{"id":3784,"date":"2026-07-08T15:06:39","date_gmt":"2026-07-08T15:06:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=3784"},"modified":"2026-07-08T15:06:39","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T15:06:39","slug":"moana-review-the-first-disney-live-action-remake-that-works-100","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=3784","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Moana\u2019 Review: The First Disney Live-Action Remake That Works 100%"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\t\u201cMoana\u201d is a Disney live-action remake that escapes the Disney live-action remake blues \u2014 in fact, it soars above them. It\u2019s the best of these movies I\u2019ve seen. (I don\u2019t count Kenneth Branagh\u2019s \u201cCinderella,\u201d because I didn\u2019t think that was truly a remake of the 1950 Disney cartoon.) Admittedly, we aren\u2019t talking about a very high bar. And it\u2019s a rather odd bar, since this is an entire genre in which the definition of the genre is that it\u2019s completely and totally unnecessary<\/em>. These movies add nothing<\/em> (except to Disney\u2019s revenues). In nearly every case, they subtract. They have all had qualities in common \u2014 they\u2019re earthbound, they\u2019re clunky, they\u2019re watchable, they make you long for the original. You could say that they\u2019re existentially mediocre. But in the case of \u201cMoana,\u201d for maybe the first time, if you told me that a child who\u2019d never seen the animated version was going to see the remake, I\u2019d say, \u201cAll good.\u201d Because the new \u201cMoana\u201d truly delivers<\/em> \u201cMoana\u201d: the beauty, the comic personality, the fairy-tale enchantment.<\/p>\n

Read more Fathom Entertainment Names Jason Brenek as CEO<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\tThere are a few reasons for that. In the mostly sorry history of Disney live-action remakes, there\u2019s a scale of how well they work (or don\u2019t), and it may seem like it comes down to the luck of the draw. \u201cBeauty and the Beast\u201d lumbered. \u201cAladdin\u201d had the charisma of Will Smith but lacked the genius of Robin Williams. \u201cThe Little Mermaid\u201d couldn\u2019t compete with the magic of under-the-sea animation. \u201cSnow White,\u201d while reviled by many, was to me one of the more successful remakes, with a lyrical zest rooted in Rachel Zegler\u2019s radiance (and I enjoyed the Seven Dwarfs too, so hate me).<\/p>\n

\n\tThe opening scenes of the new \u201cMoana,\u201d set on the Polynesian island of Motunui, have a tinge of that live-actors-doing-a-production-number-that-flowed-better-in-the-original feeling. But as soon as Rena Owen comes to the fore as Tala, Moana\u2019s spirited grandmother (an elderly rebel who\u2019s going to set this tale in motion), her playful aging-hippie spark connects. And then Catherine Laga\u2019aia, the Australian actress who makes her screen debut as Moana, steps up to sing \u201cHow Far I\u2019ll Go.\u201d Her voice rings out like a bell, her plush features beam with expression yet appear exquisitely stylized, and the song is so lyrically moving that it does just what it\u2019s supposed to do: It transports us into an island girl\u2019s imagination.<\/p>\n

\n\tAnd here\u2019s the real key to the movie\u2019s success. I thought the 2019 remake of \u201cThe Lion King\u201d worked fine, because even the remake was<\/em>, in essence, an animated film. There\u2019s a ton of CGI in the new \u201cMoana\u201d that\u2019s executed quite artfully, and that helps to create a buoyant atmosphere of visual vibrance: the crystal waves that gather up to \u201ctalk\u201d to Moana, the coconut pirates known as the Kakamora, the constantly moving illustrative tattoo on Maui\u2019s left pectoral, the giant treasure-hording coconut crab Tamatoa (once again voiced by Jemaine Clement), and all of Maui\u2019s animalistic shape-shifting. It all establishes a free-flowing universe that exists halfway between live action and animation.<\/p>\n

Read more Bela Bajaria to Receive the Variety Vanguard Award at Mipcom<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\tBut the ultimate artistic weapon is Maui himself. He is such a great character, and in the original \u201cMoana\u201d he was an explicit stylization of Dwayne Johnson, who is himself a kind of stylized human being. At the time, it was as if we were watching<\/em> Dwayne Johnson, and listening to him (his performance of \u201cYou\u2019re Welcome\u201d had a matter-of-fact majesty). So when the real Dwayne Johnson now steps into Maui\u2019s absurdly buff bod and long curly island hair and attitude of cantankerous monomania, to say that the fit is perfect is to say that we\u2019re seeing a live-action-remake epiphany: a quick but infectiously blinkered demigod who is just as indelible as he always was. If anything, the real Johnson can\u2019t help but project a shade more edge, which is all to the good. That Maui and Moana have a true spiky battle of wills going is the dramatic heart of \u201cMoana.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tMusicals age well, or don\u2019t, and the decade since \u201cMoana\u201d came out has been more than kind to the songs of Lin-Manuel Miranda and Opetaia Foa\u2019i. The \u201cMoana\u201d songs are friendly, with a rapture that sneaks up on you. And the tale of Moana venturing out beyond the reef, defying the ingrown tribal self-hatred of her father, Chief Tui (John Tui), to become the wayfinder she is inside, is presented with an intricacy that makes it more than a conventional parable of girl power, because she\u2019s being questioned at every turn \u2014 by Maui, by herself, by the ocean universe. The giant fire demon Te K\u0101, who Moana has to pass in order to return the heart of Te Fiti, is virtually identical to what it was in the original film, which is ideal (what are you going to do, have Jon Bernthal play this cinder-block colossus?). And so is the explosion of island greenery at the end, courtesy of Te Fiti, who is really the earth mother. \u201cMoana\u201d never makes live action more captivating than animation. On some level these movies will always be unnecessary. The remake of \u201cMoana\u201d can\u2019t, and shouldn\u2019t, replace the original. But it earns a place alongside it.<\/p>\n

Read more \u2018M3GAN\u2019 Spinoff \u2018Soulm8te\u2019 Goes Straight to Digital After Theatrical Release Pulled, Trailer Unveils Killer Robot Girlfriend<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\t\t\u2018Moana\u2019 Review: The First Disney Live-Action Remake That Works 100%<\/p>\n<\/h2>\n

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\t\tReviewed at Disney Screening Room, New York, July 7, 2026. MPA Rating: PG. Running time: 115 MIN.<\/p>\n<\/h2>\n

    \n
  • \nProduction:<\/strong>
    \nA Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures release of a Walt Disney Pictures, Seven Bucks Productions, Flynn Picture Co., 5000 Broadway Productions production. Producers: Dwayne Johnson, Beau Flynn, Dany Garcia, Hiram Garcia, Lin-Manuel Miranda. Executive producers: Auli\u2019I Cravalho, Thomas Kail, Charles Newirth, Scott Sheldon.\t\t\t<\/li>\n
  • \nCrew:<\/strong>
    \nDirector: Thomas Kail. Screenplay: Jared Bush, Dana Ledooux Miller. Camera: \u00d3scar Faura. Editor: Melanie Oliver. Music: Mark Mancina, Lin-Manuel Miranda.\t\t\t<\/li>\n
  • \nWith:<\/strong>
    \nCatherine Laga\u2019aia, Dwayne Johnson, Rena Owen, John Tui, Frankie Adams, Jemaine Clement, Amaya Masoli. \t\t\t<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    It helps that half the film IS animated, that Dwayne Johnson goes full Maui, and that newcomer Catherine Laga\u2019aia plays Moana with beaming rapture.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3783,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1642,2841],"class_list":["post-3784","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-film","tag-dwayne-johnson","tag-moana-2"],"yoast_head":"\n\u2018Moana\u2019 Review: The First Disney Live-Action Remake That Works 100% - Relocation Observer<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=3784\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"\u2018Moana\u2019 Review: The First Disney Live-Action Remake That Works 100% - 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