As I walked out of Disney’s newest live-action reimagining of “Moana”, as a huge fan of the original 2016 film, I had one question. To paraphrase the words of Maui himself: What can I say except, “Who wants this?”
Ten years after the original film’s release and two years after “Moana 2,” this new adaptation is a soulless, beat-for-beat, shot-for-shot remake of the far better original film that had no purpose being made. However, the film was released to audiences anyway because, according to Bloomberg, the original Moana is one of the most-streamed films on Disney+ as of 2024, per Disney itself, and it and its sequel still consistently rank high in Disney+’s top 10 most-streamed films today.
The Story and Visuals
How ironic that, for a story so much about taking risks and journeying outside one’s comfort zone, this film does none of that narratively. This film is a shot-for-shot retelling of 2016’s “Moana,” focusing on her first journeys beyond the reef, her meeting with Maui, and their quest through the realm of monsters to restore the heart of Te Fiti after Maui steals it and curses Moana’s home island of Motunui.
Compared to something like last summer’s “How to Train Your Dragon,” Moana struggles narratively because it is unable to balance the important details of the original plot with new information that would further extend the franchise’s story.
This is a story that works, yes, but that’s because it worked in animation in the first place. In live action, the story falls flat, even relying on some of the same high-energy visuals in sequences like “You’re Welcome” or “Shiny.” However, similar to something like “The Lion King,” “Moana’s” live-action adaptation gives the film the same sort of corporate sheen, trading the animated film’s visual spectacle of the water for something that just feels lifeless. This uncanny nature of the remake also transfers to the animation in the film, as shown by how creepy Heihei and Pua look in live action compared to animation.
The Actors
Overall, the cast of the live-action Moana is a strange mishmash of returning cast members from the animated film and new performances, with Dwayne Johnson returning as Maui and Jermaine Clement returning as Tamatoa. In the discussion of the returning actors, Johnson does not feel as good as he did in his vocal portrayal of the character in the 2016 film. Clement, on the other hand, still provides a decent amount of camp in his performance of Tamatoa. However, newcomer Catherine Laga’aia is actually decent as Moana, bringing a different energy to the character and delivering my personal favorite performance of the film.
Most of the newcomers, aside from Laga’aia, were forgettable to me, with the performances of actors like John Tui as Moana’s father feeling like a low point of this film compared to the portrayals by Temuera Morrison (acting voice) and Christopher Jackson (singing voice) in the original film.
I understand that The Rock was one of the main people pushing for this film to be made as a vehicle to showcase Pacific Islander culture, but there is one other detail that proves the film’s whole cash-grab nature. The original announcement trailer for this remake of one of the Rock’s most successful recent films was released in April 2023, just 7 months after the release of The Rock’s noted box-office bomb in the DC universe, “Black Adam.”
The Music
The music in this film is iconic (some of my favorites in modern Disney music include Shiny and You’re Welcome); however, that is one of its biggest flaws as a live-action remake, as it brings little new to the table.
Lin-Manuel Miranda’s songs from the 2016 film are back in full, which is a rare thing for Disney’s live action remakes, where songs can get cut or left out entirely (looking at things like “Be Prepared” in 2019’s The Lion King or all the music in 2020’s “Mulan” for example).
All of these iconic songs alongside a new track called “Along the Way.” This song is a decent end credits soundtrack, featuring both animated and live action Moana actresses (Auliʻi Cravalho and Cathrine Lagaaia), with The Rock also returning for a verse. This song, in a separate version titled “Along the Way (Malega Ki Ei)”, is also featured in the same travel montage sequence where the song “Logo Te Pate” was used in the original film.
Conclusion
If I could define this live-action “Moana” remake in one word, it would be “Why?”
This film is a corporate cash grab that makes very few changes to an already great film, besides a decently catchy new end credits song and incredibly slight visual, music and script tweaks. If you had to pick one new film out now (before The Odyssey and Spider-Man later this month), watch “The Invite” or “Evil Dead Burn,” and if you really like the story and the music of Moana (like I did, and still do), just watch the original (or even the sequel) on Disney+. It would be a far better use of your time.
