, Nainoa Thompson, said to us while making this film, ‘You are wayfinders. You are sharing our stories with the world.”
There’s a responsibility to get culture right, and the makers of Moana 2 were obsessed with the details. Even down to the wind in the sails.
“I think our big challenge this time was getting the wind right,” Jason joked at an earlier D23 presscon. “In the first film, it was water,” adds David. “When people saw the water and how we portrayed it as a character, it blew everyone’s mind. This time, it’s the storm that’s bonkers. That’s where you’ll see some really cutting-edge visuals.”
We watched a 15-minute sequence that expands on the world of Moana, taking us farther asea, as Moana learns to navigate, interact with sea creatures and venture towards what she hopes is a connection with her legacy and ancestors. There’s action, humor, but at the heart is still a young girl’s story of becoming. It was important that “we weren’t betraying all the growth that Moana had in that first film,” Dana reflects. “We weren’t going to reinvent who she is. She’s three years older now. So it allowed us to say, what’s the next step in that journey? What does it mean to be a young woman who is the leader of her people and whose world is expanding?”
Beloved characters are back, of course, including Johnson’s demi-god Maui, a certain nutty rooster, and an adorable piglet named Pua. And there’s Cravalho returning as the voice of Moana, after her debut at age 16 in the original. The music is by Grammy-winning Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear, Grammy nominee Opetaia Foa‘i, and three-time Grammy winner Mark Mancina.
With such a huge team, and with so much riding on Moana 2’s success (yet how can it not be?), it might have been easy to lose track of the story’s heart. Thankfully, the film’s directors are also avid doodlers. “Jason and I, we’re nothing if not doodlers,” says David. “I’d say it’s a problem,” jokes Dana.
They often sketch out entire storyboards using drawing tablets, says Jason. “Here at Disney, it’s a very quick way for us to try out new ideas in the script. And then we put it on our own screens and watch it. Then comes the hand-drawn 2D animation, which takes more time.”
The hand-drawn tradition is still strong with Disney. “Within our film, like with Mini Maui, we had Eric Goldberg, who animated the Genie in the original Aladdin. That was an incredible gift to be able to work with those legends, and to see it all come together in the final film.”
He notes first-time director Dana doodled as well. “Dana also carried around a sketchbook everywhere she went. So we had Dana bringing so many funny, amazing ideas, amazing dialogue. And we all feed on that. That’s what the whole process is about, feeding across all of our disciplines.”
And there was one more must-do assignment as Moana 2’s story set sail, according to David: “They told us, ‘Make sure Pua gets on the boat.’”
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Disney’s Moana 2 opens Nov. 27.