Movie Thoughts: Moana (2026)

• Released: July 8th, 2026
• Directed by: Thomas Kail
• Running time: 1h 55min
• Rating 3/5

Synopsis

A girl named Moana is chosen by the sea to restore the heart of a goddess to save her island. On her journey she's joined by the cocky demigod Maui and a silly rooster.

My Thoughts

I don't see a lot of people talking about this one and probably with good reason, because there's not even much to talk about. This remake is quite literally the OG movie scene by scene, almost line by line, but in live action with CGI elements. Same story as the How to Train Your Dragon remake. 

And I didn't hate it...but that's because I love the original movie. And since it sticks so close to it, there's also not much it can do wrong. Except just...well, being kinda worse. This one feels like it has less passion poured into it. I liked the acting of this new Moana fine, but I still prefer the original. The Rock as Maui is just the Rock as Maui again. There's also a shitton of CGI in this film, to the point I wonder if calling this a "live action remake" is even really correct anymore. It's more like a live action/CGI hybrid film than a live action with CGI elements. The sea, the animals, the environments, most of it is CGI. 

And it looks fine, mostly. Why Heihei looks the way he does I still don't know. They were trying to go for more realistic for the design of this film (just look at Pua and Tamatoa), but then Heihei still looks like a cartoon? Be consistent! 

But part of me wishes that they tried something new here. It could've worked, or couldn't have, but having this literal of an adaptation of the OG just feels kinda pointless. It felt repetitive. The only part I really genuinely liked was the "Shiny" scene, because I've always wanted to see a rendition of it on the big screen. 

But yeah, this movie just another kinda pointless live action remake. Not sure of what they were trying to add to the table here, because it's pretty much the OG repackaged.