Disney’s live-action Moana arrives with the kind of built-in affection most remakes would envy. The 2016 animated original was vibrant, heartfelt and visually intoxicating, a film that made every drop of water and grain of sand feel alive. It was familiar in structure, yes, but it owned its optimism with such sincerity that its message of destiny, identity and self-belief felt earned rather than engineered.
This new version, directed by Thomas Kail, follows that same path so closely that it often feels less like a reimagining and more like an expensive echo. Moana (Catherine Lagaʻaia), the headstrong daughter of Motunui’s chief, is once again called by the Ocean to journey beyond the reef and find the demigod Maui (Dwayne Johnson), hoping to restore balance and prosperity to her people. The bones of the story remain sturdy, but somewhere in the transition from animation to live-action, much of the charm has washed away.
That isn’t to say the film is without merit. Lagaʻaia makes a strong impression as Moana, bringing warmth, confidence and a natural screen presence to a role that could have easily been swallowed by comparison. She is, without question, the film’s greatest asset. There’s a spark in her performance that suggests the film works best whenever it trusts her enough to carry it.
John Tui is similarly likeable as Chief Tui, giving Moana’s father a grounded warmth, while Rena Owen brings a soothing sense of calm to Gramma Tala. Their scenes help restore some of the emotional connection that the film otherwise struggles to maintain, particularly in its attempts to recapture the animated version’s balance of myth, humour and wonder.
The more glaring issue is Maui. Johnson’s vocal performance in the animated film was one of its strongest ingredients, all booming charisma, comic arrogance and playful bravado. In live-action, that energy simply doesn’t translate. Johnson is usually a performer of overwhelming presence, but here he feels oddly constrained. Whether it’s the synthetic sheen of the character design, the artificiality of the hair and body work, or simply the fact that Maui is a creation better suited to animation’s elasticity, the character never feels as effortless or as entertaining as he should.
It’s a strange thing to watch a performer known for charisma struggle to find the spark in a role he already made work so well once before. The result isn’t disastrous, but it is distracting, and it leaves the film without the larger-than-life charge Maui is supposed to provide.
Visually, the film is also caught in an awkward middle ground. For all its real landscapes and live-action framing, so much of Moana still looks animated that it raises the question of what this version is adding. The Ocean, the creatures, the spectacle and the heightened musical sequences all strain against the limitations of live-action, often recreating the original’s images without recapturing their magic. Instead of feeling tactile and transportive, the film too often feels polished to the point of plasticity.
Younger audiences may not be especially bothered. The songs are still there, the story still moves, and the film is harmless enough as family entertainment. Parents taking their children along will likely find it diverting in the moment. But harmlessness is not the same as necessity, and Moana constantly struggles to justify its own existence.
What makes that especially frustrating is that there is clearly genuine love here for the Polynesian culture and community being celebrated. More time spent deepening that perspective, rather than so faithfully retracing the animated film’s steps, might have given this version a reason to stand apart. Instead, arriving only a decade after the original, it feels like a case of too much, too soon.
This Moana isn’t offensive, nor is it without feeling. Lagaʻaia gives it a beating heart, and there are moments where the beauty and spirit of the story still shine through. But as a live-action remake, it’s largely unnecessary, often oddly artificial, and rarely able to match the charm of the film it so carefully copies.
When the original is readily available – and remains the brighter, richer, more emotionally satisfying experience – this voyage feels less like answering the Ocean’s call and more like Disney sailing familiar waters simply because it can.
TWO AND A HALF STARS (OUT OF FIVE)
Moana is now screening in Australian theatres, before opening in the United States on July 10th, 2026.
