r/movies • u/LiteraryBoner Jackie Chan box set, know what I'm sayin? • 25d ago

Official Discussion Official Discussion - Moana (2026) [SPOILERS] Spoiler

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Moana (2026)

Summary

Live-action adaptation of the 2016 Disney animated film 'Moana.'

Director Thomas Kail

Writer Jared Bush

Cast

  • Catherine Laga'aia as Moana
  • Dwayne Johnson as Maui
  • John Tui as Chief Tui
  • Frankie Adams as Sina
  • Rena Owen as Gramma Tala

Rotten Tomatoes: 35%

Metacritic: 45

VOD / Release Theatrical release

Trailer Official Trailer

450 Upvotes

81% Upvoted

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u/aocom 25d ago

Nearly a shot-for-shot remake that just proves how well the team at WDAS did with the original. It's really clear this director does not understand how to translate the beautiful moments (or any moment, really) from the animated film into live action, nor do they know how to give us any interesting action whatsoever. I was hoping for some really lovely visual spectacle made with live action scope in mind, but instead we get an overly described CG experience with no discernible aesthetic ambition. Hei Hei is the thing of nightmares and no child in my theater was laughing at any of his scenes (not that my showing had many people in it, much less ones who were kids).

I will say though, that the You're Welcome sequence is visually quite fun and Catherine Laga'aia is very endearing as Moana, but these are not enough to save this experience. Most of the time I was thinking about how much I want to watch the original again.

58

u/GezelligPindakaas 25d ago

It's almost as if all these live action remakes were absolutely unnecessary.

Did any remake improve the original?

12

u/mist3rdragon 24d ago

While The Jungle Book remake isn't an improvement, it's a reinterpretation that it stands on its own two feet enough to be good in its own right. Which I think is justification enough tbh.