Moana (2026) - Spoiler Free Review

Film Details

Director: Thomas Kail

Run Time: 1hr 57m

Cast: Dwayne Johnson, Catherine Laga’aia, John Tui, Frankie Adams, Rena Owen

Synopsis

Leaving her island for the first time, Moana embarks on a huge seafaring journey to restore prosperity to her people.

My Review

Ultimately this live action remake still includes all of the things that made us love Moana and her story, the songs, the underdog journey, the characters… But in reality everything about it is inferior to the original animated movie, which begs the question, if there are no real improvements whatsoever, why is the film needed? I have always expressed my preference for live action over animated, but that has never applied to live action remakes of beloved animated films, the bar is simply to high and the execution always shows a dip in quality.

That being said, I did enjoy it more than I expected because the trailers really didn’t do it any justice. The heart of the story is still embedded and if there is one thing that perhaps benefits from a live action reimagining, it’s the Polynesian culture that is celebrated throughout the film. The dance choreography, the costume design, it was all a powerful homage to that group of people. However, my biggest gripe about Disney live action remakes is that they always pick films that would require a lot of CGI and it almost never looks as good as the original and the same can be said for the musical sequences too. Now I understand that most of this criticism comes from comparison to the original, but unfortunately when you deal with such beloved IP, comparison is inevitable and that will ultimately be what the film is judged upon! This has been reflected in the films poor box office earnings so far, with audiences appetite for such films dwindling.

Disney will argue their case for trying to attract a new generation of fans and for the older classics like Jungle Book, perhaps I can understand that. But Moana was a 2016 film that still looks incredible today, another animated sequel would have been far more palatable and would likely have much higher box office potential. This could boast the title of most pointless film of the year, but despite that, I still enjoyed my time in the theatre, the emotional moments were still impactful, the humour landed and the songs are still great, so is it really pointless after all?

My Rating: 5.5 out of 10

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