Disney Animation MOANA Panel With Dwayne Johnson and Te Vaka at D23 Expo
The Disney Animation film Moana had a very entertaining panel at the D23 expo. The panel started with an introduction to the film by directors John Musker and Ron Clements (The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, The Princess and the Frog), and producer Osnat Shurer. Set 2000 years ago in the South Pacific, the movie's title character, Moana, is the teenage daughter of chief Tui. 1000 years ago her people were great navigators of the sea. After the death of her mother, Moana defies her father and travels beyond the safety the reef to find out why her people stopped navigating the ocean. Along the way she meets demigod Maui, voiced by Dwayne Johnson.
The animation tests of Maui and his gigantic fishhook and animated tattoos, a vengeful lava land spirit, and friendly living ocean are truly magical — it's the kind of thing that could only work in animation. Filmmakers approached the story very humbly, getting lots of consultation from the Polynesian community to really present their culture properly.
Johnson exuberantly spoke about how excited he was to be part of the film production and how honored he is to be playing Maui. He then got the room of 7,500 attendees to give a proper Samoan welcome to Opetaia Foa’i and the band Te Vaka, who gave a beautiful live performance of a song in the movie.
Of everything I saw today during the three hour long Disney Animation panel, Moana is the movie I'm most excited for because of its sweeping story. Moana journeys into theaters November 23rd, 2016 (USA).