And there's definitely no sexual chemistry (thank demigod) between Moana and her wisecracking travel companion, Maui, voiced by 44-year-old Dwayne Johnson. According to the directors, Moana was always intended to be a princess movie without a prince.
Nope. It turns out Moana just doesn't have one in the movie. "It's a film about the heroine finding herself," Musker and Clements revealed to EW about whether or not Moana was going to have a romance.
Merida. Merida's place as a Disney princess was rather groundbreaking in the fact that she was the first Disney princess who wasn't given a prince. Her entire story is more about family and that kind of love. Merida has a rather free spirit and is strong and independent.
Moana Waialiki of Motunui is the title character of Walt Disney Animation Studios' animated film Moana (2016). Created by directors Ron Clements and John Musker, Moana is voiced by Hawaiian actress and singer Auliʻi Cravalho. As a toddler, she is voiced by Louise Bush.
In the Disney film Moana, the relationship between Moana and Maui is not romantic because Moana is a sixteen year old girl and Maui is thousands of years old. This is a step up from prior Disney movies.
Merida and Pocahontas are the only Princesses to not be seen married, or have wedding dresses in the franchise. Belle and a few others were featured in Disney's Beautiful Brides book.
Among the iwi of New Zealand, Hina is usually considered to be either the elder sister or the wife of Māui. The most common story that presents Hina as the wife of Māui tells of Te Tunaroa, the father of all eels, who one day visited the pool where Hina bathed.
Moana's age, 16, is less of an issue in her story as it doesn't include a romantic plot, but it still relies on a young girl to overcome dangerous challenges and save the world. Disney princesses have always had an age problem, with characters as young as 14 falling in love, defying parents, and getting married.
Though Moana and Te Fiti aren't related by blood like Anna and Elsa, the sacrifice underscores the large role nature plays in the film. “The idea that what we perceive as the villain of the film is actually 'nature wronged' was always an idea that we had, and wanted to build toward,” Shurer said.
The story of the demigod Maui stretches across the Pacific and is estimated to be over 1000 years old. Always on a quest to empower mankind, Maui has become an endearing icon to the people of Polynesia.
However, the filmmakers were willing to say one thing definitively: "Elsa's not going to have a romantic relationship in this," writer-director Jennifer Lee told a group of journalists gathered at Walt Disney Animation Studios.
One of the first Disney movies that involved a princess as the main protagonist who didn't have a love interest was Merida in Brave. Merida was a princess, and she was to be courted, but she didn't want to be given someone to love, plus she believed she was able to rule her country on her own.
Moana, the newest Disney princess fans are counting down the days to meet, will officially have no love interest in the upcoming movie. Instead, her story will focus on the path she takes to find herself — not a significant other.
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.
A millennium later, Moana, daughter of Motunui's chief Tui, is chosen by the ocean to return the heart to Te Fiti. However, Tui arrives and takes Moana away, causing her to lose the heart. Tui and Moana's mother, Sina, try to keep her away from the ocean to prepare her for ascension as the island's chief.
Temuera Morrison as Tui, Moana's overprotective father, Sina's husband, and Tala's son. He is chief of Motunui Island. Morrison reprised his role in the film's Māori-language dub.
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!
As of early October 2023, Disney has not officially announced the development of Moana 2. In the past decade or so, the studio has progressively veered away from making sequels and instead focused on developing live-action remakes.
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs came out in 1937, debuting the very first Disney princess with Snow White herself. Voiced by Adriana Caselotti, she's incredibly of her time (i.e. dated af).
Māui is a character from Māori and Polynesian mythology. Though the stories about him do sometimes differ, he is consistently depicted as a clever, talented trickster. He's a demi-god, and he has supernatural powers, but still looks human.
Māui is the son of Taranga, the wife of Makeatutara. He was a miraculous birth – his mother threw her premature infant into the sea wrapped in a tress of hair from her topknot (tikitiki) – hence Māui's full name is Māui-tikitiki-a-Taranga. Ocean spirits found and wrapped the child in seaweed and jellyfish.
