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.
- Maui informs them to stay away from Matangi, but as he was about to leave, he sees Heihei and realizes that Moana is in danger.
- After reassurance from Moana, Maui teaches her the art of way-finding, regaining control of his powers, and the two grow closer.
- Tala shows Moana a secret cavern full of ships, revealing her ancestors were voyagers but stopped after Te Fiti’s heart was stolen due to the ocean no longer being safe.
- Moana is devastated and loses faith in herself, but Maui manages to inspire her.
- After returning the Heart of Te Fiti to the mother goddess, saving Motunui and every other island from dying, Moana returns home where she happily reunites with her mother.
- She further explains that despite this, she pushes herself in order to save her dying island, though she can only do so with Maui’s help.
- 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.
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.
Expanded franchise
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 Moana 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.
In other media
She wakes up the next morning on a small island inhabited by Maui, who traps Moana in a cave after distracting her with a tune. After escaping the cave, the ocean sends Moana back on the sailboat to convince Maui. She shows him the heart and asks him to help her return it, but Maui backs away fearing that the heart is a trap for the person carrying it and that other creatures would kill to steal it for themselves.
Deleted Scene: Discussing Moana’s Future
- Moana departs using one of the sailboats found in the cave and departs with Heihei, a dumb rooster who has accidentally stowed away on the sailboat.
- Aaron and Jordan Kandell joined the project during a critical period to help deepen the emotional story architecture of the film.
- The ocean obliges and takes the heart, but Tala’s spirit appears, inspiring Moana to find her true calling.
- She did not believe that anyone dangerous would appear if she showed the Heart around until the Kakamora revealed themselves before Moana and Maui.
- Maui compliments Moana’s tattoos by saying “my tattoos are still cooler than yours”.
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 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.
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.
Moana (2016 film)
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. Despite her sudden feeling of self-doubt, Moana follows Maui into Lalotai, and eventually finds the fishhook. She distracts Tamatoa long enough for Maui to take back his hook, but the demigod finds that his shapeshifting abilities are out of whack.
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.
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.
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.
She uses her wits and agility to escape, and catches up to Maui with the help of the ocean. Moana orders him to return the heart, but upon seeing it, Maui tries to leave the boat, only to be brought back by the ocean. He claims the heart is cursed, something Moana refuses to believe until they fall under attack by a band of pirates called the Kakamora.
Tui and Sina, Moana’s parents, try to keep her away from the ocean to prepare her to become the island’s chief. Sixteen years later, blight strikes her island and to attempt to prevent it, Moana suggests going beyond the reef which her father forbids her to. She tries with Pua the Pig but is overpowered by the waves and is shipwrecked back to shore. Tala shows Moana a secret cavern full of ships, revealing her ancestors were voyagers but stopped after Te Fiti’s heart was stolen due to the ocean no longer being safe. She further explains Te Kā is causing the blight and she must seek Maui and the heart to stop it. Three years after restoring the heart, Moana has started to go on her own adventures and gained a little sister named Simea.