DUBAI: Out now in cinemas across the Middle East, Walt Disney Animation Studio’s highly anticipated “Moana 2” reunites audiences with its seafaring heroine (Auli’i Cravalho) and her best buddy Maui (voiced by Dwayne Johnson).
Directed by David Derrick Jr., Jason Hand and Dana Ledoux Miller, the sequel sees Moana journey to the far seas of Oceania for a new adventure after receiving an unexpected call from her wayfinding ancestors.
The filmmakers said that they were especially committed to representing the Pacific Island communities and peoples respectfully and with integrity, and that meant turning to the Oceanic Cultural Trust once again for guidance.
As with the first film, the “Moana 2” filmmakers assembled a team of cultural experts in anthropology, history, dance and movement, canoes and navigation, linguistics and various cultural practices from the Pacific Islands.
“I think we’re just really fortunate to work with our Oceanic Cultural Trust, led by Kalikolehua Hurley. We all care really deeply about the world of ‘Moana,’ and want to get it right. We definitely wanted to be intentional about the cultural nuances and home in on it, whether it was with clothing or designs in any way, but we also just wanted to create a movie that felt true to what it means to be from the Pacific,” said co-director Hand in an interview with Arab News.
“I would say that we really let Moana sort of dictate where the story goes,” added co-director Ledoux Miller. “We were really intentional about building off that foundation of the first film and thinking really carefully about what that first journey was. It was a story of identity and of her really coming into her own. So, it felt like a really natural extension that we would continue that idea of self-growth and evolution. We love the idea that as you grow as a leader, you learn new things about yourself, and you have to realize that you never stop discovering new depths to yourself and new things that you’re capable of.”
Being of Samoan descent, Ledoux Miller said that she felt the weight of representing her community through filming and beyond.
“I would say it’s front of mind even right now, it’s every day. To be a part of making the key creative decisions for creating this film was truly an honor, but absolutely a responsibility as well. I feel very protective of my community, but I feel protective of Moana too. I’m also like a Moana fan, and I want to do right by her, but I couldn’t be prouder of what we put together, and I’m so excited for my family to see this. I think I’ll breathe a little easier once they do,” she said.
One of the main new characters we meet in “Moana 2” is Simea, Moana’s younger sibling (voiced by Khaleesi Lambert-Tsuda).
“The first film was really about Moana connecting to her past, and as this story is really all about the future and where she is going to bring her people, it made so much sense to put in an emotional relationship that she has with her little sister, and that embodiment of the future is right there for her. I think you really fall in love with the relationship from the first moment that you see them together, and that lasts all the way until the very end of the film,” Hand said.
