Moana (2026) | Reelviews Movie Reviews
Moana (2026) (United States, 2026)
July 10, 2026
A movie review by James Berardinelli
If the goal with Moana is to make money, Disney is
probably in a safe space. Almost all of the live-action adaptations of animated
films have been financially successful to one degree or another, with only the
reviled Snow White failing to break even during its theatrical run. The
challenge faced by Moana is one of proximity. The original film came out
only 10 years ago, and the animated side of the franchise is still alive and
kicking with Moana 2 arriving recently and indications that a Moana 3
will start production in 2027. So, it’s difficult to determine whether adding a
live-action version at this stage risks muddying the waters.
It’s hard to argue that there’s any reason to prefer the
live-action iteration over the animated one. Devoted fans will undoubtedly want
to see the new movie, and kids (who will watch anything they enjoy countless
times) won’t care, but there are slim pickings here for someone interested in a
fresh take on the story. Because Disney’s mantra is not to mess with success,
they have basically stuck to the essence of the narrative, varying only in
bland, non-controversial ways. The result feels plastic, predictable, and pointless.
The story is pretty much the same. The title character
(Catherine Laga’aia replacing voice actor Auli’i Cravalho, who has “aged
out”) lives on a remote Pacific island with her father, Chief Tui (John
Tui); mother, Sina (Frankie Adams); grandmother, Tala (Rena Owen); and idiot
pet chicken, Heihei. When a blight threatens the island’s survival, Moana
follows her ancestors by going out to sea, defying a long-standing ban against
seafaring in search of the demigod Maui (Dwayne Johnson). If she can persuade
Maui to return a stolen artifact to the goddess Te Fiti, she believes
prosperity can return to all the poisoned islands. The preening, self-centered
Maui, however, appears indifferent to Moana’s pleas and decides instead to
search for his missing magical hook.
Truth be told, a story this fantastical stumbles badly when
translated into reality. In addition to requiring much unconvincing CGI, it
also encounters narrative stumbling blocks. Elements that feel perfectly
natural in a cartoon, such as the anthropomorphized Heihei or the singing giant
crab Tamatoa (Jemaine Clement), fail to convince in flesh and blood. While
Moana’s signature song, “How Far I’ll Go,” works well enough in the
new setting, Maui’s “You’re Welcome” falls a bit flat, despite all
the animated shenanigans drafted to help it out.
I was frankly surprised at how cheap the movie looks,
despite carrying a sky-high reported production budget of about $250 million.
After seeing the magnificent job James Cameron did with waterscapes in his Avatar
movies, one might have reasonably expected something high-end. Instead, Moana
often looks like it was designed on someone’s basement laptop. The scenes
featuring water-bending are poorly realized and the underwater shots feel
incredibly fake. There are also sequences in which it seems like actors Johnson
and Laga’aia have been dumped into an otherwise animated playground where they
seem out of place.
It’s an interesting choice for the filmmakers to go with
Johnson as a visibly aged version of Maui rather than the youthful, vibrant
figure from the animated films. The original intention, to use AI to de-age
him, was scrapped when Hollywood came out in open defiance of the technology,
resulting in more of an “old man Maui.” Catherine Laga’aia is fine as
Moana. Her voice is largely indistinguishable from Cravalho (who sings a new
song over the end credits), and there’s no lack of youthful enthusiasm,
although she smiles too much (and sometimes at the most inappropriate times). Retaining
Heihei, however, feels like a mistake. The moronic rooster (derided by 2016
co-director Ron Clements as the dumbest animal in the history of animation)
fails to provide the same degree of comedic relief he did in the animated
version. Once again, some things that work in cartoon form feel awkward when
translated to live-action, and Moana is chock-full of them.
Rule of thumb: If you’re watching a remake (any remake) and
you keep thinking about how much better the original did a particular scene,
shot, or moment, the remake is not working on its own terms. Regardless of how
much money this makes for Disney, it will never feel like a true motion
picture. It’s nostalgia-fueled kitsch—a bright, gaudy bauble to attract family
audiences and people who crave the familiar. Creatively bankrupt and utterly
unnecessary, this Moana will succeed for one simple reason: popularity
and the financial windfall that inevitably follows.
Moana (2026) (United States, 2026)
Director: Thomas Kail
Cast:
Catherine Laga’aia, Dwayne Johnson, John Tui, Frankie Adams, Rena Owen, Jemaine Clement
Screenplay: Jared Bush, Dana Ledoux Miller
Cinematography: Óscar Faura
Music: Mark Mancina, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Opetaia Foa’i
U.S. Distributor: Walt Disney Pictures
Run Time: 1:55
U.S. Release Date: 2026-07-10
MPAA Rating: “PG” (For action/peril, some scary images, rude humor and brief thematic elements)
Genre: Fantasy/Adventure/Musical
Subtitles: none
Theatrical Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1
