Moana 2026 live action remake spoiler/non spoiler review
Moana, the 2026 Disney remake is a movie I'm not sure that needed to be made, at least not this soon. I'm also struggling to even title this review. Do I say spoiler-free or do I say spoiler, because this is a one-to-one, pretty much identical recreation from the animated film.
Moana, (Catherine Laga'aia) is a story about finding one's self. Doing what makes you afraid and pushing through for something more than yourself. Moana goes on a journey of self-discovery to save her village, her island, from a darkness that would destroy them if not addressed.
She is told that in order to save her island, she must find a demigod named Maui, played by Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson to restore the “Heart of Te Fiti” he stole one thousand years earlier as a gift for humanity.
The run time is felt throughout her journey with Maui and chicken sidekick. At close to two hours, this film should have been an hour and 30 minutes, in my opinion. It needed to cut out a lot of fluff and filler that wasn’t necessary to complete this story.
Some songs are hits, while others are pretty much forgettable. Some of the acting is not up to par. In my opinion, The Rock is miscast as Maui, and Catherine, while trying to do her best with this character, was flat. That's the entire consensus of this movie: it's just flat. It's not a terrible movie. It's not a great movie. It's not even a good movie. It's an okay movie.
If you have never seen the animated film, you may find some enjoyment with this iteration. However, after seeing the original animated film, you will understand how flat this movie is, from the color palette to the actors not being as animated with excitement throughout this film. There's no emotional depth at all.
The hearts and souls are missing from these songs. The cast seems to be phoning it in. I'm looking at The Rock, lol.
Some of the cast absolutely nailed it though. The gigantic 50-foot crab Tamatoa, (Jermaine Clement) returned to reprise his role and he KILLS it. A complete knockout performance with a fantastic musical number to top it all off. He seemed to be the only one who understood the assignment and had complete absolute fun.
John Tui, was another standout performance as Chief Tui, (Moana’s father). While his role small, he hit every emotional note required and then some with an authentic nuance. The scene of him seeing Moana return home was a gut punch. The relief he felt radiated through the screen and hit you straight in the feels.
The CHICKEN is there for laughs. And he gives some great ones. He’s basically there to breakup some of the heavier, darker moments throughout the story, but to be honest, nothing gets really deep. Nothing gets too dark at all to have this chicken pop up screaming as much as he did for a laugh. He over stayed his welcome.
Back to The Rock (Maui), he has some good moments. I don't want to paint the picture that he's all bad. He has a great musical number called "You're Welcome" that really shows a bit of personality wanting to burst through the surface but never really makes it out.
The visual effects for me were a highlight. The ending battle in the final act was gorgeous. I love the design and the look of the lava monster, and I loved the overall visual flair of the ocean sections. There's a ton of visual effects within this movie, and they really turned it up a notch during the final act. There were a few mishaps, like the design of Mother Nature herself: just a big green blah. But other than that, thumbs up.
If you were to ask me, "Should you see this movie?" My answer would be, "Only if you want to." This isn't something you have to watch. It's not a cinematic masterpiece. It's not a feel-good movie. It's not an event movie.
If you watched the animated series of films, this adds nothing. There are no original ideas. If there were original songs, they were completely forgettable. Overall, this was a mid-movie.
4.5/10
