LOS ANGELES, July 8 (UPI) -- The live-action Moana, in theaters Friday, is better than Moana 2 because it is still based on the original Moana script. However, it renders that script in a degraded form.

It helps that half the film IS animated, that Dwayne Johnson goes full Maui, and that newcomer Catherine Laga’aia plays Moana with beaming rapture.

Reviews for the live-action remake of Moana are in and they aren't great! In fact, it's one of the lowest-rated Disney live-action remakes on Rotten Tomatoes.

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.

Read our review of Moana, the live-action remake of the animated Disney film starring Dwayne Johnson.

Disney's live-action remake machine just keeps rolling, but this one may have hit a reef. The first reactions for Moana have surfaced online, and while there are a few people who found things to enjoy, the overwhelming takeaway is that Disney has delivered another remake that many critics feel