In the lead-up to the live-action Moana’s release on the 2026 movie schedule, there’s been lots of discourse about why it was made now. It’s only been ten years since the original animated film was released, and a lot of initial reactions to this new Moana describe it as “unnecessary.” However, Dwayne Johnson is coming to the movie’s defense and pushing back on it being made too soon.
Ever since the live-action Moana was announced, there’s been chatter about why it was happening right now, and people have not been afraid to voice their disinterest in this remake. It’s only been ten years since the animated film’s premiere, and a lot of Disney’s other live-action remakes came decades after the animated release. However, Johnson, who voiced Maui in the animated movies and plays him in live-action, believed now was the right time to do this, as he told THR:
To be honest with you, I never bought into this idea that ‘You have to wait 20 years, you have to wait 30 years, it’s too soon.’ I honestly never did, and not because I’m biased and I made the film, but because there’s themes and values in this, in animated Moana, that could translate really well if you saw a real human being going through it, and a real young girl going through it.
He makes a valid point, and it’s one that’s been reiterated by the team behind Moana. In fact, earlier this year, director Thomas Kail defended the live-action Moana. He said that putting this story in live action makes a “fundamentally different” experience, because you get to “have flesh and blood and have human beings tell the story.” Doing the live-action version also provides jobs and representation in live action for Pacific Islanders, as songwriter Lin-Manuel Miranda explained:
One, it’s one thing to represent Pacific Islander culture in an animated movie; it’s another to give Pacific Islanders jobs and opportunities and really represent their culture in a flesh and blood way on screen. That was exciting to us. Two, we have a window in which the perfect guy for the job can play the part, Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson, for whom we wrote it. And three, I don’t think it would exist if we hadn’t found the perfect Moana.
With all that being said, they decided to make the movie. And as The Rock explained, it was “an easy conversation” to have as they quickly chose to move forward with this remake in 2019.
However, people are starting to see the upcoming Disney movie, and the reception has not been great. At the time of this writing, the live-action Moana has a 37% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 76 reviews. For reference, the original movie sits at 95%. So, the new iteration of this beloved character’s story is off to a rough start.
While people are not thrilled with this remake, though – one critic called it “Disney’s safest and most unnecessary remake yet” – there is a lot of love for Catherine Laga’aia’s Moana. She took on the role in live-action after Auliʻi Cravalho voiced the character in the animated movies. The fact that she’s being praised plays into the point Johnson and co. made about the value of seeing a real person on screen as this beloved character.
So, with all that said, you can make up your mind about this new version of Moana by seeing the live-action version in theaters and streaming the animated version with a Disney+ subscription.