Auli’i Cravalho is passing the Moana torch.
The actress, who voiced Moana in the 2016 animated film and reprises the role in the upcoming animated sequel, has nothing but words of praise for Catherine Laga’aia, who will star as Motunui’s island princess in the live-action Moana movie due out in 2016.
“When I look to a live-action film, I want her to feel like she’s that 16-year-old, young, scrappy teenager who’s going to save her island home from a manmade imbalance,” Cravalho, 23, tells PEOPLE in a conversation surrounding her partnership with SHEBA and Kuleana Coral Reefs for Coral Reef Awareness Week.
The actress, who is co-producing the live-action Moana adaptation, says that Laga’aia, 17, “really does represent that” idea of what she envisions for the film.
“She’s a beautiful young woman of color. She’s so brave to be on that canoe with Dwayne Johnson,” Cravalho adds. “I cannot wait to see her shine.”
Johnson, 52, reprises his voice role of Maui the demigod in both the forthcoming animated sequel and live-action version, the latter alongside Laga’aia.
“I’m really excited to embrace this character because Moana is one of my favorites,” Laga’aia said last month. “My grandfather comes from Fa‘aala, Palauli, in Savai‘i. And my grandmother is from Leulumoega Tuai on the main island of ‘Upolu in Samoa.”
“I’m honored to have an opportunity to celebrate Samoa and all Pacific Island peoples, and to represent young girls who look like me,” she added.
“I am thrilled to have met Catherine, Rena, Frankie and John through this casting process,” director Thomas Kail said in June. “I am humbled by this opportunity, and I cannot wait to all be on set together. And there’s no better pair to be in a canoe with than Catherine and Dwayne — actually, trio: Heihei is ready, too.”
In her chat with PEOPLE, Cravalho says she’s “so excited” to “pass this baton” and see Laga’aia take on the Moana mantle, as the teen actress is “wonderful,” “clever,” “smart” and “so brave.”
Additionally, “I’ve been a part of this industry now for the last 10 years, and there are very few Pacific Islanders and even fewer Pacific Island women [in it],” the Mean Girls star continues.
As for what she’s most excited to see in the live-action film, Cravalho says there are “a lot of people” working on it “who come from all the different islands, come from the Marshallese Islands, come from Hawaii, come from Aotearoa,” which lends itself to Moana being “a pan-Polynesian story.”
She also praises Kail’s “wonderful heart in” making the story specifically about Moana’s journey: “As long as that is our heart, as long as we focus on this beautiful young woman coming into her own, I think everyone will be excited to see it.”
Moana swims into theaters on July 10, 2026.