‘Moana’ Film, Updates: Directors Talk Creating Franchise’s First Polynesian Warrior Princess, Combining Complicated 2D-CG Technology; Features ‘Little Mermaid’ References

‘Moana’ directors Ron Clements and John Musker talked about melding 2D and CG technology in the creating a film about Disney’s first ever Polynesian warrior princess. They also teased that the film will feature references from past films in the franchise such as ‘Little Mermaid’.

During an interview with IndieWire, directors Ron Clements and John Musker shed some light on the animation process behind Disney’s upcoming 3D computer-animated musical fantasy-adventure film.

The upcoming film combines traditional 2D animation and computer graphics to create the new world of Moana. Musker said, “It comes with the territory… We have Randy Haycock [‘The Lion King’, ‘Aladdin’] who does draw-overs of CG and to push things in terms of posing and can bring 2D ideas of how animation can work.  Dabbler [the painting app from NVIDIA] helps loosen it up by deforming CG models and moving it more into the 2D world. It’s more graphic and sculptural, a better fusing of the techniques.”

It was reported that the co-directors turned to the works of traditional artists for inspiration. Musker continued, “We looked around the island of Mo’orea and studied the sculpted rocks that worked both graphically and dimensionally… Also, people’s faces and bodies were carved, so the idea of doing it in CG this way became clear. Jim Henn, who understands the transitional drawing between 2D and CG, worked this out.”

Auli’I Cravalho is set to play the title character, a chieftain’s daughter descended from a long line of navigators. The 15-year old actress of mixed descent hails from Oahu, Hawaii.

During a previous interview with Tech Insider, Cravalho admitted that she didn’t officially audition but tried for a local nonprofit event. She said, "The casting woman who was going through those auditions was the same casting director for Disney's ["Moana"]. She looked at my audition and the rest is history."

Joining Cravalho in the cast are Dwayne Johnson as the demi-god Maui, Temuera Morrison as Moana’s overprotective father Chief Tui of Motunui Island, Nicole Scherzinger as Moana’s mother Sina, Jemaine Clement as the evil crab Tamatoa, Alan Tudyk as Moana’s pet rooster Hei Hei, and Rachel House as Moana’s grandmother Tala.

It follows Moana as she sets sail to a fabled island with her friend Maui in order to help her family. Moana is considered the very first Polynesian Disney princess and is one of the studio’s most anticipated films. Cravalho described her character as someone with “serious guts.” She added, “She’s really courageous and beautiful as well.”

It was reported by E! News that the upcoming film will also feature references to past Disney animated films. Clements and Musker teased that Flounder from ‘Little Mermaid’ and Olaf from ‘Frozen’ will be making appearances.

‘Moana’ is an animated action-adventure film scheduled to be released on November 23, 2016. It is produced under Walt Disney Animation Studios and Walt Disney Pictures.