Moana offers almost nothing that distinguishes it from its animated predecessor [...] The result isn’t nostalgia; it’s creative laziness.
Written by Sarah Abraham
There comes a point where Disney’s live-action remake strategy begins to feel less like revisiting beloved classics and more like an exercise in brand maintenance. With Moana, that point has finally arrived. Released less than a decade after the original animated phenomenon, and following the release of Moana 2 (2024) only a short time ago, this remake struggles to answer the most basic question any adaptation should: why does this exist?
Unlike films that reinterpret familiar material through a new artistic lens, Moana offers almost nothing that distinguishes it from its animated predecessor. Scene after scene unfolds exactly as audiences remember it, recreating compositions, dialogue, and musical numbers with almost obsessive precision. Rather than adapting the story for a different medium, director Thomas Kail simply photographs an animated film using actors standing in front of digital environments. The result isn’t nostalgia; it’s creative laziness.
The irony is that audiences have already been shown that a nearly shot-for-shot remake can still justify itself. Recently, the live-action How to Train Your Dragon (2025) almost entirely mirrored the original, but at least it understood that translating animation into live-action requires a different cinematic approach. Camera movement, lighting, production design, and emotional intimacy all evolved in that film to suit real performers. Meanwhile, Moana seems determined to imitate the elasticity and exaggerated energy of animation without recognizing that human performers cannot occupy that same space. Instead of feeling cinematic, the film resembles an unnecessarily expensive stage production overwhelmed by computer-generated scenery.
That isn’t the fault of Catherine Laga’aia, who makes an admirable feature film debut as Moana. She wisely avoids impersonating Auli’i Cravalho’s iconic vocal performance, searching instead for her own interpretation of the character. Laga’aia possesses an undeniable screen presence and frequently demonstrates the warmth and determination that made Moana such a compelling heroine in the first place. Unfortunately, Kail’s flat direction gives her very little room to establish an identity separate from the original. She’s often left recreating moments audiences already know by heart rather than discovering new emotional textures. It becomes difficult to judge her performance on its own merits because the film itself refuses to let her become this Moana instead of playing that Moana.
Perhaps the film’s biggest disappointment is Dwayne Johnson’s return as Maui. His vocal performance in the animated film was overflowing with charisma, humor, and larger-than-life confidence. Here, despite reprising the role and serving as a producer, that spark has vanished. Without the expressive freedom animation afforded him, Johnson’s performance feels strangely restrained and surprisingly bland. It raises the question of whether the remake might have benefited from allowing another actor to reinterpret Maui entirely rather than attempting to — again — recreate something so closely tied to the animated original.
The supporting cast fares similarly. Jermaine Clement reprises Tamatoa almost beat for beat, delivering essentially the exact same performance audiences heard years ago. He’s entertaining because the character was charming the first time around, but that’s the problem. There is no reinterpretation, no fresh perspective, and no creative risk. It’s less a new performance than a live reenactment of one we’ve already seen. Rena Owen leaves perhaps the strongest impression as Gramma Tala, bringing genuine warmth and emotional gravity to one of the film’s most heartfelt relationships. Unfortunately, her role remains very brief, leaving the movie without enough emotional momentum once she exits the story.
Visually, the remake may be the most frustrating aspect of this entire production. The animated Moana (2016) remains one of Disney Animation’s most vibrant achievements, bursting with saturated colors, expressive environments, and oceans that felt genuinely alive. This live-action version strips away much of that visual personality in favor of muted digital landscapes that are rarely convincing as physical spaces. Nearly every environment feels processed through layers of computer-generated imagery, creating an artificial quality that constantly reminds viewers they’re watching actors perform against digital backdrops.
That contradiction becomes impossible to ignore. A film marketed as "live-action" often feels just as animated as its predecessor, except with significantly less imagination. Instead of embracing the textures, imperfections, and natural beauty that live-action filmmaking can offer, Moana buries itself beneath visual effects that never achieve the magic of animation while simultaneously sacrificing the expressive freedom that made the original so captivating. It exists in an awkward middle ground where neither medium is allowed to excel.
Ultimately, that is what makes this remake so disappointing. The original Moana wasn’t simply a successful animated musical; it remains a modern Disney classic that continues to resonate with audiences less than ten years after its release. With a recent sequel already extending the franchise, there was little urgency to revisit the story unless filmmakers had a genuinely new artistic perspective to offer. Instead, Disney has produced a film that functions primarily as a reminder of how desperate they are for money.
The best remakes reveal something new about familiar stories. The worst simply reminds audiences they’d rather be watching the first version. Moana firmly belongs in the latter category. It is a visually lifeless, creatively unnecessary recreation that mistakes replication for reinvention. Rather than honoring one of Disney’s modern masterpieces, it inadvertently proves that some stories are already exactly where they belong.
Moana is now playing in theaters.
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