Moana 2 Spoilers
- “Do you know who Maui is? Only the greatest demigod in all the Pacific Islands!”
- ―Maui to Moana
Maui is the deuteragonist of Disney's 2016 animated feature film, Moana and its sequel.
Background[]
He started off as an unnamed child born to human parents 3,000 years before the events of the film. Disgusted and apparently wanting nothing to do with their son, the child was thrown into the sea as an infant and left for dead. Fortunately, he was saved by the gods, who raised and named him Maui while granting him supernatural abilities, immortality, and a giant, magical fish hook that allows him to shape-shift. For the next centuries, Maui used his powers to benefit mankind in any way they pleased as a means to earn the love and validation he was denied by his parents; he pulled islands from the sea to provide them with homes, extended their days by pulling back the sun, and stole fire from the bottom of the earth to provide them with warmth on cold nights, among many feats. As a result, Maui became one of the most acclaimed figures of Oceania history. Despite his demigod status and proper upbringing by the gods, Maui's tragic origins would forever scar him as he despised his human parents for trying to kill him to satisfy their selfishness.
Because of his insecurities over his origins, Maui wasn't able to put aside his need to satisfy mankind. On one fateful day, Maui stole the heart of Te Fiti, the mother island. As the gem has the power to create life, Maui believed it would make the perfect gift to mortals all across the world as he intends to give to them. Unfortunately, once the heart was removed from its resting spot, darkness slowly began consuming the world. The removal of the heart also gave birth to the wrathful lava demon Te Kā, who confronted Maui before he could escape. The two battled, but Maui was defeated, losing both the heart of Te Fiti and his magical fish hook in the aftermath. The heart would remain lost for decades, while Maui's fishhook eventually fell into the possessions of his arch-rival, the giant crab Tamatoa.
Maui, meanwhile, was banished to a desolate island by Te Kā and was doomed to remain there for all eternity as punishment for his crimes. Even so, legend proclaims that Maui is destined to team up with a young hero—"the chosen one"—to return the heart to its rightful place.
Official description[]
- Maui—half god, half mortal, all awesome."[1]
Essential guide description[]
Stealing Te Fiti's heart did not bring Maui the fame he craved. Instead, this demigod of wind and sea wound up exiled alone on a desolate island without his magical fishhook. It's been a long, lonely 1,000 years for loud, attention-seeking Maui!
Personality[]
Maui is boisterous, gregarious, and mischievous. His manner of carrying himself matches his massive physique, being larger-than-life and a true god among men. He is responsible for most of the necessities and luxuries currently belonging to mankind, and with his magical fish hook at hand, is amongst the most powerful figures in South Pacific lore. Widely regarded as a clever trickster, Maui is rarely matched when it comes to adversaries, being greatly feared by villains and monsters lurking throughout the sea. Maui can be extremely arrogant and pompous as a result of this reputation, although it is justifiable in every way. While his prideful ego can lead him to perform antagonistic and selfish acts, Maui is a lot less careless as a first impression may perceive.
As a result of his poor upbringing, Maui has spent a majority of his life living with crippling insecurity. He goes out of his way to perform godly deeds for mankind's benefit to compensate for the love and appreciation denied to him by his parents. While he seems to enjoy the praise he earns, he secretly wishes he could be appreciated beyond his demigod status; as the human he is on the inside, rather than the deity portrayed in legends. Even so, Maui's daring adventures over the centuries shaped him into a mighty hero. Before meeting Moana, Maui credited the gods for his greatness, completely contradicting his initial arrogance. He believed he was nothing without his deity-created fish hook, and openly lamented how useless he viewed himself whenever the hook was decommissioned. Through Moana, however, he slowly began to realize that the hook is only an accessory during his adventures and that his many accomplishments over the years were a result of his own selflessness and bravery, rather than what the gods conjured to assist him in such exploits. He discovered that Moana's words of wisdom were correct when he fought relentlessly against Te Kā (without his fish hook) to save Moana and the world from destruction.
Powers and abilities[]
- Enhanced Strength: Maui possesses herculean strength in both his arm and leg muscles. The latter allows him to jump significant heights that end with damaging land. Maui's incredible physical strength allowed him to perform impossible feats such as singlehandedly dredging up islands, lassoing the sun, and even holding up the sky. His strength also lies in his lungs, as he can produce massive gusts of wind to clear a path before or surrounding him; he apparently uses this ability to harness the breeze in the world's air.
- Immortality: Since becoming a demigod, Maui is virtually immortal, looking the same in the present as he did one thousand years ago. This immortality is likely how he survived on a desert island in that length of time with little or no food or freshwater, and allows him to survive attacks from monsters and other deities that would greatly injure or kill a normal person.
- Fish Hook proficiency: Maui's most powerful abilities come from his mighty fish hook, which allows him to shapeshift into a wide array of animals, from insects to whales. This proves to be an extremely useful asset, as Maui's quick changes from massive to pint-sized creatures prevent his enemies from keeping up and laying an attack. The fish hook glows with a blue (purple, if broken) energy when in use, and is strong enough to shatter stone and cause severe damage to deities. Because it was created by the gods, however, it can be just as easily destroyed by a deity. Fortunately, it will take more than one extreme blow to completely destroy the weapon. Maui tends to combine the strength of his muscles and his hook to perform acts such as pulling islands from the sea and lassoing the sun. Without his hook, however, Maui cannot shapeshift. He must also swing the hook a certain way to transform into the desired animal, as evidenced during his fight with Tamatoa. Although he would still have his strength, Maui is considerably less powerful when stripped of his magic weapon, and therefore vulnerable to enemies.
- Sentient tattoos: Another significant trait of Maui is his animated tattoos plastered throughout his skin. The tattoos depict Maui's various exploits and accomplishments. New tattoos magically appear moments after a new milestone has been reached; as Maui explained, they must be earned. All of the tattoos are animated, but one stands out from the rest: Mini Maui. Mini Maui is a tattooed depiction of the actual Maui and acts as the latter's conscience, biggest supporter, and best friend. They communicate with each other often, and share a loving bond, though their conflicting levels of morality causes them to clash on occasion (with Maui being mischievous and Mini Maui being completely benevolent). When Maui bounces his pecs Mini Maui lands on side of his chest to another.
- Master sailor: Even without his powers, Maui is an expert seaman and navigator, able to sail an outrigger canoe with relative ease and use the stars to plot the quickest way to any destination. After successfully escaping the Kakamora using these skills, Maui would later teach them to Moana, albeit paralyzed and not by choice.
Role in the film[]
Moana:[]
Maui was first seen during Gramma Tala's story regarding his disastrous theft of Te Fiti's heart. A thousand years after Maui's disappearance, Tala's granddaughter, Moana, was chosen by the sea to find the demigod and have him join her in returning the heart to its rightful place. According to Moana's ancestors, Maui can be found by following a constellation resembling his fish hook. After Tala's death, Moana takes the heart and journeys off into the sea. She follows the fish hook constellation, but gets lost along the way. Fortunately, the ocean creates a storm that transports her to Maui's island, and she washes up along its shores the following morning.
Shortly after Moana awakens, Maui finds her boat unattended and celebrates his key to escape. He soon meets Moana, who angrily confronts the demigod and orders him to return the heart. Maui, feeling a tad disrespected, explains to Moana exactly who he is and his gifts to mankind over the years. He does so through the musical number "You're Welcome", which served more as a ploy to distract Moana. He traps her in his cave in order to make off with her boat and pet chicken, Heihei (intended to be Maui's lunch). Though Mini Maui accuses him on acting selfishly, Maui brushes this off. Moana, meanwhile, manages to escape the cave, though Maui manages to sail off before she can board the boat. The ocean helps Moana catch up to Maui on the boat, and although the latter tries numerous times to dispose of Moana, the ocean returns her to the boat each time.
When Moana reveals that she actually has the heart of Te Fiti in her possessions, Maui cowers in fear. He says the heart is cursed, referring to the fact that he lost his hook following its theft. Moana believes otherwise and playfully taunts Maui's apparent superstition. Suddenly, the duo are attacked by a band of pirates known as the Kakamora, who sought the heart like many villains.As Maui fights off the Kakamora, Heihei swallows the heart and is kidnapped by the pirates shortly thereafter. Moana asks Maui to save him and the heart, but Maui doesn't believe it to be worth the risk and tries to escape. Moana hops off the boat and rescues Heihei herself against Maui's advice. After she makes it back to the boat safely, Heihei spits out the heart. Through Maui's impeccable sailing skills, they successfully escape the pirates.
Maui commends Moana on her ability to escape death but still refuses to help her restore the heart. As Moana examines his tattoos, she gets the impression that Maui enjoys praise, claiming that returning the heart will restore his positive reputation with mortals across the world. With this in mind, Maui eventually agrees, though he stresses the fact that his fishhook will be needed in order to bypass Te Kā and make it to Te Fiti alive. Moana agrees, and they set their course to Lalotai, home of Tamatoa. Upon watching Maui maneuver the boat with ease, Moana asks him to teach her how to wayfind. Maui scoffs at this as wayfinding requires as much mental capability as it does physical, which he believes Moana lacks. As he coldly declares this, the ocean pokes a leftover blow dart from the Kakamora into Maui's rear, rendering him physically inert. With no other choice, he instructs Moana on how to sail for the remainder of the night.
The next day, the two arrive at Lalotai, and Maui asks why the ocean chose Moana in the first place. She can't seem to answer, which is a source of amusement for Maui, who openly expresses his belief that the ocean made a mistake (referring to Moana's young age and inability to sail). As they prepare to enter the Realm of Monsters, Maui tries to scare Moana into staying with Heihei on the boat, but much to his surprise, she tags alongside him and finds Tamatoa's lair. Maui sends Moana inside to distract Tamatoa while the demigod grabs his hook, but upon revealing himself, he finds that he cannot shapeshift properly. Tamatoa sadistically attacks and nearly kills Maui, but Moana distracts the crab long enough for her and Maui to escape his lair with the fishhook in hand.
Back in the human world, Maui thanks Moana for saving his life, though he laments the fact that she could have been killed while he was powerless to save her. Moana is nevertheless confident in accomplishing their mission now that they have the fishhook, but Maui feels otherwise. As they sail closer to Te Fiti, Moana examines Maui's tattoos. Tamatoa had alluded earlier that Maui had been abandoned and brought gifts to humanity as a way to feel wanted. When Moana tries to get the full story, however, Maui lashes out. She opens up to the demigod in remorse by confessing that she doesn't know why the ocean chose her, and she feels confused as to what exactly it is that she's doing. But she is determined to complete her goal to save her island, though she can't-do so without Maui's help. Before she can help herself, she offers to help Maui regain his confidence by lending an ear to what causes his feelings of crippling self-doubt.
Maui explains his tragic origins, and that the gods gave him the fishhook and "made him the hero he is". He further explains that praise from humanity helps him feel a little less worthless, though not entirely. Moana disagrees with Maui's views, telling him that the gods saw someone worthy of saving the day his parents abandoned him. And although they granted him the fishhook, Maui became a hero because of his own selflessness and bravery, not because of the gods. Feeling encouraged, Maui agrees to have Moana and Mini Maui mentor him in regaining his shapeshifting talents. Over the next few hours, he successfully does so while simultaneously teaching Moana how to become a master wayfinder. They bond, and soon enough, they feel equally prepared to face Te Kā.
As Moana sails them the rest of the way, Maui watches proudly, before openly expressing such pride, much to Moana's happiness. They finally reach Te Fiti, but before they can make it to her shores, they must confront Te Kā. Maui turns into a hawk and tries to fly past her, only to be struck from the sky several times. He is soon weakened too severely and orders Moana to turn the boat around. Not wanting to back away from her mission, Moana continues to sail towards Te Fiti and directly by Te Kā, who tries to smite the duo. Maui quickly blocks her blow with his fishhook, the impact sending him and Moana miles away from Te Fiti. When they recover, Maui finds his fishhook severely damaged and nearly destroyed.
He angrily confronts Moana, blaming her for endangering their lives despite his orders to turn away. Moana offers to fix the hook, but as it was made by the gods, it is impossible for them to do so. Maui refuses to return to Te Fiti as one more blow to his hook will destroy it forever. He uses some of his remaining power to transform into a hawk and leave Moana's boat. This forces Moana to return to Te Fiti alone. She faces Te Kā and is nearly killed, but Maui returns after having a change of heart. He promises to stick by Moana and distracts Te Kā while she returns Te Fiti's heart to the spiral on the island. When it appears that Te Fiti is gone, Moana notices the spiral circling Te Kā's chest and comes to a stunning realization. Meanwhile, Maui continues to fight despite his fishhook having been destroyed. This enrages Te Kā immensely, and the lava demon conjures a massive fireball meant to kill the demigod once and for all. Maui accepts his fate to protect Moana, but before he can be burned alive, Moana distracts Te Kā by shining the heart of Te Fiti's light in the distance. The two adversaries approach each other, but Moana tames the fiery beast and places the jade heart into her chest. This revives Te Fiti, much to Maui's shock.
Maui apologizes to Te Fiti for his harmful acts, confessing that he was wrong and has no excuse. Te Fiti warmly forgives Maui and rewards him for his heroic acts by giving him a new fishhook. Overjoyed, Maui celebrates while Moana and Te Fiti embrace. Once Te Fiti forms back into her resting position, Moana and Maui prepare to part ways. Before they do, Moana asks Maui to return to her home island of Motunui as her people could use a master wayfinder. Maui denies the offer but declares that her people already have a master wayfinder in Moana. He then reveals to have a new tattoo plastered onto his body that depicts a victorious Moana, touching the girl and leading to a warm, bittersweet hug between her and Maui. After the two give their final goodbyes, Maui transforms into a hawk and flies off.
Following these events, Moana has ushered in a new generation of voyagers on her home island. During one of her great sails, Maui briefly returns in the form of a hawk, proudly watching over Moana and her people.
Moana 2:[]
Maui is on the prowl for the storm god Nalo to try and restore the sunken island of Motufetu, when he is captured by Nalo's enforcer, Matangi, inside her prison in a giant clam. He remains there for some time until the clam swallows Moana's raft along with her crew of several residents of Motunui, Pua, Heihei, and a Kakamora named Kotu that joined her to help save the rest of his people from being swallowed as well. Once Maui reunites with Moana, and she opens the way to Motufetu, as they head to the island's location, Maui warns Moana and her crew that trying to reach Motufetu is suicide for normal humans as Nalo has protected the sunken island with a powerful storm of his creation with deadly lightning, tornadoes, and rogue waves. Nevertheless, as they arrive, they are attacked by Nalo's giant eels. When one swallows Moni, the storyteller and Maui fanboy Moana brought with her crew, Maui is able to rescue him while the eels are forced to retreat when the sun comes up.
Forced to beach on a deserted island to regroup, when Moana finds the remains of her ancestor Tautai Vasa's raft, indicating the failure of him and his own crew to break Nalo's curse, she begins to lose hope of completing her mission. Maui, through song, is able to restore her morale, and after her raft is repaired by Loto using materials scavenged from Tautai Vasa's raft, they head for Motufetu.
Once there, Nalo unleashes his storm against them. Maui tries to take out the tornadoes to clear the way for Moana and her crew, but they soon realize that Nalo is deliberately aiming for Moana and her crew because of his hatred of humanity. Moana encourages Maui to head to Motufetu and try to raise it from underwater for her to touch and break the curse, while she and her crew keep Nalo distracted. Trusting her, Maui heads to the island and begins to attempt to raise it from underwater. Nalo soon catches on to the plan, and despite trying to sever the rope with lightning to stop Maui, Nalo is forced to do the unimaginable, and strikes Maui directly with a lightning bolt that manages to strip Maui of his demigod powers and tattoos, including Mini Maui. Now powerless, Maui plummets back into the water.
As Moana, remembering what Matangi told her, dives into the water to touch Motufetu herself, Kele, the grumpy and elder expert farmer she brought on her crew, braves the storm to swim to the unconscious Maui and pull him back to the raft to recover. In the meantime, Nalo tries to stop Moana from touching Motufetu, but his last lightning bolt he fires at her strikes her after she has already touched Motufetu, breaking the curse.
As a result, the storm dissipates, but as Maui recovers, finding no sign of Moana and learning of what she did, he jumps back into the water to find her. When he does, he finds to his horror that Nalo's last lightning bolt fatally wounded her after she succeeded in touching Motufetu. Aided by the ocean now that it could come to Moana's aid again with the curse lifted, Maui pleads for Moana to wake up, but when she remains unresponsive, a devastated and heartbroken Maui begins to sing a magical chant to summon aid to save Moana from death. His chant is heard as Tautai Vasa, Grandma Tala, and the rest of Moana's ancestors appear in their spirit forms to help bring Moana back from beyond the grave, imbuing her with her own wayfinder's tattoo, turning her into a demigoddess, and resuscitating her, while her oar becomes her magical object like Maui's fishhook. Maui also has his own demigod powers and tattoos restored, including Mini Maui, and after Moana shares another moment with Tala before she reassumes her manta ray spirit form and swims off, Maui and Moana finally raise Motufetu back to the surface. Upon when Moana blows her conch shell, this time, her call is answered as other rafts begin to appear and approach the restored crossroads of the ocean, thus reuniting the people of the ocean and saving them from certain extinction.
Some time later, Maui returns to Motunui ahead of Moana to give a present to her little sister, Simea, before Moana returns with her crew, and a whole fleet of rafts of the other islanders behind her. A celebration is then held to commemorate Moana's triumph.
However, unknown to Maui or Moana, Nalo, furious that they broke his curse, has sworn revenge on them.
Trivia[]
- Moana came from co-director John Musker's fascination with the legends and lore surrounding Maui. As such, the plot was initially conceived as a story centering Maui, with Moana playing a secondary role. This was during extremely early stages of development, and it was quickly changed to focus on Moana after an inspirational research trip to the South Pacific.[2]
- Disney did not open auditions for Maui, as Dwayne Johnson was directly chosen and approached for the role.[2]
- Maui's physical appearance was much different in earlier versions of the movie. He was bald and shorter in stature. For five years of the film's development, the filmmakers consulted in their Oceanic Story Trust, who pushed Disney to enhance Maui's physique to resemble a hero in the vein of Superman.[3]
- When designing Maui, the team researched athletes such as football players, wrestlers, and men with massive physiques.
- Maui had a grandmother named Hina who served as the guardian of Lalotai's entrance in earlier drafts the movie.[4]
- Maui has dimples, which are based on Dwayne Johnson's dimples.[2]
- In a few scenes, Maui raises his eyebrow in a cocky manner. This was inspired by Dwayne Johnson's signature eyebrow raise, which is synonymous with his celebrity alias "The Rock".
- Maui's fish hook can be seen as silhouetted artwork on the rear end of Finnick's van in the film Zootopia.
- A Disney INFINITY figure of Maui was planned for release but was canceled following the game's discontinuation.[5]
- At one point, Maui briefly turns into Sven from Frozen.
- Maui was originally going to be smaller, shorter, and bald until the animators visited the Polynesian islands and were told that Maui should be big and strong, like Superman.
- One of Maui's tattoos is the Chain Chomp from Mario games.
- He likes to flexes his pecs to charm others
- According to Maui himself, he is three thousand years old but is still biologically middle-aged due to becoming a demigod. Judging by this information, he must've been born circa 3000 B.C.
Quotes[]
Moana:[]
- "Really? Blow-dart in my butt cheek?"
- "Right. The ocean. Makes sense: you're what...eight? Can't sail? Obvious choice."
- "The ocean's kooky-dooks!"
- "No mortal's gonna jump into the Realm of... [Moana crashes into him. Maui watches her tumble into a chasm] Well, she's dead."
- "Yes, because it only appears after a human sacrifice. [Moana gasps] Kidding! So serious."
- "If you wear a dress, and have an animal sidekick, you're a princess."
- "When you use a bird to write with, it's called tweeting."
- "If you start singing, I'm gonna throw up."
- "Hey! What am I gonna steer with? [gets frustrated] They're just gonna kill ya!"
- "Took guts. But... I'm sorry. I'm tryin' to be sincere for once, and it feels like you're distracted."
- "Really. 'Cause you're looking at me like I have a...[sighs] shark head."
- "Look. The point is... For a little girl... child... thing... whatever... who had no business being down there... You did me a solid. But you also almost died. And I couldn't even beat the dumb crab. So chances of beating Te Ka: bupkis. We're never making it to Te Fiti. This mission is cursed."
- "The chicken lives!"
- "Hey, it's okay - it's okay. We're dead soon."
- "That, uh, man's discovery of nun-ya."
- "I wasn't born a demi-god. I had human parents. They took one look and they decided... that they did not want me. So, they threw me into the ocean like I was nothing. Somehow, I was rescued by the Gods. They gave me the fish hook. They made me ..."Maui". So... Back to the humans I went. I gave them everything. Islands, fire and coconuts. Heh, everything they can never get enough of."
- "It was never enough."
- "Hey! What has two thumbs and pulled up the sky, when you were waddling ye high?/ This guy!/ When the nights got cold, who stole you fire from down below?/ You're looking at him, yo!/ Oh! Also I lassoed the sun/ You're welcome/ To stretch your days and bring you fun/ Also I harnessed the breeze/ You're welcome!/ To fill your sails and shake your trees!"
- "It's call Wayfinding, Princess. It's not just sails and knots, It's seeing where you're going in your mind. Knowing where you are, by knowing where you've been."
- "The ocean doesn't help you. You help yourself!"
- "Without my hook, I am nothing."
- "No. We're here because the ocean told you you were special and you believed it."
- "You want to get to Te Fiti? You got to go through a whole ocean of bad. Not to mention Te Ka, lava monster. Ever defeat a lava monster?"
- "Stay out of it or you're sleeping in my armpit."
- "Well, come to think of it. Kid, honestly, I could go on and on/ I could explain every natural phenomenon/ The tide, the grass, the ground? Oh, that was Maui just messing around!/ I killed an eel, I buried its guts. Sprouted a tree, now you got coconuts!/ What's the lesson, what is the takeaway?/ Don't mess with Maui when he's on the breakaway!/ And the tapestry here on my skin, is a map of the victories I win/ Look where I've been, I make everything happen!/ Look at that mini-me Maui ta-tickety-tappin!/ Hahahahahaha hey!"
- "WITHOUT MY HOOK, I AM NOTHING!"
- "I'm not killing myself so you can prove something you're not."
- "It chose wrong."
- "You're measuring the stars, not giving the sky a high five."
- "Boat! A boat! The Gods have given me a (screams)"
- "Te Fiti! [Laughs sheepishly] Hey, I mean, how you been? [Clears throat] Look what I did was... wrong. I have no excuse. I'm sorry."
- "Yeah... It almost sounds like you don't like me, which is impossible because I got stuck here for a thousand years, trying to get the heart as a gift for you mortals so you could have the power to create life itself. Yeah. So what I believe you were trying to say is thank you."
- "Well... hook. No hook. I'm Maui."
- "Te Ka's gotta catch me first. I've got your back, chosen one. Go, save the world."
- "And I'm going to love you in ma belly. Now, let's fatten you up, drumstick." [Maui puts some corn and seeds in front of Heihei]
Moana 2:[]
- "Can I get a cheeeehooo?"
- "Boat snack! Boat snack upgrade! Bacon and eggs? Why didn't you bring the pig last time?"
- "Now I kinda miss the lava monster."
Gallery[]
External Link[]
- Maui on Disney Wiki
References[]
- ↑ "PREPARE TO BE DELIGHTED AS YOU MEET THE CHARACTERS FROM MOANA". Oh My Disney (July 25, 2016).
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Keely, Flaherty (November 26, 2016). "34 Magical "Moana" Facts You Probably Don’t Know".. BuzzFeed. Retrieved on November 27, 2016.
- ↑ Ito, Robert (November 15, 2016). "How (and Why) Maui Got So Big in ‘Moana’". (Article) The New York Times.
- ↑ Julius, J., Lasseter, J., Malone, M. (2016). The Art of Moana. Chronicle Books.
- ↑ "Disney Infinity's Demise Also Killed A Moana Game". Kotaku (June 29, 2016).