‘Moana 2’ star explains how the character is a hero princess for our times

  

The main character in Moana 2” can walk on water and move oceans, but is she a princess?

Auli’i Cravalho, who voices Moana in both the 2016 original animated film and new the sequel, said she’s more than that.

Films are always representative of their times,” Cravalho told EW,

For today’s day and age, we want to see a young woman being the hero of her own story,” she said. So, yeah, she is a princess, but she’s also a hero. I like that those two words are now interchangeable.”

But don’t expect Moana to look like a typical Disney princess.

You probably won’t see Moana in a ballgown,” Cravalho said. And that’s fine.”

The actress, now 24, was 14 when she was first cast as the character. Moana’s journey in the new movie, Cravalho told People, marks the first time in Disney history that a Disney princess has been allowed to age.”