Moana Review: A Stunning Animated Adventure

The plot remains a sacred text for Disney’s Polynesian-inspired mythos: Motunui is dying. The coconuts are rotting, the fish have fled, and the once-verdant island is withering. Teenage Moana (Catherine Lagaʻaia) hears the ocean’s call - quite literally, as the sentient sea itself nudges her toward destiny. Defying her father Chief Tui (John Tui) and following the whispered guidance of her grandmother Gramma Tala (Rena Owen), she sets sail beyond the reef. There she finds Maui (Dwayne Johnson), the shape-shifting demigod whose stolen magical fishhook - the legendary Maui’s Hook - is the key to restoring the heart of Te Fiti. Their journey is a buddy-road-trip across the Pacific: battling the coconut-pirate Kakamora, dodging the giant crab Tamatoa (Jemaine Clement, voicing his villainous crustacean with pitch-perfect glee), and facing the volcanic demon Te Kā. The beats are identical to the 2016 film, with the same emotional crescendos - Moana’s confrontation with her mother Sina (Frankie Adams), her desperate plea to the ocean, and Maui’s reluctant redemption. Kail includes a few expanded scenes that flesh out Moana’s childhood (Emma Puahi-Shapazian and Amaya Masoli portray her at ages 4 and 8), but these feel like deleted scenes restored rather than essential additions.

The film’s greatest asset is its cast. Catherine Lagaʻaia delivers a Moana that feels both younger and more vulnerable than her animated counterpart, her eyes wide with wonder and fear as she navigates the open water. She sings “How Far I’ll Go” with a raw, breathy ache that lands differently - less anthem, more confession. Dwayne Johnson, reprising Maui for the fourth time (after the animated film, a Disney+ series, and a short), has the role down to a science. His biceps remain cartoonish in size, his grin cocky, and his vocal delivery perfectly timed for the comedic beats. But here’s the rub: Johnson’s live-action Maui lacks the manic, god-sized unpredictability of the original. He’s charming, but he no longer feels dangerous.

Thomas Kail, best known for Hamilton and Grease: Live, brings a stage director’s eye for blocking and choreography. The musical numbers are staged with kinetic precision - the Kakamora chase becomes a thrilling, percussive ballet of coconut armor and wooden shields. The visuals are staggering: the ocean glows with bioluminescent jellyfish, the sky bleeds into violet sunsets, and the island of Motunui feels like a real, breathing community. Yet for all its technical prowess, the film often feels static. The animated original could bend reality; here, the actors must perform against digital backdrops that, while gorgeous, never quite convince as tangible environments. There’s a disconnect between the flesh-and-blood performances and the CGI world they inhabit.

The script, co-written by Jared Bush and Dana Ledoux Miller, makes a few smart adjustments. Gramma Tala’s wisdom feels more grounded, her mortality more poignant. Chief Tui’s fear is given added context - he lost his best friend to the reef, a detail that humanizes his stubbornness. But these tweaks are minor. The film’s central problem is that it replicates the 2016 movie scene-for-scene, beat-for-beat, without offering a new perspective. Why remake a story that was already perfect in its medium? The answer, cynically, is commerce. The runtime has been stretched from 107 to 115 minutes, and the extra eight minutes are filled with extended takes of waves crashing and characters staring at horizons - pretty, but padding.

Pros

• Catherine Lagaʻaia delivers a breakout lead performance, bringing real emotional depth to Moana’s journey.
• Dwayne Johnson’s Maui is effortlessly charismatic, and his chemistry with Lagaʻaia sparkles.
• The visual effects - especially the ocean as a character - are breathtaking, with photorealistic water and luminous tropical landscapes.
• The musical numbers are faithfully reproduced with fresh vocal arrangements that honor the original while allowing for slight reinterpretation.
• Jemaine Clement’s Tamatoa remains a scene-stealer, his “Shiny” number a glittering, campy highlight.

Cons

• The live-action format robs the story of the animated freedom that made its fantastical elements - Maui’s shapeshifting, the giant fishhook - feel magical rather than mechanical.
• At 115 minutes, the pacing drags in the second act, with repetitive scenes of sailing and self-doubt.
• The expanded childhood sequences feel like filler, disrupting the narrative flow without adding meaningful character growth.
• The film offers no compelling reason for its existence; it’s a faithful copy rather than a reinvention.

Moana (2026) is a paradox: a technically accomplished, well-acted film that nevertheless feels like an expensive footnote. It will delight young children seeing the story for the first time and comfort parents who loved the original, but it lacks the audacity to be a great movie in its own right. The TMDb rating of 5.8/10 feels harsh but not unfair - it’s a capable production that never reaches for new horizons. As Moana herself learns, sometimes you have to leave behind what you know to find something new. This film, sadly, never quite leaves the reef.