Moana Review: The Same Wave Rolls Back Around

Moana, the live-action remake of the 2016 modern animated favorite, will make a huge amount of money. Disney’s live-action remakes generally do, even supposed box office bombs like last year’s dire rehash of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Disney’s Snow White. But is that reason enough for this remake to exist?

Dwayne Johnson said he wanted to be part of the remake, adding special effects and his bulking physical presence to his vocal performance as the cocky and mischievous Polynesian demigod, Maui, because his kids didn’t believe that was him in the original. But is that reason enough for this remake to exist?

There’s a case to suggest that this new Moana may be the best Disney live-action remake, in no small part because it’s so loyal to the beloved source material. Yet in being so it proves its own redundancy. Everything good about it, from the jokes to the visual design, was already done, almost exactly the same, by animators a decade ago. There should be a secondary credit reel, because although Thomas Kail (Hamilton) is credited as director, there’s nothing here without the work of the directing quartet of Ron Clements, Don Hall, Chris Williams, and John Musker, right down through the design departments – and, of course, the toe-tapping, sing-along score by Lin-Manuel Miranda.

The heart of the story remains the same, too. Moana (Catherine Laga’aia), chief-in-waiting of the people of the island of Motunui, travels to save her people from the crop-killing curse that has blighted the world since the arrogant Maui stole the heart of fertility goddess Te Fiti. Teamed up with the less-than-eager Maui, she has to remind him how to be a hero, save the world, and restore her tribe’s legacy as seafarers. Screenwriter Dana Ledoux Miller barely tinkers with Jared Bush’s words from the original, which leaves little to be surprised or excited by.

The episodic structure of their journey, the monsters (including Jemaine Clement re-recording his lines as Tamatoa, the jewel-encrusted crab), the somewhat understuffed structure of the original that was its biggest weakness, are still there, just with more complicated graphics. Laga’aia and Johnson have a snappy rapport, even if sometimes she’s clearly responding to the insert-VFX-later gaps of modern filmmaking. As always, the less said about how poorly some animated design decisions translate to the live-action setting, the better. Maui, once a squat block of meat, is now lean and ripped, which is oddly off-putting and undercuts some character beats. When Johnson singsongs that Maui can do everything but float, that made sense when he looked like a boulder rather than a triathlete. He’s also a lot less fun, with Johnson giving flatter line deliveries of what were once comedic gems. Even worse is how Moana’s chicken sidekick, Hei Hei, has gone from empty-headed but adorable animated feather duster to a horror show of wattle and existential angst. As he stares out of the screen with yellow-flecked bloodshot eyes, he looks like an escapee from one of those out-of-copyright Disney-spoofing slashers that plagued cinemas recently.

Movies like Bambi: The Reckoning are exercises in unimaginative filmmaking. Sadly, so is Moana. I’ve recently been rewatching Disney’s early animated features, and what’s shocking is how incredibly varied they were. Everything from re-creating the orchestral experience in Fantasia to the jukebox jam of Make Mine Music, illustrated history lessons in Victory Through Air Power to celebrations of the nations of South America in Saludos Amigos. So when Maui makes a crack about Moana being just another Disney princess, it’s not a clever nod to a knowing audience. It’s a reminder that the studio is eroding its legacy, creating a deeper and deeper trench for itself through this endless cycle of unnecessary live-action remakes and sequels to 30-year-old franchises.

Moana

2026, PG, 115 min. Directed by Thomas Kail. Starring Catherine Laga’aia, Dwayne Johnson, Rena Owen, John Tui, Frankie Adams, Jemaine Clement.

⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 2.5 out of 5.

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