Moana Review: Dwayne Johnson and Disney Don't Justify Its Own Existence of Their Latest Live-Action Remake

The live-action Moana is the 25th remake of a Disney animated film, arriving only two years after the groundbreaking original film got a sequel. Moana 2 earned far less favourable reviews, but its box office broke a billion dollars, almost double its predecessor's haul. So here we are again, with Disney choosing to copy and paste in the hopes of securing similar financial gain. It probably will, but, as with the rest of Disney’s mixed bag of live-action remakes, Moana begs the question: Just because you can, does it mean you should? Directed by Broadway's Hamilton and In The Heights director Thomas Kail in his feature debut, this is a beat-by-beat retelling that rarely colors outside the lines. A thousand years after the demigod Maui (Dwayne Johnson reprising the role) stole the heart of the goddess Te Fiti, Moana (Catherine Laga'aia) is chosen by the ocean to find him, and together, return the stone to restore her blighted island Motunui to full health. Same characters, same songs, same hero's journey, which gets quite tedious if, like me, you're a fan of the OG film. It's hard to muster a laugh when you know the punchline for most of the jokes, especially the visual ones regardin

Jul 8, 2026 → Jul 12, 2026