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 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.
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. After restoring Te Fiti from her cursed form, allowing the goddess to bring life back to Moana the dying Polynesian islands, Moana and Heihei journeyed back to Motunui where they were welcomed back by their people. Once Moana became chief and brought back the tradition of wayfinding, she was joined by Heihei as she started leading a new generation of wayfinders. Later, Moana and her mother stand by Tala’s deathbed where they both heartbroken over her death.
Tala, on the other hand, was very affectionate with Moana, trying to encourage her granddaughter to not only accept her responsibilities as future chief, but her love for the ocean and sailing. After Tala’s death, Moana immediately leaves Motuni to start her question restoring the Heart of Te Fiti alone without the aid of her father or any of her people. As she journeys to save her people, Moana still holds some care towards her father, despite the last time they have spoke as she has a nightmare of witnessing both her parents being affected by Te Kā’s curse. 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. In the first film, Moana is slim yet slightly muscular, with brown skin, brown eyes, a small nose and waist-length wavy black hair. Her clothing consists of a coconut fibre skirt, mainly beige with golden sun patterns and a red sash around her waist.
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.
When she resurfaces, Tala is gone, but Moana’s determination is stronger than ever. As a result, a lava demon known as Te Kā swore vengeance and plunged the world into a slow-burning darkness. The only hope for humanity lies in the hands of a fearless hero, who must journey to find Maui and have him return the heart to its rightful place. Her father, Chief Tui, claims there is no such darkness consuming the world, and stresses the law that forbids anyone on the island from traveling past the reef. Moana fails to heed her father’s words and waddles to the ocean shores in bliss.
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.
Though the villagers were ticked off by Heihei’s stupidity and wanted to eat him, Moana believed there was more to Heihei and convinced her people to keep him around. Though she was dumbfounded with Heihei’s unintelligence like the villagers of Motunui, Moana was patient with the chicken and never got angry with him. Moana blows her conch shell from atop Motufetu, and soon, her call is answered as other rafts begin to arrive from various directions. Maui compliments Moana’s tattoos by saying “my tattoos are still cooler than yours”.
Tala encourages Moana to consider why she feels so hesitant to return home. Moana realizes that the love she holds for her people and the sea is what brought her this far. It is what ultimately defines who she is, and explains why she’s the one capable of saving the world.
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.