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 by Catherine Laga’aia. When Moana got into another argument with her father, after attempting to convince him to help restore the Heart in attempt to save Motunui, Moana and her father were Moana informed that Tala was suddenly dying, much to their shock. Upon approaching Tala’s deathbed, Moana was saddened to watch her grandmother die before her eyes and did not want to leave her side. 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.
Moana 2:
Moana fails to heed her father’s words and waddles to the ocean shores in bliss. There, she helps a struggling newborn sea turtle make its way to the ocean against predators, using a leaf. Just then, Moana is acquainted with the ocean, which reveals itself to have a mind of its own. Having witnessed her unselfish kindheartedness with the baby sea turtle, the ocean chooses her to receive the heart of Te Fiti, but when Tui arrives and takes her back to the village, Moana inadvertently leaves the heart at the shore. On the Polynesian island of Motunui, the inhabitants worship the goddess of nature, Te Fiti; a living island who, long ago, brought life to the ocean using a pounamu stone as her heart and the source of her power.
- After being adopted by the gods, he became a hero and protected mankind, in hopes of earning the love his parents denied him.
- After having an argument with Maui when his hook got damaged, causing Moana to give the Heart of Te Fiti back to the Ocean, Moana broke down in tears, feeling completely hopeless until Tala’s spirit appeared before her.
- Maui is devastated, begging for Moana to wake up, but when she’s unresponsive, he begins uttering a magical chant in the hopes of summoning help to resuscitate her.
- Because of the heart being stolen, the islands Te Fiti created are cursed to lose the life she gave them.
- As a result, a lava demon known as Te Kā swore vengeance and plunged the world into a slow-burning darkness.
- Dwayne Johnson is set to act as producer for the film, via his production company, Seven Bucks Productions.
- After Moana retrieves Heihei from the Kakamora, Maui is able to get their massive sailboats to collide into each other and the three make it out unharmed.
A Kakamora named Kotu helps the crew paralyze a gargantuan monster clam inside of which is Matangi’s lair. While the crew finds Maui, Moana meets Matangi and learns that she is not happy serving Nalo. Matangi helps Moana escape and reunite with Maui and her friends, before sending them to where Nalo is. Moana shared a close relationship with her pet pig, Pua whom she has known since she was a preteen.
Feature Films
Maui is devastated, begging for Moana to wake up, but when she’s unresponsive, he begins uttering a magical chant in the hopes of summoning help to resuscitate her. His chant is answered by Tautai Vasa, Grandma Tala, and the rest of Moana’s ancestors. Together, they manage to rekindle Moana, while also granting her a wayfinder’s tattoo and turning her into a demigoddess, with her oar becoming her magical object like Maui’s giant fishhook.
Matangi aids Moana as Nalo being defeated means she can be free from the clam she is in. She reveals she has Maui and had him here to assure her and Moana would reunite, before sending them to where they have to go. As they continued their journey after retrieving Maui’s Fish Hook from Tamatoa, Moana and Heihei watched Maui regain control of his shapeshifting abilities.
Development
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. After surviving an encounter with Te Ka, the first thing Moana did was check to see if Heihei was okay before checking on Maui, leading her to get an argument with him over his hook getting damaged. The next morning, after discovering to have arrived at Maui’s Island, Moana and Heihei met Maui who was forced by the Ocean to allow Moana to accompany her. When attacked by the Kakamora, Moana witnessed them kidnap Heihei after he foolishly swallowed the Heart of Te Fiti when it fell out of her necklace. Despite Maui refusing to help her and being outnumbered by the Kakamora, Moana was determined to rescue Heihei and retrieve the Heart.
Voiced by
Feeling powerful, Tamatoa attacks Maui and imprisons Moana to prevent her from interfering. As she watches helplessly, Tamatoa taunts Maui on his hidden insecurities and alludes to a tragic past. As such information was previously unknown to her, Moana is confused by Tamatoa’s words. She nevertheless escapes her cell while Tamatoa is distracted and uses a makeshift duplicate of Te Fiti’s heart to lure the crab’s attention away from Maui. This lively intelligent girl wants to do what’s right for her people, but she also needs to find out what’s right for her. Te Fiti, now fully restored and the curse lifted, believes that Maui is left to apologize for his actions, which he does.
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. Auliʻi Cravalho and Dwayne Johnson reprise their roles from the first film. Set three years later, it follows Moana reuniting with the demigod Maui and assembling a wayfinding crew to find the lost island of Motufetu, break its curse, and reconnect the people of the ocean. Later, Moana and her mother stand by Tala’s deathbed where they both heartbroken over her death. Then, when Moana decides to fulfill Tala’s dying wish by leaving Motunui to restore the Heart of Te Fiti, she is caught by her mother while preparing to leave but becomes happy when her mother reveals she supports her decision.
Deleted Scene: Grandmother’s Warning/Legend Of Maui
- Some time later, Moana returns home to Motunui, joined by her crew, the other islanders and their fleet of rafts, and Maui, reuniting with her little sister and parents, and celebrating having reunited everyone across the ocean.
- Maui is also given his demigod powers and tattoos back, including Mini Maui, and together, they are able to raise Motufetu.
- Using her wayfinding skills, she returns to Te Kā and gets past Te Kā to return the heart.
- 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.
- Moana places the heart into the spiral on Te Kā’s chest, and the lava monster’s crust crumbles away, revealing the lush and radiant Te Fiti.
- Moana and her crew are captured by the Kakamora, a tribe of savage coconut-like pirates that Moana previously encountered, who reveal that Nalo’s actions against Motufetu had caused them to be disconnected from their home island.
Te Fiti, an island goddess, created all life and became an island after falling into deep slumber. 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. Leaving the island without the heart caused it to collapse and a lava monster named Te Kā to appear and confront Maui, which caused his fish hook and the heart to disappear into the ocean. Because of the heart being stolen, the islands Te Fiti created are cursed to lose the life she gave them.
Fishing For Easter Eggs
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.
