I'm a big fan of Disney's Moana.
I love the characters, the music, and the animation, as I'm sure you'll know from my
other videos about the film.
But the movie we know and love about a fearless future chief and her amusing dynamic with
an egotistical demigod started out life very differently.
Yippee-ki-yay, movie lovers, it's Jan here, and in this video I'm going to reveal how
the trickster demi-god Maui very nearly ruined the delightfully refreshing story of Moana.
By the way, I've got a great giveaway to win this gorgeous Art of Moana hardback book.
I'll be running that on my Moana Deleted Scenes video, so make sure you subscribe and turn
on your notifications for Flicks And The City so you don't miss it.
And I'll add a link to the video here when it's ready.
Quick warning: if you haven't seen Moana yet, I will be talking spoilers and discussing
alternative endings for the movie in this video.
If that's a problem, you can check out my spoiler-free Moana review here and watch this
video after you've had a chance to see the film!
When Moana directors Ron Clements and John Musker decided they wanted to make a movie
based in the Pacific Islands, they began by researching the mythology of the region, in
particular the legends of the demi-god Maui.
Indeed, the original title of the film was going to be "Mighty Maui" and it was going
to adapt a number of Maui myths into a brand new story that focussed principally on his
character.
One of the main legends they planned to use involved a sidekick female character who asked
Maui to help rescue her lover who'd been kidnapped.
However, after directors Ron Clements and John Musker travelled to the Pacific to learn
more about the culture, they found that their original idea was rather stereotyped.
During their visit, they learned about Oceanic people's very strong connection to the sea
and their shared history of navigation, so they decided the story should focus more significantly
on that.
On their return, Clements and Musker tossed out the "Mighty Maui" concept and reversed
the two character roles, making Maui the sidekick and Moana the lead character.
Their idea was that the film should concentrate on being a discovery of who you truly are,
and they envisaged Moana and Maui as a kind of True Grit-style odd couple.
As the filmmakers went about enhancing Moana's role in the movie, they also reduced Maui's
role.
However, they got to a point where they decided they needed a little more balance.
For example, "You're Welcome" was originally going to be Moana's song.
The idea being that when she met Maui on his island, he would be kind of miserable, so
to raise his spirits, Moana would sing the song to remind him of all his incredible exploits.
In the end, of course, the song was reworked into a fantastic bragging session for Maui
about how amazing he thinks he is, with Dwayne Johnson giving a brilliant rendition of "You're
Welcome" in the final movie.
And to ensure that Maui still made an impact as a character, the demi-god also went through
a number of redesigns.
Initially, Maui was going to be much smaller and rather a disappointment to Moana when
she first met him.
He was also going to be bald and more of a grumpy curmudgeon in many early versions.
However, after discussions with Pacific Islanders, the filmmakers found that the Maui of legend
was a much larger-than-life character with a thick mane of hair.
According to the movie's head of story, David Pimentel, the feedback from Disney's Oceanic
Story Trust was that Maui "needs to be a hero, almost like Superman."
In particular, Maui had to be given a lot more hair as that's the source of much of
his legendary power.
Now, one of the most beautiful and touching moments in Moana happens towards the end of
the film when Moana parts the sea and walks up to Te Ka to restore her missing heart.
Instead of a villain being defeated, what we see is a peaceful resolution and redemption
for Te Ka, and, of course, a triumph for Moana.
But in previous versions of the script, this wasn't what happened; rather, it was Maui
who dominated the end of the story, completely overshadowing Moana's journey and achievement.
In one alternate ending, Moana had to dive underwater to put the heart back in Te Ka,
and while doing this, Moana became trapped.
And she was only saved when Maui pulled up the island with his fishhook.
And another alternate ending had Moana and Maui fighting Te Ka together, but it was Maui
who was mostly responsible for defeating the lava demon.
Quite late in the day, these endings were eventually rejected as they diminished Moana's
achievement and made Maui the hero of Moana's story.
The final ending I thought was much more satisfying.
So, what do you think about the changes to Maui in Disney's Moana?
Do you think it was better for Moana to take the lead role?
Or would you like to have seen more Maui in the final movie and are there any Maui legends
you think should have been included?
I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.
If you enjoyed this, make sure to hit that like button and subscribe for lots more of
my Disney videos including an in-depth look at all the deleted scenes and songs in Moana
and also all the easter eggs in the movie.
Coming up shortly, I'll have new videos on Beauty And The Beast and an Art of Moana book
giveaway!
Tap or click here to check those out.
Thanks for watching and see ya next time; yippee ki-yay movie lovers!