Moana - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts

[discussimdb]

Fan of Moana or just want to share your movie knowledge? This topic is dedicated to all trivia and questions related to Moana

[javier]

The beach scene where toddler Moana escorts a baby turtle across the beach with a palm leaf is a direct reference to Lilo and Stitch. During the credits of Lilo and Stitch, we see a photograph of Stitch escorting two turtles in a similar fashion on the beach.

[edgar]

According to archaeological evidence, the exploration of Western Polynesia proceeded rapidly until about 900 BCE, stopped suddenly for over 1,000 years, then resumed just as suddenly, with all of Eastern Polynesia colonized within a few centuries. Several plausible explanations exist, but the exact cause of the "Long Pause"remains a mystery.

[chad]

Walt Disney Animation Studios' first film to be scored by Mark Mancina since Brother Bear (2003) released 13 years prior.

[gabriel]

When Maui transforms into shark head Maui, his stomach tattoo changes to him with his shark head holding his hook.

[lonnie]

Many of the characters are Pacific island language names or words. Moana means "ocean" and "blue" in both Hawaiian and Maori. Vaiana, the title of the Asian and most of the European releases, means "fresh water". Heihei, Moana's pet rooster, means "chicken" in Maori. Pua, Moana's pet pig, means "offspring" or "flower," and may be short for "pua'a" meaning "pig." Maui is the name of a Polynesian demigod and the second largest Hawaiian island. Tui, Moana's father, is the name of a bird native to New Zealand, home of Temuera Morrison. Tala, Moana's grandmother, who tells the legend of Maui, Te Fiti and Te Ka at the beginning of the movie, means "story" in Samoan, and is the name of the goddess of the stars in Tagalog mythology. Tamatoa, the giant crab, means "trophies" in Maori.

[wallace]

John Musker and Ron Clements' first directorial effort since Hercules (1997) to take the name of the protagonist(s).

[sylvia]

Moana is the fourth Disney Princess to be barefoot throughout her film, after Aurora, Pocahontas and Rapunzel.

[michele]

Walt Disney Animation Studios' third film to have a pig as one of the main characters after The Black Cauldron (1985) and The Lion King (1994).

[nicholas]

The manner in which Te Ka crawls towards Moana before she restores the heart resembles the movements of Ursula in The Little Mermaid (1989), when she is crawling towards Ariel on the deck of the ship in the finale.

[oscar]

One of the Kakamora has face-paint very similar to Baymax from Big Hero 6 (2014).

[ray]

Moana is the second Disney princess to be part of a tribal civilization. The first was Pocahontas (1995).

[bernard]

In the October 20, 2014 interview with Huffington Post, director Ron Clements recalls the experience of visiting the islands of the South Pacific to gain artistic and authentic references for the film: "When we visited those islands, John Musker and I were especially interested in meeting people who lived on islands where they had grown up surrounded by an ocean. We wondered how that might affect your point-of-view. And we learned a lot. We learned all kinds of things that we didn't know. We learned how the sea and the land are one and the same. How these people think of the ocean as something that unites the islands, not something that separates them. And then we learned about the great migration and how the people of the Islands take great pride in the fact that their ancient ancestors invented this way of navigation called dead reckoning which involved studying the stars and the currents. And way before the European explorers or the Vikings, these people had this very, very incredibly advanced techniques of navigation." As Clements continued, "So many of these ideas in terms of respect for nature, respect for the ocean and the elements - all of these things - really had a huge influence on us and then began to make their way into this film's story," Ron continued. "Which is why Moana is now the most ambitious thing that John and I have ever attempted. There's definitely an epic aspect to this story. Not to mention huge opportunities for comedy and action and adventure. But at the same time, there's also a key relationship at the very heart of this story. An emotional core that - I think - is especially important with this film. But as it is with any of these things, you just hope that - in the end - you can get it right."