In Moana (2016), Moana has a pig and a rooster as sidekicks during the film. It is a sailor tradition to get a tattoo of a pig and a chicken on each foot in order to survive a shipwreck.
With Moana, Hei-Hei the rooster and Pua the pig were meant to be more overtly based on Clements and Musker, but it changed when the story called for Pua to stay on the island and Hei-Hei's IQ to be decimated.
Heihei is a bantam rooster. While most animal sidekicks in Disney princess movies, such as Maximus or Sven, are portrayed as unusually clever for their species with near-human intelligence, Heihei is the complete inversion of this trope, being incredibly stupid even by chicken standards.
Although Moana is from the fictional island Motunui some 3,000 years ago, the story and culture of Moana is based on the very real heritage and history of Polynesian islands such as Hawaii, Samoa, Tonga, and Tahiti. In fact, once you start looking for ties to Polynesian culture in Moana, it's hard to stop!
Moana as she appears in Moana (2016). Inspired by Polynesian mythology, Moana is depicted as the strong-willed daughter of a chief of a Polynesian village, who is chosen by the ocean itself to reunite a mystical relic with the goddess Te Fiti.
5) In the film's novelization, Moana's age is given as 16. This makes her the only Disney princess to be voiced by an actress younger than herself. Moana was released on Cravalho's 16th birthday.
"Pua the pet pig was originally going on the journey with Moana, but the issue was that in a classic hero's journey, the hero leaves all comforts behind. And so we made the difficult decision to leave poor Pua at home, so that all things of Moana's family are left behind," says Shurer.
It is a beautiful Hawaiian given name meaning "ocean, sea, or expanse of water." The name has been a firm favorite among Polynesian communities for years, gaining global popularity with the release of Disney's epic animated film in 2016.
Tala gives Moana the heart of Te Fiti, which she has kept safe for her granddaughter ever since she was chosen by the ocean, and shows her that the darkness unleashed by Maui's theft is now consuming the island.
In Moana, Heihei is a demi-god-chicken, tasked by the gods to help Moana. So Heihei is obviously an unusual chicken, but not just because he's stupid. Let's look at evidence: He is shown at the beginning when Moana is a baby, but appears the same age when she is an adult.
Family size, too, was cut down. The young heroine Moana wasn't always the only child seen onscreen. She had six brothers, including one brother who tormented her and another who was wise and supportive. In these versions, Moana was the best sailor among her brothers, but still overlooked by her father, Chief Tui.
In Moana, Disney creators employed some creative license, but they did highlight some actual Polynesian origin myths. In “The Maui Myths,” Maori natives of Tolago (today called Tolaga) Bay, North Island, New Zealand recount Maui's mytho-history which aided in the creation of Moana.
The two most significant parts of Moana's journey, her learning wayfinding and her relationship with Maui, were drawn from Polynesian history and inspired by their mythology. Thanks to the Oceanic Trust however, there are many other details that enrich Moana's story.
