Ron Clements: The biggest idea that sold it, I think, there were many ideas, but the biggest one was the Kakamora sequence.
He did a drawing of Hei Hei as he existed, and did a drawing next to it and he took an IQ meter and dropped it right on him.
And then he did a bunch of gag set-ups, if you made him stupid, what he could do, and it became more of an asset.
It was very much like it is in the movie, except at the point where Hei Hei swallows the Heart of Te Fiti, it was just that one of the Kakamora got the Heart of Te Fiti and ran back to his boat, and Moana went after him.