‘Moana’ 2026 review : The shot-for-shot Disney live-action remake of the 2016 classic offers nothing by way of fresh insight or visual imagination

Moana, starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Catherine Lagaʻaia, is back on the big screen but in a live-action setting, but Rotten Tomatoes critics aren’t too thrilled about it.

The film, starring Dwayne Johnson and Catherine Laga'aia, hits theaters on July 10.

Say what you will about them, but the Disney live-action remakes have at least given us a choice. Which would you rather see?

A decade since the animation, nothing of value is added in this lifeless, half-hearted picture

Thomas Kail directs this reimagining of the hit 2016 animated feature about a plucky Polynesian teenager’s coming of age, with songs by Lin-Manuel Miranda.

Dwayne Johnson is back as Maui, and yet...

"Moana," in theaters Friday, trades the beautiful animation for lackluster backgrounds, rendering the epic adventure as a static exercise.

Moana features a breakout performance by Catherine Laga’aia as the titular Moana – but the remake loses some of the magic of the original.

Dwayne Johnson’s terrible wig is just one low point of a film that has all the visual allure of a Febreeze advert

Johnson reprises his role from the original animation and has fine rapport with his young co-star Catherine Laga’aia, but the whole enterprise feels cynical and pointless

It helps that half the film IS animated, that Dwayne Johnson goes full Maui, and that newcomer Catherine Laga’aia plays Moana with beaming rapture.

Dwayne Johnson and Catherine Laga'aia star in the live-action remake of the 2016 original.

DUBAI: When Disney first announced a live-action remake of its 2016 animated movie “Moana,” it raised a familiar question: Why revisit a movie that had already become one of the…

Actor’s latest stumble has seen him lambasted for the ‘fright wig’ he wears in the film, and for seeming as if ‘he is on autopilot like a piece of software’

Dwayne Johnson returns as Maui for Disney's live-action take on the 2016 animated original that recently spawned a mammoth hit with 2024's 'Moana 2.'

The latest adaptation of a Disney animated classic highlights the studio's ugly cynicism — but the songs are still great

AP:Say what you will about them, but the Disney live-action remakes have at least given us a choice. Which would you rather see? A spirited, soaring, animated Moana, or a…

Disney continues to live-action remake their animated classics. 'Moana' is the latest - and youngest - to fall foul to a cynical strategy which needs to end. #Cinema

ALBAWABA - Disney's new Moana remake faces harsh early reviews.Disney has once again turned one of its most successful animated films of recent years in

‘Moana’ 2026 review : The shot-for-shot Disney live-action remake of the 2016 classic offers nothing by way of fresh insight or visual imagination