Moana 2 facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Moana 2 |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Editing by | Michael Louis Hill Jeremy Milton |
| Distributed by | Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures |
| Release date(s) | November 21, 2024 (Lanikuhonua Cultural Institute) November 27, 2024 (United States) |
| Running time | 100 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $150 million |
| Money made | $1.05 billion |
Moana 2 is an animated musical adventure film from 2024, made by Walt Disney Animation Studios. It's the second movie in the Moana series and a follow-up to the first Moana film from 2016. The movie was directed by David Derrick Jr., Jason Hand, and Dana Ledoux Miller. The story was written by Miller and Jared Bush.
Auliʻi Cravalho and Dwayne Johnson return to voice their characters, Moana and Maui. The story takes place three years after the first movie. Moana teams up with the demigod Maui again. They gather a crew to find a lost island called Motufetu. Their mission is to break a curse and help the people of the ocean reconnect.
This movie was first planned as a short TV series for Disney+. But in February 2024, it was changed into a full movie for theaters. Mark Mancina and Opetaia Foaʻi, who wrote music for the first film, came back to create the score and songs. New songwriters, Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear, also joined the team.
Moana 2 first showed at the Lanikuhonua Cultural Institute in Kapolei, Hawaii, on November 21, 2024. It was released in the United States by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures on November 27. The movie has earned over $1 billion worldwide. It is one of the highest-grossing films of 2024. It was also nominated for an award at the 82nd Golden Globe Awards for Best Animated Feature Film.
Contents
The Story of Moana 2
Three years after her big adventure with the demigod Maui and the island goddess Te Fiti, Moana spends her time exploring islands near her home, Motunui. She hopes to find other people who are connected to the ocean.
One day, Moana has a vision from her ancestor, Tautai Vasa. He tells her why people are no longer connected: a storm god named Nalo wanted power. He sank a special island called Motufetu deep into the ocean. This island used to connect all the other islands. Tautai warns Moana that her people will disappear if she can't find a way to bring Motufetu back up.
Moana gathers a crew from Motunui. Her crew includes Loto, a clever craftswoman; Moni, a historian; and Keke, a grumpy old farmer. Her animal friends, Pua the pig and Heihei the rooster, also join. They follow a comet across the ocean to find Motufetu.
Meanwhile, Maui is also looking for Motufetu because he had a fight with Nalo before. But Nalo's helper, Matangi, captures Maui. Maui doesn't want Moana to come help him because he fears she might not survive.
Moana and her crew are captured by the Kakamora. These are fierce coconut-like pirates Moana met before. The Kakamora explain that Nalo's actions also disconnected them from their home island. A Kakamora named Kotu helps Moana's crew. They manage to paralyze a huge monster clam where Matangi lives.
While the crew finds Maui, Moana meets Matangi. Moana learns that Matangi is not happy working for Nalo. Matangi helps Moana escape and reunite with Maui and her friends. Then, Matangi sends them to find Nalo.
Maui warns Moana that Nalo's home is very dangerous for regular people. Nalo's monsters attack the group, damaging their raft. They end up on a lonely island. Moana starts to feel hopeless, but Maui encourages her to keep going.
With Moana feeling strong again, the group makes a plan. Maui will lift the island, and Moana will touch it. This is the only way to fix Motufetu and stop Nalo. Her crew fixes the raft. As they go to face Nalo, they run into a giant storm.
Moana realizes Nalo is trying to stop them. She asks Maui to lift the island just enough for her to touch it. As Maui pulls the island up with his giant hook, Nalo strikes him with lightning. Maui loses his demigod powers. In a desperate moment, Moana dives into the ocean to touch the island underwater. Just as she succeeds, Nalo's lightning kills her.
Maui jumps in after her. With a magical chant, he calls the spirits of Tautai Vasa and Moana's ancestors, including her grandmother Tala. They help bring Moana back to life as a demigoddess! Moana gets a special wayfinder's tattoo. Maui also gets his powers back. He finally raises Motufetu and helps Moana reconnect everyone with the ocean.
The crew returns home to Motunui. Many people from the ocean islands join them, and they have a big celebration for Moana. In a short scene after the credits, Nalo plans his revenge. He is about to punish Matangi for helping Moana when the giant crab Tamatoa arrives to join Nalo.
Who Voices the Characters
- Auliʻi Cravalho as Moana, the curious daughter of the village chief Tui. The ocean chose her to break the curse on Motufetu island. Auliʻi also voices Moana in the Hawaiian language version of the film.
- Dwayne Johnson as Maui, a strong demigod who can change his shape. He goes with Moana on her journey.
- Hualālai Chung as Moni, a member of Moana's crew who loves Maui.
- Rose Matafeo as Loto, a smart and unique craftswoman in Moana's crew.
- David Fane as Kele, a grumpy farmer and part of Moana's crew.
- Awhimai Fraser as Matangi, Nalo's helper who controls bats. Awhimai also voices Matangi in the Māori-language version.
- Khaleesi Lambert-Tsuda as Simea, Moana's little sister.
- Temuera Morrison as Tui, Moana's father and chief of Motunui Island. He does his own singing in this film.
- Nicole Scherzinger as Sina, Moana's mother and the Chieftess of Motunui.
- Rachel House as Tala, Moana's grandmother, who returns as a manta ray spirit. Rachel also voices Tala in the Māori-language version.
- Gerald Ramsey as Tautai Vasa, Moana's ancestor.
- Alan Tudyk as Heihei, Moana's pet rooster.
Some of Dwayne Johnson's family members also voice characters. His daughters, Jasmine and Tiana, are part of Moana's fan club. His mother, Ata Maivia Johnson, voices a villager. Tofiga Fepulea'i voices the storm god Nalo in the mid-credits scene. The giant coconut crab Tamatoa from the first film also appears, voiced by Jemaine Clement.
How the Movie Was Made
From Series to Film
In December 2020, Disney announced a musical comedy series called Moana: The Series for Disney+. It was going to have five episodes. David Derrick Jr., who worked on the first Moana movie, was set to write and direct it.
Later, the team kept getting feedback that the story was so good, it should be a movie for the big screen. In January 2024, Disney decided to change the series into a second Moana feature film. This was possible because most of the animation work happens closer to the release date.
In February 2024, Disney CEO Bob Iger officially announced that the series was now a movie called Moana 2. He said Disney executives were very impressed with early footage. Jason Hand and Dana Ledoux Miller joined Derrick as co-directors.
Choosing the Voices
After the series became a movie, Auliʻi Cravalho and Dwayne Johnson were confirmed to return as Moana and Maui. Johnson said he was involved from the start. He wanted to make sure the sequel was amazing.
More cast members were announced at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival. Temuera Morrison and Nicole Scherzinger returned as Moana's parents. New voices included Khaleesi Lambert-Tsuda as Moana's new sister. Rose Matafeo, David Fane, and Hualālai Chung joined as members of Moana's new crew.
Auliʻi Cravalho shared that this was the first time a Disney princess was allowed to grow up. For other Disney projects, she was asked to make her voice sound younger. But for Moana 2, the directors let her use her natural voice as a young adult.
Animation Details
The animation for Moana 2 was done at Walt Disney Animation Studios' Vancouver studio. This is the first feature film made there. Veteran animators Mark Henn and Eric Goldberg helped supervise a team. They taught new animators how to create Maui's hand-drawn tattoos. Goldberg had also worked on "Mini Maui" in the first film.
The Music
Mark Mancina and Opetaia Foaʻi returned to create the music for the film. Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear wrote the songs, taking over from Lin-Manuel Miranda from the first movie. Barlow and Bear are the youngest and the first all-female team to write songs for a Disney film.
Disney hired Barlow and Bear in 2021 after hearing their work on The Unofficial Bridgerton Musical. They started working on Moana 2 songs in 2022. Lin-Manuel Miranda even helped Barlow by giving her books on writing lyrics for musicals. Bear focused on learning the Polynesian music style from the first Moana movie.
Auliʻi Cravalho loved having Barlow and Bear write the songs. She felt they could truly tell Moana's story as a young woman finding her way. She said the songs explore deeper feelings, like when Moana doesn't know what to do next.
Lin-Manuel Miranda explained why he didn't return. He was very busy finishing songs for Encanto (2021) and directing his first film. He also wanted to work on Mufasa: The Lion King (2024). By the time he was free, Barlow and Bear were already working on Moana 2.
On November 7, 2024, Disney shared the full song list. The first song released was "Beyond" by Auliʻi Cravalho. It's like a new version of "How Far I'll Go" from the first movie. On November 11, Dwayne Johnson revealed his song, "Can I Get a Chee Hoo?". It's an empowering song for Moana, similar to Maui's "You're Welcome." The movie's soundtrack was released on November 22. Both "Beyond" and "Can I Get a Chee Hoo?" were nominated for awards.
Movie Release
Moana 2 first showed to the world at the Lanikuhonua Cultural Institute in Kapolei, Hawaii, on November 21, 2024. It then opened in theaters across the United States on November 27, 2024.
How the Movie Was Advertised
The first trailer for the film came out on May 29, 2024. It had already been shown at CinemaCon a month earlier. This trailer was watched over 178 million times in its first 24 hours. This set a new record for a Disney animated film trailer! A special preview of the film was shown at the 2024 Annecy International Animation Film Festival on June 14, 2024.
On August 9, 2024, Auliʻi Cravalho and Dwayne Johnson appeared at the D23 Expo in Anaheim, California. They promoted the film and released a new trailer online. During the event, Cravalho sang a new song from the movie, "We're Back," with Polynesian dancers.
Different Names and Languages
Like the first movie, Moana 2 was released in some European countries with the title and main character's name changed to Vaiana. This was because of a trademark issue.
Four special versions of the movie were made in Polynesian languages: Hawaiian, Māori, Tahitian, and Samoan. The first three languages also had versions of the first Moana movie. This is the first time a Samoan version of Moana was released. Auliʻi Cravalho voiced Moana again in the Hawaiian version. Other cast members also voiced their characters in the Māori version.
Moana 2 was the first movie dubbed into Māori to be released in New Zealand at the same time as the English version. This was a big moment for Disney. It was only the third time Disney released a movie in an indigenous language at the same time as other versions. The first was the Tahitian version of Moana in 2016. The second was the Sámi version of Frozen 2 in 2019.
Watching at Home
Moana 2 became available to buy digitally on January 28, 2025. It will be released on Disney+ on March 12, 2025. You can also buy it on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, and DVD starting March 18, 2025.
The film quickly became very popular for digital downloads. It was the top movie on both iTunes and Fandango at Home for several weeks in a row.
