Disney’s “Moana,” arriving in theaters Wednesday, marks the first time the entertainment giant has pegged one of its blockbuster animated films to an Oceania-themed story with a Polynesian heroine.

There’s a lot at stake for the filmmakers, and not just in terms of box-office receipts. While marketed as a family-friendly adventure-musical-comedy, “Moana” will be closely scrutinized for its depiction of indigenous Pacific cultures.

Among the 800-plus Walt Disney Animation Studios employees involved in the development and production of “Moana,” only a handful hail from within the Polynesian community. They include Dwayne Johnson, as the voice of Maui the demigod, singer Nicole Scherzinger as Moana’s mother, Sina, and newcomer Auli‘i Cravalho, a 15-year-old Kamehameha Schools student, as Moana.

To gain insight into the region and its people, directors John Musker and Ron Clements — the duo behind “The Little Mermaid” and “Aladdin” — first traveled to Fiji, Samoa, Tahiti and Moorea in 2011 with a team of Disney artists.

Meanwhile, executive producer John Lasseter and producer Osnat Shurer formed the Oceanic Story Trust, a group of about a dozen anthropologists, educators, linguists, tattoo artists, choreographers, navigators and cultural advisers who regularly met in both Hollywood and the South Pacific in an attempt to achieve cultural authenticity.

Musker, Clements, Shurer and other Disney execs and artists made additional trips in 2014 back to Fiji, Samoa, Tahiti and Moorea, also visiting New Zealand and Tetiaroa Atoll in French Polynesia, to further study the cultural practices and each island’s unique natural environment.

“The story evolves (and) design choices evolve with it, so we continually checked back in with our advisers,” said Shurer. “It was always very important to the filmmakers that ‘Moana’ be inspired by the Pacific islands. Although the film is a work of the imagination, the celebration of the true history of Pacific wayfinding is a central touch-point in it.”

When animators had questions about traditional tattoo designs, for example, they reached out to Samoan artist Su’a Peter Sulu’ape. During one visit to Fiji, Clements and Musker went sailing with master navigator Jiujiua “Angel” Bera aboard a traditional vessel called a “camakau.”

Since the story of Moana is set on the fictional island of Motonui approximately 2,000 years ago, writers worked closely with University of the South Pacific professor Paul Geraghty, who earned his doctorate at the University of Hawaii, and other linguists to create a “proto Polynesian” language to best approximate what they believed would have been spoken during that time period.

In Tahiti, cultural practitioner Hinano Murphy gathered members of his community to meet with the production team and later worked with Disney on an agreement to translate “Moana” into Tahitian, a first for a major Hollywood studio.

The result of all this research is evident in the movie’s first act, which offers a virtual checklist of traditional activities, performed by Motonui villagers, such as hula, taro loi cultivation, kapa making, fishing with woven traps, coconut husking and hand-tap tattooing, all set against a broader message of sustainability and “malama aina,” or taking care of the land.

IN HAWAII the Polynesian Voyaging Society and master navigator Nainoa Thompson were a “major inspiration” for filmmakers, according to Shurer, and especially for two Manoa brothers who helped develop the story for “Moana.”

Identical twins Jordan and Aaron Kandell, who graduated from ‘Iolani School and studied film at the University of Southern California, said Aaron’s experience as a crew member aboard the Hokule‘a voyaging canoe had a profound impact on how they approached their work on “Moana.”

“The added layer that is so important to this movie … is that it’s inspired by this amazing legacy and culture of voyaging that is unrivaled in history,” said Aaron Kandell. “Not a lot of people know about it outside the Pacific, and not a lot of people really knew about it before the Hawaiian Renaissance of the 1970s when Hokule‘a successfully sailed to Tahiti.

“The goal for everybody is that if we can inspire younger generations about wayfinding, to look into it more, this could be a launchpad for people to go and read about the histories or go and train on Hokule‘a or read about the myths that inspired the film.”

When Disney reached out to Thompson earlier this year for advice, it was the Kandell brothers who visited him at home on Oahu and asked for his help. Understandably wary at first, Thompson said it was his personal relationship with Aaron Kandell that ultimately secured his participation.

“They were clearly there to make sure that integrity and that respect was part of the film,” Thompson said. “So I knew to some degree, at some level, Disney was committed to respecting Pacific culture.”

He later made two trips to Disney’s California studios as a self-described “friend of the film” to focus on the integrity and authenticity of the navigation and voyaging concepts presented on screen. Thompson said he did not accept compensation for lending his expertise to the “Moana” production because it was important to take part in the process.

“If your commitment is to voyaging and the community of voyaging in the Pacific, this is not a film you can ignore,” he said.

Thompson said that even though “Moana” is meant as children’s entertainment and is not a documentary, some are sure to be offended by Disney’s effort. But he also said the film could serve to generate wider interest in Oceania’s people, culture and traditions.

“There’s going to be anger. There’s going to be frustration because of certain depictions. That’s going to happen,” he said.

“My role was to try to help minimize that. What I wanted to do with Disney was to create educational opportunities about the truth and the real stories told by Pacific people — by voyagers, by schools, by universities in the Pacific.

“We’ve got 25 voyaging canoes in the Pacific now. We’ve got over 2,000 active voyagers. Each organization is deeply committed to education. The ultimate impact and outcome of Disney’s film should really be on our shoulders to make sure we’re there when people want to know more.”