'Moana' (2026) Review: A Live-action Remake With None of the Love and Passion of its Beloved Original
- 2 days ago
- 4 min read
By Alex Gilston - July 20, 2026
“If it’s not broken don’t fix it”, is a piece of advice that Disney ought to heed after the release of their latest animation to live-action venture. Up until now Walt Disney Studios has mostly been delving into their pre-21st century body of work when deciding what films to give the live-action treatment. Barring Lilo and Stitch most of their animated films from the last twenty or so years have remained untouched. Arguably that is a good thing. When trying to justify the idea of rehashing timeless stories for a new generation you can use the timescale to justify it - despite cynically knowing most of them are cash grabs. However Moana (2026) marks the closest gap between now and when the original came out. With only ten years between its initial release and now, it is beyond belief why they would have even considered this remake beyond greedy eyes. Without all the context and baggage that comes with Disney’s adamant crusade to take their most beautiful films, and in most cases slopify them, you have to judge the remake simply on its own merits. Unfortunately for Moana (2026) it has none.
Moana is a remake of the 2016 animated film from Walt Disney Animation Studios. It follows the daughter of a village chief on the island of Motunui as she answers the call of the sea to save her community and the world as they know it. She adventures to far flung places in search of the demigod Maui (Dwayne Johnson) who she believes can help her in pursuit of finding the goddess of life Te Fiti. But you probably already know that, and that there lies the problem.
Disney live-action films often fall into certain categories. You either have a film like Beauty and the Beast (2017) where familiar plot beats are retread faithfully but new ground is also ventured into, or you have The Lion King (2019) which makes no effort to go any further than its source material. Moana (2026) falls slap bang into the latter, which makes it all the more pointless. It is essentially shot-for-shot, there aren’t any new songs or storylines. It’s Moana (2016) on auto-pilot, with none of the original love and passion within a five mile radius of it.
The main issue with Moana - and there are many - is the pacing. It simultaneously feels like the same and a different film. It’s like you know you’re watching Moana but the way the narrative drives forward feels clunky and hard fought, with added Gen Z-style dialogue that is wholeheartedly cringe inducing. The editing also compounds this issue by messing with natural cause and effect. There are countless moments where one thing happens and we suddenly cut to a moment that is completely taken out of the action. The fluidity of the 2016 originals beautiful animation is put on the chopping block and sufficiently butchered so Disney can sell dolls of Dwayne Johnson in the most egregious wig you may ever see on a man in your life.
This then has a knock on effect with other aspects of Moana (2026). The emotional weight of the film is completely non-existent. This reviewer sobbed buckets the first time he watched the original, but the same couldn’t be said for the remake. Even Moana’s Grandmother dying, one of the most beautifully poignant moments in the original, didn’t evoke a tear from me. Performances aren’t trusted enough to keep the camera on them. It was well noticed that in a lot of the ensemble songs, like "Where You Are", there were huge chunks of time where singing was happening without even seeing the person who was doing it. The CGI was also diabolical. Giving the feeling of a team shoved onto crunch time, overworked and underpaid, to get it over the line. Te Kā was a highlight but when the animated water, a character within itself, in the original looks better than in the remake you know you have an issue.
There is also a very big Maui sized problem in Moana (2026). Animation is such a perfect art form because it lets the artists take creative liberty on character design. In the original, Maui is a towering beefy hunk of a man with exaggerated features. In the live action he’s just Dwayne Johnson. It’s hard to get over this fact too. He may be jacked but the wig is so off putting, and his performance is just him going through the motions. If you want Maui without the roguish charm and infinite charisma then the live-action Moana is for you. It’s hard to imagine another reason for Johnson doing this than for his own ego. Black Adam did so bad that he felt he needed to fall back on one of his safe characters, but it has backfired in the most immense way possible.
Catherine Laga’aia does the best with what she’s given, and her vocals are good, however they don’t match original voice actress Auli’i Cravalho's powerful renditions. It would be nice to see her in a project where the filmmaking is of a higher quality.
Moana (2026) marks a dark day in Disney’s live action ventures. The final justification for these remakes has now been spent and there is no excuse left. If they want to continue sucking the magic out of their most beloved films then that is their prerogative, but they mustn’t expect to keep the good will they gathered from said films in the first place.
'Moana' (2026) released in cinemas on July 10, 2026.
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