“Moana” is the latest in a long stream of Disney live-action remakes, and many film critics seem to be at the end of their rope when it comes to the remake trend.
The headline of a review of “Moana” from New York Magazine’s Vulture perhaps summed it up best, reading simply: “Please Stop.”
The film, which opened in theaters Friday, is currently sitting at a dismal 35% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes, and is on track to open to around $60 million at the box office this weekend, Variety reported. By comparison, Disney’s last live-action remake, “Lilo & Stitch,” broke records with its $145 million opening weekend last year.
Is the new live-action “Moana” worth watching? Here’s what critics are saying.
What critics are saying about ‘Moana’
With a few notable exceptions, critics’ reviews of “Moana” have been overwhelmingly negative.
Some reviewers said that the remake hews too closely to the original animated film, which is only 10 years old.
“The new ‘Moana’ is an often shot-for-shot, note-for-note remake of the original, with small pockets of new material,” Associated Press reviewer Jake Coyle wrote, later adding, “But all inventiveness has gone out to sea.”
“The new ‘Moana’ technically has a new screenplay,” writes New York Times critic Alissa Wilkinson. “... Yet you’d be forgiven if you thought they’d just recycled the old one: All the plot beats are the same, and so are many of the lines and jokes.”
Some reviewers are calling the remake a “cash grab” — The Guardian wrote that the film “feels like a superfluous piece of monetisable content,” and The Wrap was even more blunt, writing, “It’s the Same Film, Disney Just Wants You to Pay for It Again.”
But not all of the reviews have been negative. In fact, Variety’s Owen Gleiberman wrote that “Moana” was the best of the Disney live-action remakes that he’s seen, though he added, “Admittedly, we aren’t talking about a very high bar.”
And The Hollywood Reporter’s David Rooney wrote that, although the movie does prompt questions about how it differs from the original animated film, “such concerns recede when a movie has this much heart and humor, not to mention respect for South Sea cultures, inventiveness with their mythology and an infectious sense of wonder at the miracles of nature.
“Does it bring new ideas to the material? No. Does that matter? Also no.”
What critics are saying about Dwayne Johnson and ‘Moana’ cast
Critics are mixed on Dwayne Johnson’s live-action performance as Maui after he voiced the demigod character in the animated film.
Johnson’s “redux of the demigod Maui is oddly catatonic, as if he left his usual considerable charm behind in the voice booth,” Deadline wrote.
But Rooney wrote for The Hollywood Reporter that Johnson and Catherine Laga’aia, who plays Moana, “are terrific together.”
In general, critics had much higher praise for Laga’aia’s performance. Times critic Wilkinson wrote that she is “terrifically winning” and “a great choice for the role,” while Deadline wrote that Laga’aia is “the film’s sole source of actual life. She’s a charismatic actor, and her passion is vibrant enough to break through.”