Auliʻi Cravalho

In Moana (2016), Auliʻi Cravalho answers Dwayne Johnson’s Maui as though she has better things to do than be impressed by him. She gives the young heroine enough certainty to challenge his self-importance, without making her sound as though she knows everything. We warmed to her because the bickering lets us hear someone young and stubborn enjoying an argument. The familiar story benefits from that playfulness, alongside the affection between generations that makes this an easy family recommendation.

That voice role launched her career, and the move into live action brought leads in All Together Now (2020) and Crush (2022). Outsiders and rebellious teenagers recur in her work, giving her plenty of opportunities to push back against other people. The repeated school-age casting is also a constraint on what we have been able to see her do. Playing Sally Bowles in Cabaret (2024), her Broadway debut, marks a move beyond that pattern.

Mean Girls (2024) makes particularly good use of that defiance in her Janis ʻImiʻike, though we cannot recommend the film on her work alone. Alongside Jaquel Spivey’s Damian, she brings energy to the narration and gets the strongest songs. The trouble is Tina Fey’s script, which repeats too much familiar material and gives this musical version too little reason to exist. The overlong final stretch asks for more patience than these performances earn, however hard Cravalho and Spivey work to keep things moving.

Moana 2 (2024) gives her a familiar heroine to revisit, and she makes the return count in small ways. Her Moana sounds older and a little wearier, while the singing has more conviction than the new material deserves. That is a useful reminder that an actor can develop a character even when the film around her has little to offer beyond handsome water. It is not enough to make us recommend the sequel. Start with the first Moana, for the songs and the pleasure of hearing her put Maui in his place.