“The ocean chose her once. Now it calls her again.”

Years after returning the heart of Te Fiti and bringing balance back to her islands, Moana of Motunui has become more than just a wayfinder — she is a queen, a steward of culture, and a unifier of lost oceanic peoples. Her legend lives in songs and carvings. But legends, like waves, are never still.

In this sweeping live-action reimagining of Disney’s beloved animated classic, Moana (2025) ventures beyond nostalgia — toward legacy, loss, and the eternal rhythm of calling and returning. Zendaya stars as the older, wiser Moana — regal yet restless — as she begins to hear voices not from gods, but from the deep memory of the ocean itself.

One night, under a moonless tide, she dreams of a realm “drowned in silence” — an entire archipelago wiped from maps, severed from ancestry, and echoing with a haunting chant of forgotten names. Her ancestors call it Kai’loa — a vanished land swallowed by ocean and time. A place never meant to rise again.

Despite council warnings, Moana launches one last voyage. Her sail bears not the spiral of Te Fiti, but a new mark — one etched in flame and foam, representing the unknown.

Reuniting with Maui (Dwayne Johnson), now more reluctant hero than boastful god, the duo sails into uncharted territory. But they are not alone. Ka’ahu (Tom Cruise), a rogue celestial navigator who walks between the spirit and mortal realms, joins the quest with cryptic knowledge and a haunted past. He speaks of a “veil beyond the waves,” where gods lose their power and memory becomes current.

Their journey is harrowing:

• Titanic sea beasts born from coral and bone.

• Tempests guided by starless skies.

• Echoes of Moana’s grandmother, walking the shore of an island that no longer exists.

• A people lost beneath the sea, whose voices twist in forgotten currents.

As Moana dives deeper — not only into ancient waters but into herself — she must confront the truth: the ocean chose her once, not because she was the strongest or the smartest… but because she listens. Now, it calls her again not to restore balance — but to rekindle memory. To speak for those whose songs were never heard. To find the name of a place even the ocean once forgot.

But destiny carries a price. The further she sails into silence, the closer she comes to losing her own voice — and her way home.