Who is Matangi? “Moana 2”'s beguiling new villain shares a shadowy history with Maui
A longtime foe to Dwayne Johnson's demi-god, Matangi may not be all that she seems.
Get lost!
That's new Moana 2 villain Matangi's motto, but it might not mean exactly what you think. Matangi is a supernatural being much like Maui (it's never clarified if she's also a demi-god or something else), and the two share centuries of backstory.
"There is history," co-director David G. Derrick says coyly, as co-director and writer Dana Ledoux Miller adds, "It's open to interpretation" as to what might have transpired between them in the past (something romantic, perhaps?).
"They've been around for a while," adds co-director Jason Hand. "It's very fun, very playful. Matangi gets the better of Maui a bunch of times, which is hilarious. It's always the best with Maui."
As for whether or not Matangi is into Maui (Dwayne Johnson) romantically, all Miller will say is, "She's been trapped in a cave for a very long time."
For his part, Johnson is convinced that Matangi has a thing for Maui. "She drops the one line, which is: 'Maui was looking pretty good,'" he notes. "Immediately, my 6-year-old at the premiere, she goes, 'Daddy, does she have a crush on Maui?' I went, 'Maybe. Maybe.' I'm like, 'They all have a crush on Maui.'"
But besides her feelings (or lack thereof) for Maui, Matangi also has questionable motives, which are put to the test in her musical number, "Get Lost." Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear, who wrote the new songs for Moana 2, explain that the idea for Matangi's song came from their conversations with a contemporary wayfinder.
"They said, 'Getting lost is the path to finding magic,'" says Barlow. "And we were like, 'That's the song.' Ultimately, Matangi is a showman. She is giving genuine advice, but we don't really know what her motives are yet. She just wants to put on a show for Moana."
Part of the key to writing a Disney villain song (a tall order in the world of Disney animation) was to engage with Matangi's slippery personality. "Since she's very elusive and very layered, we needed to keep it veiled in some secrecy," explains Bear. "We don't really know what her intentions are until we hit the bridge, and we finally see a little bit of the real Matangi instead of just the show she's putting on. We wanted the song to be indicative of what a diva she is and that it is all an act — until we get to the bridge."
For Auli'i Cravahlo, who voices Moana, it was an interesting pivot from the more straightforward villains of the first film. "She's an interesting foe where we're not certain if she is helping or whose side she's on," Cravalho says. "But Disney villains also have their own backstories, and Matangi wants Moana to understand that, 'Oh, you think you know the direction you're heading, and you think it's going to be so simple. You think this journey's going to be like the last. Wrong! You're going to have to get lost in order to find your way.'"
Related: Is Moana a princess? Star Auli'i Cravalho has the definitive answer about the Disney heroine
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"I like that as a moral," Cravalho adds. "I certainly know that of myself. I've now gone far beyond the reef. I grew up on the Big Island. I lived here on Oahu, and now, I live in New York City. I had to find my way to also find my way back home."
On the whole, the production team wanted to use Moana 2 to complicate notions of what makes and motivates a villain (fans of the first film will note a similar twist when it comes to Moana's old foes, the Kakamura. "[Screenwriter] Jared [Bush] and I had talked a lot about really wanting to make all of the characters as complex and layered as we all are," Miller says. "Even the worst villain is doing something for a reason that they think is right. I always like exploring the depths of any character. I don't think anyone is as simple as any one thing."
Matangi, as viewers will discover, certainly isn't. Moana 2 is now in theaters.
