Critics Slam Disney's Live-Action Moana as Pointless and Dull

Disney's Live-Action Moana Fails to Impress Critics

Disney's highly anticipated live-action remake of Moana has arrived in cinemas — and the critical reception has been anything but warm. While the studio hoped to recapture the magic of its beloved 2016 animated original, most reviewers have been left cold, with words like "flat," "dull," and "dismal" dominating the conversation.

The Cast and Creative Team

Dwayne Johnson returns to his role as the boisterous demigod Maui, while 19-year-old Australian-Samoan newcomer Catherine Laga'aia steps into the lead role of Moana, the spirited teenage daughter of a Polynesian chief. The screenplay has been adapted by original writer Jared Bush, Lin-Manuel Miranda's music from the animated version remains intact, and Broadway's Thomas Kail — celebrated for directing Hamilton on stage — makes his feature film directing debut.

What the Critics Are Saying

The overwhelming consensus among critics is that the remake adds little of value to a story already told beautifully in animated form.

Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian awarded the film two stars, labeling it a "competent but pointless and unexciting back-to-basics live-action remake." He took particular aim at Johnson's performance, describing it as "on autopilot, like a piece of software," and noted that the heavy reliance on CGI makes the film feel like "another animation" rather than a genuine live-action experience. He concluded his review by dismissing the project as "a superfluous piece of monetisable content."

Clarisse Loughrey of The Independent was even harsher, awarding just one star and calling the film "a waste of everyone's time and talent." She questioned the logic of casting Johnson in a role he played a decade ago with no discernible evolution, writing: "Is the situation really so dire that we'll now accept Dwayne Johnson repeating the exact same voice performance he gave a decade ago?" She also mocked the film's supposedly on-location Hawaii shoots, admitting she couldn't distinguish them from studio footage shot in Atlanta.

John Nugent of Empire echoed similar frustrations in his two-star review, arguing that Johnson's Maui "feels like an AI interpretation" and that labeling the film "live action" is essentially a misnomer given the sheer volume of animation on screen. He lamented the unnecessary remake of what was already "a fun, funny, poignant coming-of-age yarn with fantastic music."

Kevin Maher of The Times was perhaps the most cutting, handing out one star and pointing out that the 54-year-old Johnson is "three decades too old to play Maui," with a performance he described as "oddly lacklustre and restrained." He accused the studio of producing "a lazy cash grab for shareholders," writing that the remake takes everything that was "sprightly, expansive and ambitious" in the original and renders it "leaden, limited and dull."

Robbie Collin of The Telegraph also gave the film two stars, delivering one of the sharpest lines of the entire critical cycle — suggesting the movie "could have been made by a ChatGPT prompt," with barely a scene that couldn't have been generated by typing a simple AI command.

A Few Voices of Praise

Not every critic was ready to write the film off entirely. Owen Gleiberman of Variety offered a notably enthusiastic endorsement, arguing that the remake "escapes the remake blues — in fact it soars above them." He praised it for delivering "the beauty, the comic personality, the fairy-tale enchantment" of the original and called Johnson's casting "perfect."

David Rooney of the Hollywood Reporter also championed the film, describing it as "captivating family entertainment" that is "brimming with visual interest, vibrant color, gorgeous design elements and alluring tropical settings."

Disney's Ongoing Bet on Live-Action Remakes

Over the past decade and a half, Disney has produced more than 20 live-action adaptations of its animated classics, with wildly inconsistent results. The 2023 remake of The Little Mermaid underperformed at the box office, while Mufasa: The Lion King helped the studio recover financially in 2024.

More recently, Disney suffered a significant $170 million loss with its Snow White remake, only to bounce back spectacularly when Lilo & Stitch became one of the year's biggest hits, crossing the $1 billion mark globally.

Whether Moana will follow the path of its predecessors — triumph or flop — remains to be seen, but the critical groundwork is not encouraging.