youkaiyume:

stevensfavoritegem:

Whats up with Hei Hei in some of the Moana promo art and posters? Like

And like 

And even???? 

He’s so angry and ready to Throw Down 

But then in actuality he’s just 

Disney explain

I went to the “Behind the Scenes” panel for Moana at CTN expo this year and the explanation is as follows:

In development, HeiHei used to be a character meant to be Moana’s watchdog. He stands to the side making sure she stays out of trouble (and away from the sea) and judges her (sort of like Flint the hummingbird from Pocahontas) but the directors were worried that it made him too unlikeable. John Lasseter gave the crew about 48 hours to think of a way to figure out how to save his character or else he’d be cut from the film. So instead HeiHei’s IQ was lowered waaaay down, making him more lovable and funny. During a story pitch in which Moana had to retrieve the Heart of Te Fiti from the Kakamora, she originally only retrieved the stone. The artists reboarded it exactly the same except HeiHei swallowed it and the Kakamora was lugging around a chicken instead and it instantly made everything more hilarious. To which Lasseter exclaimed at that moment: “THE CHICKEN LIVES!” an inside joke that was kept at the end of the film when the ocean spat HeiHei onto the shore and Maui remarks “the chicken lives!”