Why Does Everyone Love Moana So Much? Disney Animation’s Chief Creative Officer Explains [Exclusive]

I can’t wait. And now you have these new characters that are fitting into this world that’s already really well established and they all have such distinct personalities. How do you figure out, “These are the characters that I want?” Did you come up with an energy you wanted first or was it a specific character that was just talking in your head and you’re like, “I’ve got to get them out on paper”?

Well, I think I had the benefit of just having finished in “Encanto,” where we had a very big cast and you had to immediately understand who each of those characters were and hear that voice immediately and have those all [exist] separately, and having that very top of mind for me as we headed into this next story. Building [a supporting cast of characters], we knew everyone had to have very distinct personalities, and you wanted those to pop immediately. And I think leveraging off the idea that Moana is somebody who thought she understood who she was, that she figured herself out, that she evolved and she got herself into a really good place, we wanted to surround her with characters that would challenge that.

You have Loto, who changes herself every three seconds. She is very happy to destroy anything in the pursuit of evolution. You have Kele, the grumpy old farmer — he knows who he is. He’s a guy who lives in the dirt and he’s happy in the dirt and he’s never going to change. These are opposite poles and Moana’s in the middle of that. And then you have Moni, who is the storyteller who doesn’t even know that’s a question he should be asking. And I think for all three of those characters, we wanted to surround Moana with people who would have an opinion about how we evolve, and is that possible and what change can do?

And there’s also the time-honored tradition of Disney animal sidekicks.

Of course.

Love them all dearly. They’re the shining beacon in any Disney film.

Good.

But the question that I have for you is, how do you decide when you’re going to give them a little bit here and there?

I wish I could say that it was this formula, but I will say that usually what happens is we have hundreds of people that work on this movie and all of our movies, and a great idea will come in and just demand to be on screen — something you’d never expect. I think, obviously, you’ve seen Heihei at the beginning of this movie and how he finds his way into the story. Typically with Heihei, he’s not super smart, but somehow he comes across something vitally important and that helps Moana on her path. I think that we had a lot of people in the building who couldn’t wait to see how stupid they could make Heihei. [laughs] 

And then I think on the flip side, everyone so badly wanted Pua to be on the canoe last time. And having the opportunity to do that, I think it was really fun for people. Pua is not great out there on that canoe, but this is not something he should be doing at all. And watching him try to find his bravery I think is a really fun story arc for him, too.

“Moana 2” finds its way into theaters on November 27, 2024.