Disney has been remaking their animated classics since the 90s, and there have been some fantastic live-action adaptations. I think it is awesome when they mix things up with a new interpretation of a classic, as they did with The Sorcerer’s Apprentice and Pete’s Dragon. As well as when they do more faithful but expanded adaptations, as they did with Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin, to name just a couple.
Where to Watch Moana (2026)
Moana was released on July 10, 2026. You can expect it to become available for streaming on Disney+ several months after the premiere.
The Movie Review
At this point, I think pretty much most things from the Disney vault have a chance of being turned into a live-action remake. On a personal note, my two top picks would be The Black Cauldron and Treasure Planet… two movies that probably have a slim at best chance of seeing this happen. However, I remember when I heard that a live-action Moana was coming, I thought it was super weird and way too close to the original. Plus, we just had the average-at-best Moana 2 somewhat recently.
Fast-Tracking the Remake
As soon as Dwayne The Rock Johnson announced that a live-action Moana was coming and that he would be reprising his role as Maui, a role which he is fantastic at by the way, I knew right away why this movie had been fast-tracked. Dwayne Johnson clearly wanted to play the role of Maui while he was still in phenomenal shape and not too old to pull it off.
That is the only reason as to why I can think that, out of all the movies they could give the live-action treatment to, Moana was made so quickly. Well, that and the over 600 million the first made and the phenomenal over 1 billion Moana 2 made also probably helped speed along this decision. Instead of the voice actress of Moana, Auliʻi Cravalho, performing here, we have the very talented Catherine Laga’aia, and she does a great job and has good chemistry with Dwayne Johnson.
A Safe, Shot-for-Shot Retelling
The Moana live-action remake is not a bad movie at all, but I feel like they played this one very safe, and by the time the credits came to a roll, I had been entertained, but I wondered what was the point. This is one of the closest shot-for-shot remakes that Disney has done; off the top of my head, I cannot think of another one that plays it as close and as safe as this one does.
The problem is, Moana feels far too recent for them to have done this. Not only that, I would wager that most people who have seen Moana, or who have kids who love the movie, have seen it multiple times! I have not heard anyone say that they did not like this movie, but I have yet to hear a single person say that they liked it better than the animated one. Which, of course, is a pretty big deal.
Visual Effects Hits and Misses
Also, the movie looks kind of strange too. It has some gorgeous-looking moments, and I thought that they did Pua and Hei-Hei really well but there were also some very clear green-screen, or whatever color screen they use these days, scenes that looked very fake. Disney is weird in that they can make some of the most real-looking CG scenes and characters, but when they are off, I always find that it sticks out like a sore thumb.
Box Office Trends and Streaming
People just did not seem all that interested in this. The fact that Moana did not light up the box office tells you that a lot of people were clearly waiting for this to hit Disney Plus! That is another problem Disney has; they have trained people who are on the fence about seeing one of their movies at the theatre to just wait a couple of months for it to hit Disney Plus. I am sure that is why the awesome Hoppers did not do as well as I thought it deserved to.
Final Verdict: Stick to the Original
At the end of the day, the Moana live-action remake is not a bad movie at all, and if you liked the original or if your kids did, they will have a fun time here. However, this is one of the most by-the-numbers remakes that Disney has done; it is way, way too close to the original, so much so that if I ever decide to watch Moana again, I do not think there is any universe where I would pick this over the animated one. Again, it is not bad, but you just feel like you have seen this a million times before.
