Moana Review: A Less Vibrant Copy of the Original in Every Way

Posted in: Disney, Kaitlyn Booth, Movies, Review | Tagged: dwayne johnson, moana

Moana Review: A Less Vibrant Copy of the Original in Every Way

Moana is, unfortunately, an example of a remake that was not born out of a creative need to tell a story in a different way or explore a new medium of storytelling.

Published Wed, 08 Jul 2026 10:02:10 -0500
by Kaitlyn Booth
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Article Summary

• Moana is a live-action remake that closely follows the 2016 animated film without adding a fresh creative vision.
• The new Moana loses much of the original’s color and wonder, with visuals that feel drab despite stunning locations.
• Catherine Laga'aia anchors Moana well, and Dwayne Johnson is solid, but the film gives them little that feels new.
• While a few emotional beats and one new song land, Moana mainly reminds fans why the original remains stronger.

Moana is a remake in every sense of the word, with the only meaningful difference being the change in medium, which somehow makes some of the most beautiful locations look drab and ugly.

Director: Thomas Kail
Summary: Live-action adaptation of the 2016 Disney animated film 'Moana.'

The Disney live-action machine seemed like it might be coming to an end when Snow White underperformed, but after Lilo & Stitch made a billion dollars, there wasn't any stopping it. The rest of these live-action versions moved forward with the Moana remake, no longer possibly serving as the final one of them, but as yet another example of things we did not need. There is nothing wrong with remaking something and changing the medium in which it is presented; that is something people do all the time when they are adapting things. But with animation to live-action, it often seems like filmmakers fail to approach the change in medium with anything interesting to say. They either make virtually no changes to the point that it is nearly a shot-for-shot remake, or they attempt to change aspects of the story, maybe parts that don't hold up years later, maybe parts that fans haven't liked since its inception. Neither of these options really takes advantage of the change in medium, and the Moana remake is the former.

The people behind the Moana remake not only didn't do anything interesting with the transition from animation to live-action, but the new version also lost much of the animated film's vibrancy in the process. It didn't need to, though. If you've spent time in that corner of the world, it's stunningly beautiful to the point that it almost doesn't look real. There is no excuse for this movie looking so drab when it was shot on location in places that are stunningly beautiful. There is a hint that this might be a deliberate choice since things do seem to get brighter at the end of the film, but that's just as stupid. You could shoot these locations as they are, beautiful and almost otherworldly, and then once the final events of the film take place, turn the saturation up even more. This isn't a documentary; you can crank the saturation and make it look completely unrealistic. It's fine.

On the acting side, everyone does a pretty good job with what they are given. Dwayne Johnson was better than expected as a live-action Maui, even if the wig might be a crime against humanity. Catherine Laga'aia is the glue that holds this entire production together, much in the same way that Auli'i Cravalho did for the animated film. None of this works without her, and she does a very good job. The film doesn't give her anything unique to do compared to the animated version, but she's still very good, and her voice is lovely.

There are so many missed opportunities, though. For the first time in a very long time, a new song added to a Disney live-action movie is actually pretty decent. Along the Way is a lovely collaboration between Cravalho, Laga'aia, and Johnson, but apparently coming up with an original scene that fit was too much, so it simply plays over the credits. This is a film in which visions of the ancestors keep appearing. You're telling me no one in this film could conceptualize a scene with Laga'aia as Moana, Johnson as Maui, and Cravalho as one of Moana's ancestors, so the song had a moment? Shiny was already one of the weakest songs in the original film, but this version is somehow even worse and makes the Tamatoa scene feel even more egregious and pointless than it did in the animated film. At least in the animated film, you could see what was going on, but this time the scene is so messy you might lose track of where the giant, bling-covered crab is.

There are moments in Moana that really work, but the problem is, they are moments that are nearly shot-for-shot from the original film. Did I ugly cry when Gramma Tala and we got the reprisal of I Am Moana? Yes, but I cry every single time I watch that scene, and they could render it with stick figures or LEGO, and I'd probably still cry. The tears are not in the remake's favor; they are a mark on the original's longevity. While the actors do a commendable job portraying those scenes, the bare bones of it all remain, and none of it feels earned, and even if it hits, the hits almost feel unearned – mostly because it is.

Moana is, unfortunately, an example of a remake that was not born out of a creative need to tell a story in a different way or explore a new medium of storytelling, but pure capitalism and greed. The original film still kills on Disney+ numbers-wise, and the animated sequel just did gangbusters. The Moana fans are well fed, and this is a meal that no one asked for and no one wanted. It's not offensively bad unless you find the very idea of the film's existence to be distasteful, which is about the best you can hope for with these live-action remakes.

The fans are going to walk away remembering why they loved the original in the first place, not falling in love with this one. If the live-action remakes train is going to continue, Disney and everyone involved need to figure out a way to make these movies work beyond shot-for-shot remakes or fixing perceived slights. This whole experiment almost fell apart once, and if Moana is any indication of the future, Lilo & Stitch was not a course correction; it was the exception, as everything else continues to fall apart.

Moana

Review by Kaitlyn Booth

5/10

Moana is a remake in every sense of the word, with the only meaningful difference being the change in medium, which somehow makes some of the most beautiful locations look drab and ugly.

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