MOVIE REVIEW: MOANA
Modern Tropes Dim the Spark of a Colourful Classic.
Thursday 9th July 2026
Written by Tom Wilson & Abigail Wilson
It’s a family affair tonight, and the normally hushed mood of a critic’s screening is instead a chorus of excited children and multiple toddlers. This is an almost beat-for-beat remake of the original, so you won’t need to worry about spoilers, because you’ve seen this story before, not even ten years ago. I’m not even going to bother with a plot summary. Your enjoyment of this will hinge on your answer to one question: why does this exist? Disney seem hell-bent on doing live action remakes, but this is their quickest turnaround yet between original film and remake.
The original Moana was one of the most visually striking animated movies ever, a gorgeous celebration of Polynesian cultures full of memorable songs and big laughs. The 2026 version is both a testament to the power of modern VFX, and an indictment of the state of colour grading. The level of detail in the environments is staggering. Tamatoa’s shell and the Kakamora’s pirate ship are vividly detailed, and you can see just how much labour the VFX artists have put into these scenes, which makes it really frustrating when it looks like each shot has had the colour saturation bumped down to about 70%. There are various theories as to why they do this – my understanding is that it makes it easier to blend live action with VFX if the live action footage is washed out. The blending is incredible – it genuinely looks like they are in the world – but the downside is that one of the most colourful scenes of the original film, the song Shiny, looks quite boring this time around.
A dull colour palette can’t dim the spark of Australian actress Catherine "Katie" Laga'aia, who beat some 30,000 actresses to land her feature film debut opposite Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. She nails the vulnerability and strength of the title character, and her singing chops are no joke, so hopefully this opens a lot of doors for her. The Rock has been bald for so long that seeing him with hair is quite jarring, like Bruce Willis donning a wig for Surrogates. He’s slipped into a muscle suit to give Maui his massive proportions, but there is no prosthetic to help him re-capture the character’s devilish charm. An issue many people had with the live-action The Lion King was that translating the over-the-top facial expressions of classic Disney animation into something that looks “realistic” is a massive downgrade. Unless they’re Jim Carrey in the 90s, real people just don’t move that way, and The Rock has spent so long crafting his nice guy image that he can’t really pull off being a jerk on-screen, even when he’s stealing Moana’s boat. This is the feature film directing debut of Thomas Kail, best known for directing Hamilton on and off Broadway, so unsurprisingly the musical numbers are deftly handled. Moana’s pet rooster Heihei is a highlight, impeccably animated and getting big laughs as the seemingly indestructible animal staggers through their adventure, and legendary Kiwi actress Rena Owen has heaps of fun as Gramma Tala.
Overall, it’s hard to recommend this to anyone unless your kids are dragging you to see it, because you’ve seen this movie before. You won’t be bored to tears, but you won’t be dazzled either. But who knows? Maybe, if we get a sequel, we can discover how the next chief will balance a rock on top of a conch shell.
Just in case I’m too old and jaded for this, please enjoy this review from my daughter Abby, aged 11:
When I watched the movie Moana I had mixed expectations, because most live action remakes aren’t very good, but when I watched it, I appreciated that it didn’t try to replace the magic of the first, but instead showed the beauty of the story in real life. This is the way to make a good remake. I must say that the music and the choreography were amazing, and the traditional voyager rafts looked awesome. The props were very well-made, and the traditional costumes were great. My main problem was the design of Maui. I know his original design is not biologically possible, but Maui is supposed to be wider, not taller. I may be biased, but The Rock with hair is a terrible idea. That said, I thought that the movie was amazing anyway, because it is not trying to replace the original. Instead, it tries to bring the magic into real life. I got to meet Katie Laga'aia at a leader convention at my school, where famous people get to talk about how they got to where they are now. She told us that when she got cast as Moana, her life got very hectic for a while, with her even missing her own high school graduation. I’m happy to say that I think it was worth it for her!
Disney’s Moana is in cinemas everywhere July 10th.