Disney’s Moana is due out next year but work is already well underway on the animated adventure. In fact, the studio has a new cast addition to the production and it’s a pretty big announcement at that.
We all know Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson will be portraying the demi-god Maui and now Disney has announced they have signed 14-year-old Native Hawaiian, Auli’i Cravalho to voice the titular character. The newcomer will join Johnson and Alan Tudyk as the voice cast of the new animated adventure film.
According to the official synopsis, Moana takes place three thousand years ago when the greatest sailors in the world voyaged across the vast South Pacific, discovering the many islands of Oceania. But then, for a millennium, their voyages stopped – and no one today knows why.
The sweeping CG-animated adventure aims to address that question as it centres on a spirited teenager who sails out on a daring mission to prove herself a master way finder and fulfil her ancestors’ unfinished quest. During her journey, Moana meets the once-mighty demi-god Maui, and together, they traverse the open ocean on an action-packed voyage, encountering enormous fiery creatures and impossible odds.
Directed by the renowned filmmaking team of Ron Clements and John Musker (The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, The Princess & the Frog), and produced by Osnat Shurer (Lifted, One Man Band), Moana sails into theatres in November 2016.