Walt Disney Animation Studios' Moana 2 reunites Moana (Auli'i Cravalho) and Maui (Dwayne Johnson) three years later for an expansive new voyage alongside a crew of unlikely seafarers. After receiving an unexpected call from her wayfinding ancestors, Moana must journey to the far seas of Oceania and into dangerous, long-lost waters for an adventure unlike anything she’s ever faced.
The movie, which started as a Disney+ TV series, was directed by David Derrick Jr., Jason Hand and Dana Ledoux Miller, and we recently got to sit down with David and Jason to discuss their collaboration on this follow-up.
Among the topics covered are Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson's standout song, "Can I Get A Chee Hoo?," and Moana's evolution into a demigod. They also share the real-life emotional reason behind Simea's introduction and address that big mid-credits scene surprise.
We also hear from David and Jason on the work that went into turning Moana 2 into a feature and get an exciting update on potential plans for a third movie.
Oh, and if like us you loved the heroic Kakamora, Kotu, then we also have some fun intel on his introduction as well.
You can watch the full interview with David and Jason on Moana 2 in the player below.
It's awesome to be able to talk to you about this film. I've got to start by admitting I've had one song just stuck in my head since watching, and that's "Can I Get A Chee Hoo?" What was it like approaching a song that rivalled "You're Welcome"?
Jason: Yeah, it's great that you chose that one. It's my favorite song. I think it was stuck in our heads for longer than you have had it stuck in your head. It was so much fun. Like you said, we wanted to really sort of do a calling card to 'You're Welcome' and really push it forward. And from a story perspective, having Maui actually sort of pump up Moana was really the impetus for the song [and] just to go as crazy and kind of ridiculous as we could possibly go with that while he's still Maui doing it in a very Maui way. In a sense, it shows his growth.
David: It gets right to the heart of the story. The relationship between Maui and Moana and the reversal from the first film where he's doing all this to help her and to pump her up like Jason said. I love it too.
I think it really resonated with people because every time The Rock now comes back to WWE, people are constantly chanting "Chee Hoo" in the crowd.
Jason: Yeah, that was honestly the goal, for it be something like that. That's so in his wheelhouse and can live beyond the screen, beyond the film itself. So it's I'm so happy that it actually has done that.
David: Hats off to the entire artistic team and animation team. The music team, Emily and Abigail, were absolutely incredible. And then, layering sounds beneath...it's a collaboration that completely came together.
One of my favourite new additions to this film was Moana's little sister, Simea. She's adorable and the animation on that character was just great. Where did the inspiration for her come from in terms of bringing her into this story and exploring the bond she has with her big sister?
David: I'll try not to get emotional. When we work on these films, we put ourselves into them oftentimes. On my Samoan side, my ancestor is named Simeona, and my eldest daughter is also named Simeoa and she's 21 years old right now. We had a little surprise in our family, Quentin, and he's 7 years old. We started crafting the story in COVID and lockdown, and I would talk to Jason about the relationship between my daughter and my son, and they did everything together. They were inseparable. He was an older child because he was around bigger kids and grew up with COVID. And suddenly, Simea had to go off to college and it was the most heart-wrenching moment when he had to say goodbye to her, but it also showed this maturity that they both had to face early in life. We wanted to make leaving Motunui hard this time for Moana, and to give her more purpose than she even had before in succeeding, and Simea really delivered on so many of those things. It came from real life.
Moana isn't a Disney princess, but she is a Disney Demigoddess. Where did the inspiration to head down that route come from? What a huge development for the character that is.
Jason: It's a great question. You know, as we were developing the story, we really wanted to show that Moana still had a lot to grow a lot to change. And it really sort of puts an exclamation point on that idea when she has always been a person who's out there for people doing things for the right reason, and it sort of naturally led to that idea that she would actually in the action she takes and everything she does that she proves herself to be more than just who she thought she was at the beginning. Having that demigod status at the end of the film, it says a lot about it, and it was something that we crafted towards and really wanted to do. We wanted to hold back when we were originally releasing the film but it's such a powerful moment and, like I said, it just speaks to who she is as a character.
David: We love that we get to fully talk about it now, because initially, we could talk about the thematics that we love. We never stop choosing or discovering who we are in life. But then we could never talk fully about what Moana does discover, and I love that. It's beyond anything she ever imagined in her growth and evolution of self.
It's such a cool moment for the character and one I know a lot of people want to be explored in Moana 3. We get a very intriguing mid-credits scene with a big return; was that something you wanted to build to the whole time? Or was that a later addition to the film?
Jason: We were always playing around with different versions of that actually, right?
David: Yeah. And you know, there's an untapped potential to the idea of her being a demigod, obviously. And we love that as an idea. And you know what that means. We haven't quite got there yet, but I think it actually felt right for her character. And I think that that the mid-credit scene sort of speaks to the fact that there's more to this story.
When it came to the two of you collaborating with Dan to make this film, what was it like sharing the workload? And then, of course, when you got the news that Disney wanted this to become a movie, which I think we can all agree was a great decision, how difficult was it to then transition into getting this into a feature and into theaters in time for Thanksgiving?
David: You know, making anything is difficult, and making something as great as one was, was no easy feat, and so, as directors, we all leaned on each other. We leaned on our own expertise, and there were many times when we would have to divide and conquer. We had over, I think, 550 people who contributed to this film. It was a lot for any one person...too much, I think, with the timeline. And so gladly we worked and collaborated together.
Jason: As we created the story together, our story room is sort of our home base, and really all the answers for all the questions that would come up. And we're working with any one of the departments here from recording actors to music to lighting animation. All those answers are actually in the story. And so that was our home base. We all understood what the moments were, what the purpose of each scene was, and what Moana was feeling, or what Maui was feeling or the crew. And so all those things were our home base for us to sort of get out into the other departments and, ultimately, that's what kept the story together. It was really difficult, like, Dave was saying, to make a film. Obviously it started as a series, but it always felt like we were telling a single story, anyway. So what we'd had to do was just a matter of really refocusing it back through Moana's point of view, and it always in hindsight, wanted to be up on the big screen. We were telling a big story with incredible visuals. And the world is so huge. I can't imagine any other way now, and it's been like that for a while, we all like working towards that. So we were happy that the studio agreed with us, and wanting to make the same thing. We did so. It was super exciting, and obviously we agree it was the right choice.
I guess one of the only disadvantages of going from TV to movie is that you had to lose a lot of footage or story arcs you wanted to include. Or were you quite happy with the way you boiled it down?
David: Our movie is about evolution of self, that we are always growing and changing. And so for us, we actually lived that. The process of making this starting out as one thing becoming something else. Like Jason said, the story tells you what it wants to be. And it did want to be on the big screen. But what we did learn when it was episodic is we got to really hone in on all these new characters, and understand how Loto works, how Kele works, how Moni works. And then, when you supercharge that into a feature, everything has to serve Moana's story. And so, in a way, it was. It was a great session, understanding these new characters.
Talking about the characters, we get to see the Kakamora come back, and obviously, see a very, I guess, heroic side of at least one of them which I thought was really cool after the 1st movie.
David: Jason gets a lot of credit for that. Fairly early on we had certain visual tent poles that each of us wanted. And I was like, 'I want a giant whale shot, and you just kept drawing a heroic Kakamora that comes on the journey.
Jason: One of the goals...obviously, we're making a sequel. so you do want to have fan favourite stuff. I count myself as a fan of those characters. We show them in a different light, like what you're saying. You get to see a heroic side to them. You get to understand that there's more to their story, and that sort of goes along with the whole theme of the entire film, which is, you know, learning more about yourself. Also learning more about the people around you is really important, and community is a huge theme as well. So, having a Kakamora come on board. It brings a lot of fun, and I just love the character of Kotu so much. We just had a blast creating those scenes.
I know I mentioned it before, but Moana 3. Has there been any chatter about that? Obviously, this movie's been a huge hit, so congratulations, but do you think we're going to come back for a threequel?
David: I love how our movie has been embraced around the world. We are so grateful for the enthusiasm, and I love that people want more. We can't say anything as of yet, but we're glad people want it.
Jason: Yeah, it's so exciting that there's a there's a desire to find out more about what's going on. I love that. And obviously we love these characters in this world so much. We had such an incredible time making it, and to have audiences embrace the film. It's kind of unbelievable, to be honest. It sort of started when our trailer came out, and we saw the thirst for these characters. It was so great that we love the things we love so much. The audiences were feeling the same about it. So we'll see what the future brings.
Moana 2 is available on Digital now. Stream it exclusively on Disney+ on March 12.