It shows Maui trying to catch a fish with his magical fishhook, while Moana tries to stop him from harming a baby turtle. Moana of Motunui is the title character of the 2016 Walt Disney Animation Studios film Moana. Created by directors Ron Clements and John Musker, Moana is voiced by Hawaiian actress and singer Auliʻi Cravalho. Moana returns in the sequel film Moana 2, which premiered in November 2024, again voiced by Cravalho, as well as a live-action remake film, in 2026, in which she will be portrayed Moana by Catherine Laga’aia. Ever since she was a baby, Moana had a close relationship with her grandmother, Tala. She was the only child in the village of Motunui who enjoyed listening to Tala’s stories and shared a love for the ocean.
She escapes and confronts Maui who throws her off the boat multiple times but due to the ocean he reluctantly lets her onto the camakau. They are then attacked by Kakamora—coconut pirates—who, like other creatures, seek the heart. Moana and Maui escape them and Moana convinces Maui to help her by saying Maui is no longer a hero and should redeem himself by returning the heart.
One day, upon discovering her ancestors to have once been voyagers, Moana listened to Gramma Tala because Maui stole the Heart of Te Fiti, Te Ka’s curse also caused sea monsters to roam the seas, making sailing dangerous for voyagers. Later, when Moana becomes chief, she and her father lead their people in voyaging across the seas, strengthening their relationship as her father finally lets go of his fear of traveling on the ocean. Growing up, Moana has a complicated relationship with her father whose laws forbidding sea travel conflicts Moana’s love for the sea. Despite this, Moana loves her father and wishes to live up to his expectations when taking his place as chief of Motunui. When discovering Motunui being affected by Te Kā’s curse and that she has been chosen by the Ocean to restore the Heart of Te Fiti, Moana attempts to again persuade her father, along with their people to leave Motuni so they can help restore the heart. However, her father is infuriated to hear Moana has discovered their ancestors’ boats and proceeds to burn them, despite Moana’s objections.
- Moana and her crew are attacked once again by the Kakamora, but soon learn they want what they do as well, leading to the Kakamora giving them a weapon to aid them, as well as the aid of a skilled coconut warrior Kotu.
- Looking out into the distance, she notices a glowing spiral on Te Kā’s chest and realizes that the lava demon is Te Fiti.
- Moana stands her ground at the thought of backing down and tearfully tries to force him to stay, only to be met with rejection and coldness from Maui, who tells her the ocean “chose wrong” when it chose her.
- When Heihei ate Maui when turned into a beetle, Moana was horrified until Maui turned back into his true form, with Heihei stuck on his finger.
- She seeks to find Maui by following a constellation that looks like his fish hook, but a wave flips her sailboat and knocks her unconscious.
- After sadly telling the ocean to bring the heart to someone else, Gramma Tala appears as a spiritual manta ray and encourages her to discover who she is based on what she has learned, what she has lived through, who she has met, and where she comes from.
- Te Fiti’s heart, a small pounamu stone, was sought after by the monstrous forces of the sea, until it was stolen by the demigod Maui.
Auli’i Cravalho – How Far I’ll Go (From “Moana”)
Moana shared a close relationship with her pet pig, Pua whom she has known since she was a preteen. Moana and Pua would often try to sneak off to try sailing beyond the reef of Motunui, only to get caught by Moana’s parents every time. After arriving at Maui’s Island by surviving a storm, Moana met the demigod and tried to speak with him, only to find he was egotistic, arrogant, and boisterous. Maui’s narcissism and arrogance immediately disgusted Moana and though she was amazed to learn of the benefits Maui offered to mankind, she was angered when the demigod tricked and trapped her in a cave in order to steal her boat. Upon escaping the cave and being helped by Ocean to desperately get back to her boat, Moana angrily confronted Maui, who continuously threw her off the boat, only for Ocean to repeatedly put her back on it.
- In his lair, Maui barely retrieves his magical fish hook while Moana distracts Tamatoa by having him sing about himself.
- Believing she’s failed as a sailor, Moana declares that she is not fit for the sea and wishes to place her stone on the mountain.
- With her dying breath, she tells Moana to go save her people and gives her the necklace used to carry the heart.
- Despite her sudden feeling of self-doubt, Moana follows Maui into Lalotai, and eventually finds the fishhook.
- The two warmly embrace before Maui shape-shifts into a hawk and flies away.
- It features the voice talents of Auli’i Cravalho as Moana and Dwayne Johnson as Maui, as well as Rachel House, Temuera Morrison, Jemaine Clement, Nicole Scherzinger, and Alan Tudyk.
She calmed the frantic chicken by assuring him the Ocean was a friend, but became worried when Heihei fell off her boat. Moana managed to rescue Heihei and to prevent him from falling off the boat again, she put him in her canoe’s cargo hold to keep him safe. When coming across a storm, Moana put Heihei’s safety first as she sailed through the storm.
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Moana persuades him to do otherwise when she claims such an act will help Maui regain a positive reputation amongst mortals. Maui agrees to help, but not without his fishhook, which is said to be in the clutches of Tamatoa, a giant crab living in the Realm of Monsters. As they make their way, Moana watches intently as Maui proves himself to be a master wayfinder. She asks him to teach her, and after he refuses at first, the ocean uses one of the Kakamora’s blow darts to numb the demigod, leaving him unable to sail. After much mentoring, Moana falls asleep and has a nightmare in which she watches as her home and parents are destroyed by Te Kā’s curse.
After Moana gets struck by lightning, her ancestors revive her as a demigoddess and give her a magical tattoo. A thousand years later, the ocean chooses Moana, the daughter of Motunui’s chief Tui, to return the heart to Te Fiti. Sixteen years later, blight strikes the island, killing vegetation and shrinking the fish catch. Moana suggests going beyond the island’s reef with her pet pig, Pua, to find more fish and discover what is happening, but Tui forbids it. After sadly telling the ocean to bring the heart to someone else, Gramma Tala appears as a spiritual manta ray and encourages her to discover who she is based on what she has learned, what she has lived through, who she has met, and where she comes from. Moana proudly realizes who she has meant to be within herself and what defines her and swims down to retrieve the heart.
Animal Characters
Because of the heart being stolen, the islands Te Fiti created are cursed to lose the life she gave them. Moana is a 2016 animated musical adventure film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Pictures. Moana 2b is a 2024 American animated musical adventure film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios. The second film in the Moana franchise, it was directed by David Derrick Jr., Jason Hand, and Dana Ledoux Miller and written by Miller and Jared Bush.
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However, after Tala urged her to leave Motunui, find Maui, and restore the Heart of Te Fiti, Moana decided to fulfill her grandmother’s dying wish and as she left to begin her journey, she saw Tala being reincarnated into a giant manta ray. When they approach Motufetu’s location, Nalo unleashes his storm on them, with Maui being forced to double-back to take out some of the tornadoes going for Moana and her crew. However, Moana tells him to go for the island while they try to divert Nalo’s attention since he is after them due to his hatred of humanity. As they climb a mountain to reach the entrance to the underworld, Maui questions why the ocean chose Moana to save the world, though she doesn’t seem to know, herself.
Out of anger, Maui leaves Moana stranded in the middle of the ocean, fearing that going back to fight Te Kā will permanently destroy his hook. He flies away after telling her that the ocean chose the wrong person to save her people which is something she has been trying to find out why. The short film, Gone Fishing, was released in 2017 as a bonus feature on the Blu-ray release of Moana.
First, Moana and Maui must retrieve Maui’s fishhook in Lalotai, the Realm of Monsters, from Tamatoa, a giant coconut crab. Maui takes his fishhook, only to find he does not have control over his shape-shifting anymore. Maui reveals to Moana he became a demigod after his mortal parents abandoned him, the gods took pity on him and granted him powers. Growing up, Moana would hear stories of the demigod Maui from Gramma Tala, including how his theft of the Heart of Te Fiti plagued the world under a deadly curse by the lava demon, Te Ka.
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Dwayne Johnson is set to act as producer for the film, via his production company, Seven Bucks Productions. His co-star in the 2016 animated film, Auli’i Cravalho, who voiced the titular character, will executive produce with Scott Sheldon of Flynn Picture Co.. Believing she’s failed as a sailor, Moana declares that she is not fit for the sea and wishes to place her stone on the mountain.