Moana 2
Moana 2 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. Cast members Dwayne Johnson, Auliʻi Cravalho, Rachel House, Temuera Morrison, Jemaine Clement, Nicole Scherzinger and Alan Tudyk 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.
A follow-up to Moana was originally developed as a miniseries for Disney+, but by February 2024 it had been reworked into a theatrical sequel. Mark Mancina and Opetaia Foaʻi, the composers and co-songwriters of the first film, returned to score and write the songs, while Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear provided additional songs.
Moana 2 premiered at the Lanikuhonua Cultural Institute in Kapolei, Hawaii, on November 21, 2024, and was released by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures in the United States on November 27. The film received mixed reviews from critics and grossed $1.059 billion worldwide, outgrossing its predecessor and becoming the third highest-grossing film of 2024. It was nominated for Best Animated Feature Film at the 82nd Golden Globe Awards.
Plot
Three years after her adventure with the demigod Maui and the island goddess Te Fiti, Moana spends her days exploring other islands near her home island of Motunui in the hope of finding people connected to the ocean. On her return from one such voyage, Moana is given the title of tautai, or master wayfinder — Motunui's first tautai in a thousand years.In a vision, Moana's ancestor, Tautai Vasa, reveals why none of those people are connected anymore: the malicious storm god Nalo wanted power over the mortals, so he sunk a legendary island called Motufetu, which connected all of the islands, down to the depths of the ocean. Vasa further warns that the people of Motunui will go extinct in the future if Moana cannot find a way to raise Motufetu. In response to this call from the ancestors, Moana assembles a crew of people from Motunui — craftswoman Loto, historian Moni, and grumpy elderly farmer Kele, alongside her pet pig and rooster, Pua and Heihei — to follow the path of a comet across the ocean towards Motufetu.
Meanwhile, Maui is seeking Motufetu himself since he had a previous quarrel with Nalo, but he is captured by Nalo's enforcer, Matangi. Maui is reluctant to contact Moana, as he fears she may not survive if she comes to help. 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. 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.
Maui warns that Nalo's realm is deadlier compared to the mortal realm and that fighting him will spell certain death for mere mortals. Nalo's monsters ambush the group, damaging their raft and washing them ashore on an isolated island. Moana begins to despair, but Maui encourages her to keep on going. With Moana revitalized, the group plans to have Maui raise Motufetu so that Moana can touch it, as that is the only way to stop Nalo. Her crew repairs her raft, but when the group ventures forth to confront Nalo, they encounter a gigantic storm.
Moana, realizing that Nalo is trying to stop humans from breaking the curse, asks Maui to lift Motufetu enough for her to touch it. Maui begins to pull up Motufetu with his giant hook, but Nalo strips Maui of his demigod powers with a lightning bolt. Moana, in a moment of desperation, dives into the ocean to touch Motufetu underwater, but as she succeeds, Nalo's lightning kills her. Maui jumps in after her body, and with a magical chant, summons the spirits of Tautai Vasa and Moana's ancestors, including her grandmother Tala, who help revive her as a demigoddess, with Moana gaining a wayfinder's tattoo. Maui, also regaining his powers as a demigod, finally raises Motufetu and helps Moana reconnect the people with the ocean.
The crew returns home to Motunui, leading a flotilla of the peoples of the ocean, and a celebration is held in Moana's honor. In a mid-credits scene, Nalo plans his revenge and is about to punish Matangi for helping Moana, when the giant crab Tamatoa arrives to join his cause.
Voice cast
- Auliʻi Cravalho as Moana, the curious daughter of village chief Tui and his wife Sina, who is chosen by the ocean to break the curse on the island of Motufetu
- * Cravalho reprises her role in the film's Hawaiian language dubbing.
- Dwayne Johnson as Maui, a strong-willed shapeshifting demigod who accompanies Moana on her journey.
- Hualālai Chung as Moni, a member of Moana's wayfinding crew and a fan of Maui's
- Rose Matafeo as Loto, a brainy but quirky craftswoman member of Moana's wayfinding crew
- David Fane as Kele, a grumpy farmer and member of Moana's wayfinding crew
- Awhimai Fraser as Matangi, Nalo's enforcer who controls bats.
- * Fraser reprises her role in the film's Māori-language dubbing.
- Khaleesi Lambert-Tsuda as Simea, Moana's little sister
- Temuera Morrison as Tui, Moana's father, and chief of Motunui Island. Unlike the first film, where his singing voice was done by Christopher Jackson, Morrison does his own singing.
- * Morrison reprises his role in the film's Māori language dubbing.
- Nicole Scherzinger as Sina, Moana's mother and Chieftess of Motunui
- Rachel House as Tala, Tui's late mother and Moana's paternal grandmother, who returns as a manta ray spirit
- * House reprises her role in the film's Māori-language dubbing.
- Gerald Ramsey as Tautai Vasa, Moana's ancestor
- Alan Tudyk as Heihei, Moana's pet rooster
Production
Development
In December 2020, during a Disney Investor Day meeting, Walt Disney Animation Studios chief creative officer Jennifer Lee announced that a long-form musical comedy series titled Moana: The Series, based on the 2016 film of the same name, was in development at the studio and set for release on Disney+ in 2023. The series was to consist of five episodes. By August 2021, it was reported that Osnat Shurer would once again serve as producer. In January 2022, it was announced that David Derrick Jr., storyboard artist for the first film, would serve as the writer and director. The series entered development simultaneously with the live-action remake of Moana according to Jared Bush, a writer of the film and screenplay writer of the 2016 animated film.Dana Ledoux Miller came onto the series in early 2023 as a consulting writer, having finished writing the live-action remake with Bush, and turned in several revisions for the series.
According to Bush, the director and the writers repeatedly received feedback during development to the effect of: "We love this story. Why is it not going on the biggest screen you can possibly imagine?" In January 2024, Walt Disney Studios president Alan Bergman "informed the team that they needed to shift rapidly from making a five-episode streaming series to a second Moana feature film". This last-minute "story pivot" was possible because nearly all the actual animation work for Disney animated films is not performed until the final year before the release date—everything before that is development.
In February 2024, Disney CEO Bob Iger officially announced that the series had been reworked into a theatrical sequel titled Moana 2, with Derrick and Shurer remaining attached to the project. Iger explained that this occurred after Disney executives saw early footage: "We were impressed with what we saw and knew it deserved a theatrical release". By the release of the first trailer in May, Jason Hand and Dana Ledoux Miller were confirmed as co-directors alongside Derrick, while Christina Chen and Yvett Merino were revealed to replace Shurer as the film's producers.
Casting
Shortly after the announcement that the series was being repurposed into a theatrical feature film, Auliʻi Cravalho and Dwayne Johnson were confirmed to reprise their respective roles as Moana and Maui. Johnson later confirmed that he had been involved with the project since its conception, including its development, stating: "I can't wait for fans to see the film, the technology, the effects, cutting edge. We all really went for it. We thought if we're gonna make a sequel to something so beloved, let's really go for it." Several more cast members were unveiled at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival, including Temuera Morrison and Nicole Scherzinger reprising their roles as Moana's parents from the first film. New additions include Khaleesi Lambert-Tsuda as Moana's new sister, and Rose Matafeo, David Fane, and Hualālai Chung as members of Moana's wayfinding crew.According to Cravalho, this film was the first time "that a Disney princess has been allowed to age." When Cravalho returned to the recording studio after the first film to record lines for Disney fireworks shows, Disney on Ice, and Disney Lego Princess, she was repeatedly asked to raise her vocal pitch to sound like herself as a teenager at age 16. She was delighted when the film's directors allowed her to record Moana's lines at age 19 with her natural voice as a woman in her early twenties.